Keynote speakers for Commencement 2011 include Jennifer Ford Reedy, vice president for strategy and knowledge management at the Saint Paul and Minnesota Foundations, for the undergraduate ceremony; Jeff Hamiel, executive director at the Metropolitan Airports Commission, Hamline trustee, and Hamline alumnus, for the graduate ceremony; and Penelope Harley, an experienced mediator and law professor at Trinity University and a Hamline School of Law alumna.

Cat Polivoda is the student speaker for the undergraduate ceremony. Polivoda is 2011 Hamline University College of Liberal Arts graduate. She has been an assistant area coordinator for Manor/Sorin and a senior fellow and assistant for the McVay Youth Partnership. She has also spent time studying abroad in Germany and has been a student video blogger for the Public Relations Department for the past two years.

Jennifer Ford Reedy conceived of GiveMN.org and Give to the Max Day, as well as the Minnesota Idea Open, among other new media strategies created to engage the community in collaborative ways to solve social issues. Reedy has recently been named by Twin Cities Business magazine as one of 15 “Innovatives” featured in a special edition on business leaders.

Jeff Hamiel is a 2007 graduate of Hamline’s doctorate in public administration program and, as a current Hamline Trustee, he has served on the School of Business Advisory and the Dean’s Search committees. He is also a retired Air Force Reserve squadron commander and was inducted into the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame in 2003.

Penelope Harley, a 2002 alumna of the School of Law, served as the Dispute Resolution Institute's inaugural postgraduate fellow. She has taught restorative justice courses at Hamline and elsewhere and served as a consultant on a European Union grant, promoting the use of commercial mediation in nine Middle East countries.