UMass Boston

For two of this year’s honorees, the recognition carried an especially personal connection to UMass Boston. Gina McCarthy returned to her alma mater following a remarkable career in climate policy and public health. For Charles J. Hoff, the honor marked the latest chapter in a decades-long relationship with the university and its students, including hundreds whose educational journeys were made possible through his scholarship support.

A full recap of Commencement 2026 can be found on our university news site. Read all of the stories here.

A Lasting Connection

Gina McCarthy ’76, H’26
Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters

One of the nation’s most respected voices on climate change, environmental protection, and public health, McCarthy has spent her career turning urgent environmental challenges into practical, far-reaching policy. Her work has spanned local, state, national, and international leadership, including service in the administra­tions of five Massachusetts governors, leadership of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, and a tenure as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Barack Obama.

As EPA administrator, McCarthy helped advance stronger clean air standards, clean water protections, and the first national standards requiring reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel–powered energy plants. She also played a key role in international climate efforts that helped pave the way for the Paris Climate Agreement and the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol. Most recently, from January 2021 to September 2022, McCarthy served as the first White House National Climate Advisor, under President Joe Biden.

Before McCarthy helped lead the nation’s climate agenda, UMass Boston helped her imagine what was possible.

“UMass Boston teachers were passionate, patient, and persistent,” McCarthy said. “They opened our eyes to the pleasure of learning, writing, and reading. They built a foundation for us—they showed us that we could build ourselves a better future—one that I had only dared to imagine.”

Watching members of the Class of 2026 cross the commencement stage brought those memories rushing back. For McCarthy, the day was a reminder that UMass Boston continues to be a place where students work not only for their own futures, but for the communities and families they carry with them.

“Each one of those students worked hard to ensure a brighter, more just and equitable future for their families and for all of us,” she said. “They should be so proud.”

Charles J. Hoff H’26
Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters

Charles J. Hoff has spent much of his life creating opportunities for others.

A successful entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist, Hoff traces his success back to the education that first opened doors for him. Raised in a working-class family in Medford, Massachusetts, he became the first in his family to attend college, working summer jobs to help pay his way through what was then Lowell Tech, now UMass Lowell.

“If I didn’t go and get my education, I would never have had the opportunity,” Hoff said.

After graduating from UMass Lowell in 1966, Hoff went on to build a wide-ranging career in business and industry, beginning as an engineer and eventually rising to senior leadership roles, including senior vice president and CEO. Over the years, he became known for helping transform struggling companies into successful enterprises before moving into venture capital, entrepreneurship, and investment.

But even as his career grew, Hoff never forgot where he started.

Since the early 1990s, Hoff and his family have funded more than 3,000 scholarship awards throughout the University of Massachusetts system, including more than 500 to UMass Boston students. Along the way, he has met many scholarship recipients, heard their stories, and encouraged them to make the most of the opportunities before them.

“Education is a key to upward mobility,” Hoff said. “But it also gives you a much better quality of life.”

Over years of meeting UMass Boston scholarship recipients, Hoff came to see the university as a place where students from vastly different backgrounds came together to learn not only from their professors, but from one another.

“You get an education just going to class,” Hoff said. “Because one of the most important things to learn in life is about people.”

Hoff’s commitment to public higher education has been recognized across the UMass system, including by the UMass Boston students who named him an honorary member of their International Honor Society. He received UMass Lowell’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 1992 and the President’s Medal, the university’s highest honor, in 2008. He has also served on the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees, the University of Massachusetts Foundation Board of Directors, and the boards of UMass Memorial Health Care and Northeastern University.

Through his philanthropy, Hoff has helped make higher education more accessible for thousands of students—and has turned his own opportunity into a lasting legacy for others.