Spring 2026 Commencement Speakers
Senator Bill Monning (ret), California State Senate Majority Leader Emeritus, is an attorney, mediator, and professor who served on the faculty at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS) from 1991-2008.
At MIIS, Professor Monning taught international negotiation and conflict resolution and served for two years as the director of the Program on Trade and Commercial Diplomacy. During his time with MIIS, Monning worked as a consultant with the United Nations Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the International Institute for Mediation and Conflict Resolution (IIMCR). He received two Fulbright Scholar awards to teach and conduct research in Peru and Chile.
During his years with MIIS, Monning was a co-founder of Global Majority, Inc., which included MIIS students, faculty, and international partners committed to education, training, and advocacy in non-violent conflict resolution. Global Majority convened training programs in the Middle East, South Africa, Chile, and with the Monterey County Office of Education.
Monning was the founding executive director of the Mandell-Gisnet Center for Conflict Management at Monterey College of Law where continues as a distinguished professor of law.
Prior to his work with MIIS, Monning served as the executive director of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) and the Salvadoran Medical Relief Fund (SMRF). He worked as an attorney with the United Farm Workers Union and as a directing attorney of the Migrant Farmworker Project with California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA).
Senator Monning was elected to the California State Assembly (2008) and the California State Senate (2012) where he was selected as Majority Leader from 2014 to 2019. His legislative accomplishments include co-authoring the End of Life Options Act (2015) and the Safe, Clean, Drinking Water Act (2019). He had over one hundred bills signed into law with a focus on labor rights, environment, education, and. healthcare. His Senate district included Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo counties and parts of Monterey and Santa Clara counties.
Monning received an A.B. in the Dynamics of International Development at U.C. Berkeley (1972) and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Francisco (1976).
He lives in Carmel, CA with his wife, Dana Kent, M.D. They have two daughters and four grandchildren.
The Student Commencement Speaker will be voted on by fellow graduates and announced in April. Details about nominations for the Student Speaker will be shared soon.