The Garnet D. Baltimore Students of Color Graduation is named in honor of the first African American student to graduate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.  Garnet Douglass Baltimore was a member of the Class of 1881 – a distinguished civil service and landscape engineer – and the first African American to graduate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The event is held to honor the accomplishments of all the Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and International students who are graduating from Rensselaer.

Please join President Shirley Ann Jackson at Rensselaer's Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) from 6:00PM to 8:30PM on Friday, May 13 to celebrate the Class of 2022!

The keynote speaker for this year’s graduation is Dr. Basil Smikle Jr., distinguished Lecturer and Director of the Public Policy Program and the Roosevelt House Institute for Public Policy at Hunter College. Please visit the Smikle Associates website to learn more about Dr. Smikle, Jr!

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About Garnet D. Baltimore

Garnet Baltimore was the embodiment of a Rensselaer graduate working on designing and constructing parks, cemeteries, and canals.  His professional legacy includes Troy’s Prospect Park and Oakwood Cemetery, the resting place of Samuel Wilson, “Uncle Sam.” Intensely proud of his Rensselaer education, Baltimore remained active in civic activities and alumni affairs and was inducted into the Rensselaer Alumni Hall of Fame in 2005.

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