Smith College to Award Honorary Degrees to Three Global Leaders

News of Note

Dawn Staley, Chizuko Ueno, and Carol Hillman ’49 to be honored for transformative impact across education, athletics, and scholarship

BY CAROLYN MCDANIEL

Published February 26, 2026

On February 26, during the annual Rally Day celebration, Smith College announced it will award honorary degrees to three distinguished leaders whose careers have reshaped early childhood education, elevated women’s athletics, and advanced global feminist scholarship. These special degrees will be awarded at the college's Commencement ceremony on May 17, and each honorand will offer remarks to the graduating class.

Honorary degrees will be awarded to:

  • Dawn Staley, Hall of Fame player, Olympian, and championship University of South Carolina coach who reshaped women’s basketball through elite performance, leadership, and program-building excellence.
  • Chizuko Ueno, pioneering sociologist and feminist theorist whose scholarship on gender, family, and care shaped global women’s studies and aging discourse.
  • Carol Hillman ’49, environmental steward and global early childhood education leader who has dedicated her career to mentoring educators and cultivating learning.

The Honorands and Their Accomplishments

Dawn Staley

Dawn Staley is one of the most accomplished figures in basketball history. As head coach of the University of South Carolina women’s basketball team, she has led the Gamecocks to three NCAA championships and sustained national prominence. A Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee and Olympian, Staley is a five-time National Coach of the Year and the only Black basketball head coach to win multiple national titles. She has also led USA Basketball to Olympic and World Cup gold medals, further cementing her legacy as a transformative leader in sport.

Chizuko Ueno

Chizuko Ueno is a pioneering sociologist and feminist theorist whose work has shaped global conversations on gender, family, and care. A professor emerita at the University of Tokyo, she has held visiting appointments at institutions around the world and is chief director of the nonprofit organization Women’s Action Network. Her influential scholarship—including Patriarchy and Capitalism, Nationalism and Gender, and Misogyny in Japan—has had lasting international impact. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and recipient of the Asahi Award, Ueno was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2025.

Carol Hillman ’49

Carol Hillman is a lifelong educator and environmental steward whose work has influenced early childhood education both locally and globally. With Bonnie Neugebauer of the World Forum Foundation, she co-founded a global network of seasoned educators dedicated to mentoring the next generation. Hillman taught for two decades at The Nursery School of the Westchester Ethical Society and has held numerous academic and advisory roles. A recipient of the Bank Street College Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award and an honorary doctorate, she is also the owner of New Salem Preserves and New Salem Cider in western Massachusetts, where she has restored historic orchards and created a place-based learning environment for children and the community.