The 2016 Commencement speaker was Tori Murden McClure, president of Spalding University an independent college in Louisville, KY named for Mother Catherine Spalding, founder of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. Prior to becoming president McClure worked as chaplain of Boston City Hospital, as a policy assistant to the Mayor of Louisville, and the director of a shelter for homeless women. McClure is best known for her adventurous spirit, as she is the first woman and first American to both row solo across the Atlantic Ocean and ski to the geographic South Pole. Her book, A Pearl in the Storm, documents her soul-searching adventure across the Atlantic.