Graduates get ready to celebrate your achievements with pomp and circumstance at Commencement 2021! Here are the details of this weekend’s ceremonies:
Based on public health guidance, Syracuse University will host three Commencement ceremonies in the stadium:
All graduates and guests are required to have a ticket to enter the stadium. For more information on parking, pre-event testing/vaccination compliance and safety protocols, please visit the Commencement website.
Live video streams will be broadcast for the Commencement ceremonies. Video will be available online after the events. All school and college convocations also will be presented virtually at 11 a.m. ET on Saturday, May 22, and videos will be posted online after the events. More information about how to access the virtual convocations can be found on the Commencement website. The College of Law held its virtual Commencement exercises during a ceremony Saturday, May 8.
Syracuse University will confer about 6,800 degrees, including bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, juris doctor and master of laws degrees.
During Commencement, Syracuse University Chancellor and President Kent Syverud will address the graduates and confer degrees. Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost Zhanjiang (John) Liu will give the welcome.
The University will award honorary degrees to Mary Schmidt Campbell G’73, G’82, president of Spelman College and dean emerita of the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University; Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Peggy Combs ’85, former chief of staff, North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, and commanding general of Fort Knox, Kentucky; and Joseph A. Strasser ’53, G’58, retired budget officer for Savannah, Georgia, and Jacksonville, Florida, and retired finance officer in the U.S. Army.
Board of Trustees Chair Kathleen Walters ’73 will offer greetings to graduates and their families. The academic deans will also give a congratulatory message.
Bea González G’04, former vice president for community engagement, special assistant to the chancellor and dean of University College, will serve as mace bearer.
Tadodaho Sidney Hill, of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, will give the Thanksgiving Address. The Rev. Brian E. Konkol, dean of Hendricks Chapel, will give the invocation.
Also during the ceremonies, retiring faculty members who have been recommended to receive the title of emeritus by the University Senate to the Syracuse University Board of Trustees will be recognized by LaVonda N. Reed, associate provost for faculty affairs and professor of law.
The Syracuse University Commencement Ensemble from the Setnor School of Music will perform under the direction of conductors Bradley P. Ethington and Timothy W. Diem.
The national anthem will be sung by Claire Nolan ’21, from the College of Visual and Performing Arts, and Matthew Clemens ’21, Victoria Munley ’21, Nolan and Nicholas Peta ’20, all from the College of Visual and Performing Arts, will sing the alma mater.
Undergraduate ceremonies
The Class of 2021 is represented by two senior class marshals: Alaba Danagogo, in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Paige Kloss, in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. Along with the all-University marshals, 23 student marshals represent the 13 schools and colleges at Syracuse University.
Twelve seniors have been designated as Syracuse University Scholars. This is the highest academic award given to undergraduate students. The student speaker is Simran V. Mirchandani, a University Scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences and Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.
Graduate and law ceremony
Graduate Student Marshal Rikki Hope Sargent will be the student speaker at the graduate and law ceremony.
#SUGrad21 GIF Stickers
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More information about Commencement 2021 can be found at commencement.syr.edu.
