194th Commencement Honorary Degree Recipients
Chris Murphy, the junior United States senator for Connecticut, will deliver the commencement address during Wesleyan University’s 194th Commencement ceremony on May 24, 2026. Murphy will receive an honorary degree alongside fellow recipients Dr. David M. Carlisle ’76, president and chief executive officer of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, and Karen Freedman ’75, P’05, founder and president of Lawyers For Children in New York City and Wesleyan University trustee emerita.
“Wesleyan is proud to bestow the highest honor the University has to offer upon these three remarkable leaders, who have dedicated their lives to pursuing the common good and standing up for the most vulnerable among us,” said President Michael S. Roth ’78.
Chris Murphy, the junior United States senator for Connecticut, has dedicated his career to public service as an advocate for Connecticut families. Murphy has been a leading voice in the Senate, fighting for affordable health care, sensible gun laws, a forward-looking foreign policy, and a democracy and economy that serves working people. In 2022, he led the negotiations and helped pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first federal anti-gun violence bill in 30 years. Since then, he has championed legislation aimed at tackling corporate and political corruption and safeguarding Americans’ constitutional rights. Believing that working and middle-class families have been left behind, used, and exploited for too long, Murphy has dedicated his career to restoring power to working people. Prior to his election to the US Senate, Murphy served Connecticut’s Fifth Congressional District for three terms in the US House of Representatives. During his time in the House, he worked to foster job creation, advocate for affordable health care for all Americans, and improve homeless veterans’ access to housing. Before being elected to Congress, Murphy served for eight years in the Connecticut General Assembly. Senator Murphy grew up in Wethersfield, Connecticut, and attended Williams College in Massachusetts before earning a law degree from the University of Connecticut.
Dr. David M. Carlisle has served as the president and chief executive officer of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in the Watts-Willowbrook area of Los Angeles County since 2011. Carlisle graduated from Wesleyan University, majoring in chemistry. He then earned his MD from Brown University and his MPH and his PhD in Health Services Research from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. He is a board-certified internal medicine specialist whose clinical work has always revolved around caring for the underserved. A professor of medicine and public health, Carlisle’s academic focus is on health policy, quality of care, medical education diversity, and the elimination of health disparities. Carlisle served as director of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development for 11 years (2000–2011) under three California governors.
Karen Freedman is the founder and President of Lawyers For Children. Since graduating law school, Freedman has dedicated her legal career to serving children and young adults. Lawyers For Children opened its doors 40 years ago, and since that time has represented over 100,000 children and young adults. Freedman has created several projects at the organization to serve particularly vulnerable young people in the foster care system. These include initiatives on behalf of LGBTQ+ youth, young people who have been sexually trafficked, children living in homes where domestic violence is present, youth aging out of foster care, young people requiring specialized educational advocacy, youth charged in delinquency petitions, and unaccompanied minors seeking asylum and safety in the US. Freedman was previously a staff attorney with the Juvenile Rights Division of the Legal Aid Society and a law clerk in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She received her BA from Wesleyan University and her JD from New York University School of Law where she was a Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar and a Hays Civil Liberties Fellow. In 2022, the National Association of Counsel for Children honored Lawyers For Children as the Outstanding Children’s Law Office in the United States.
