College of Wooster names commencement speaker

The College of Wooster will welcome Jodi Nunnari, ’84, a chemistry graduate of Wooster and a leader in the field of mitochondrial biology, to deliver the commencement address at the Commencement Ceremony for the Class of 2026 at 10 a.m. May 16 in the Gault Recreation Center inside the Scot Center, 1267 Beall Ave.

As senior vice president, head of discovery science and founding principal investigator at Altos Labs, Nunnari’s work focuses on cellular rejuvenation programming with the goal of reversing disease. As a mitochondrial biologist, she studies the cellular structures that provide energy and metabolic building blocks to living cells, which affect a range of diseases and aging.

Nunnari was the first to describe mitochondria as a dynamic network in a homeostatic balance, and her lab described mitochondrial division and fusion machines. Her lab also elucidated additional mechanisms underlying mitochondrial behavior within cells including how mitochondrial membranes are organized, how mitochondria communicate with the endoplasmic reticulum and how the mitochondrial genome is transmitted.

Nunnari’s academic body of work includes more than 100 publications spanning more than two decades, published in scientific journals around the world. Her papers have been cited by other research publications more than 9,000 times. Prior to joining Altos, Nunnari served as distinguished professor of molecular and cellular biology at the University of California-Davis from 1998-2022.

Additionally, Nunnari is a fellow and past president of the American Society for Cell Biology and an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the European Molecular Biology Organization, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Nunnari earned her B.A. in Chemistry at Wooster and her doctorate in pharmacology from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1989.

In addition to Nunnari, the ceremony will feature speakers from the graduating class: Josephine Fleischel, ’26, a global media and digital studies major, and Elliot Miller, ’26, an environmental geoscience major with a minor in physics. They were selected based on academic performance and peer nominations.

Fleischel serves as co-president of the Wooster Dance Company and is an active choreographer and dancer. She also is a disc jockey for the campus radio station, Woo-91, and volunteers weekly with the nonprofit OHuddle. As a recipient of the Theatre and Dance Scholarship, she studied abroad in London, where she pursued media studies coursework and trained at the London Contemporary Dance School. Her Independent Study, “If Man Is Five, Then the Devil Is Six,” examines the influence of new media technologies on the evolution of Satanic Panic narratives, analyzing rhetorical shifts across the 1980s and 2010s.

Miller chose Wooster for the liberal arts education, competitive athletics and strong sense of community. His I.S., conducted with Meagen Pollock, Marian Senter Nixon Professor of Natural Sciences, analyzes samples from Iceland’s Western Volcanic Zone with implications for identifying volcanic activity on Mars. He studied abroad in Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands and interned with Wooster’s earth sciences department.

In addition to serving as a three-year student assistant athletic trainer, Miller participates in Geology Club and Bluegrass Jam and competes on the men’s soccer team. His achievements include recognition as an academic and athletic All-American and receipt of an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. After graduation he plans to pursue graduate studies in geophysics.

The College of Wooster President Anne McCall will preside over the ceremony, which also will include an invocation led by Stuart Franklin, ’26, an education and religious studies major, and a benediction provided by Rev. Jon Fancher, ’78, interim chaplain at the college. The ceremony also will feature a vocal performance by Lilly Ashe, ’26, a communication sciences and disorders major and music minor.

Tickets are required to enter the event and may be requested through a form on the commencement webpage. Families who cannot attend the event in person will be able to access a livestream of the ceremony. For more information on commencement and related events, visit www.wooster.edu/commencement.