March 24, 2026 — Jennifer Egan, one of the nation’s most acclaimed contemporary authors and a Pulitzer Prize winner, will deliver the Commencement address to Marist University’s undergraduate Class of 2026 on Friday, May 22, on the Campus Green.

Egan’s celebrated novel A Visit From the Goon Squad earned both the 2011 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award and was later named one of The New York Times’ Best Books of the 21st Century. Its companion novel, The Candy House, was recognized as one of The Times’ 10 Best Books of 2022. Her 2017 bestseller, Manhattan Beach, received the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and was selected for New York City’s One Book, One New York program.

Pulitzer Prize winning author Jennifer Egan. Photo by Pieter M Van Hattem.

Egan will address Marist’s newest graduates and celebrate the Class of 2026.

“I’m thrilled and honored to help cheer the Class of 2026 through one of life’s great transitions,” said Egan. “Their accomplishments will be our collective future, and I’ll try to do justice to this momentous rite of passage!”

Egan is also a distinguished journalist whose reporting has appeared in The New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker. She earned the Carroll Kowal Journalism Award for her 2002 cover story on homeless children and a 2009 NAMI Outstanding Media Award for “The Bipolar Kid.” Most recently, her year‑long reporting on street homelessness and supportive housing in New York City was published in The New Yorker in 2023.

“We are honored to have an author and writer as accomplished as Jennifer help us celebrate the achievements of the Class of 2026,” said Marist University President Kevin Weinman. “Her Pulitzer-winning novel is about a group of people whose lives intersect over many years and how time, technology, and relationships shape their lives – a message that will resonate with our graduates who grew tremendously over the last four years and will remain connected as alumni for years to come.”

Egan has served as President of PEN America and has twice been Artist‑in‑Residence in the English Department at the University of Pennsylvania, where she has taught courses in 19th- and 20th‑century literature.

2025 Undergraduate Commencement. Photo by Carlo de Jesus/Marist University.

About Marist University’s 2026 Commencement Ceremonies

Undergraduate Commencement will begin at 10:15 a.m. on Friday, May 22, on the Campus Green.

Master’s and doctoral students will be recognized at the Graduate Commencement Ceremony on Thursday, May 21, at 5:45 p.m. in McCann Arena.

A full schedule of Commencement events and the livestream are available at marist.edu/commencement. In the event of severe weather, the University may adjust plans and make alternate arrangements.