Commencement 2016: Here’s What You Need to Know

Commencement will take place on Sunday, May 15, in the Carrier Dome.

Commencement is almost here. Prepare yourself with the facts for all the pomp and circumstance to come.

Syracuse University’s 162nd Commencement will take place Sunday, May 15, beginning with the degree candidates procession at 9:30 a.m.

Donald E. Newhouse ’51, president of Advance Publications, will deliver the Commencement address.

Syracuse University will confer 5,470 degrees, which are the bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and associate’s degree candidates. The College of Law will confer 168 juris doctor and 33 master of law degrees during a ceremony Friday, May 13. The College of Law’s speaker will be Vice President Joe Biden L’68.

Syracuse University Chancellor and President Kent Syverud and SUNY ESF President Quentin D. Wheeler will address the graduates. Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost Elizabeth Liddy will preside.

The University will award honorary degrees to four recipients: Kevin Bell ’74, president and CEO of Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoological Society; Floyd Little ’67, one of Syracuse’s all-time great running backs and currently special assistant to the Syracuse University athletics director; Newhouse; and Tobias Wolff, the Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Professor in the Humanities at Stanford University and a Syracuse University faculty member from 1980-1997.

The two all-University Senior Class Marshals, Alexis Peña and Tatiana Williams, will lead graduates during the ceremony. Peña is a biomedical engineering major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Williams is a social work major in the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, with a minor in psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Along with the all-University marshals, 23 student marshals will represent the 13 schools and colleges at Syracuse University; ESF is represented by two student marshals. They were chosen on the basis of leadership abilities, participation in extracurricular activities, service to the University and academic achievement. The marshals will lead the degree candidates of their respective schools or colleges.

Twelve seniors have been designated as Syracuse University Scholars and three as SUNY ESF Scholars. This is the highest academic award given to undergraduate students. Kaitlyn Elizabeth Hobson ’16 was selected as this year’s speaker on behalf of the Class of 2016.

Nancy Weatherly Sharp, professor emerita of newspaper journalism in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, will serve as mace bearer and lead the academic procession. The University Marshal is Shiu-Kai Chin, Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence and professor of electrical engineering and computer science in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Associate University Marshal is Kelly Chandler-Olcott, Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence and professor and chair of reading and language arts in the School of Education.

The Army and Air Force ROTC cadets will present the colors.

The invocation will be given by Hendricks Chapel Interim Dean Samuel Clemence.

Also during the ceremony, 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 Board of Trustees Chairman Steven W. Barnes.

The Syracuse University Brass Ensemble will perform under the direction of James Spencer, professor of chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences. The national anthem will be sung by Kirstin Ariel Marsh G’16 and Maria Whitcomb ’16 will sing the alma mater.

The Commencement ceremony will be streamed live at commencement.syr.edu/livestream. The stream will go live shortly before the ceremony begins.

Celebrate Commencement on social media using the hashtag #SUGrad16. Check out http://socialmedia.syr.edu/sugrad16/ to see the highlights.

WSYR-TV digital 9.2 (Time Warner Ch. 890 and Verizon FiOS 470) will also broadcast the majority of the ceremony, beginning at 9:30 a.m.

Video and photography will be posted at https://news.syr.edu.

More information about Commencement 2016 can be found at http://commencement.syr.edu.