UC Santa Cruz commencement ceremonies are scheduled for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 16–18, hosted by the campus's 10 colleges, graduate division, and Baskin School of Engineering.
A complete list of commencement events including times, locations, and speakers can be found online. Other celebrations organized by individual departments and resource centers will be held in the week ahead.
Approximately 3,000 students have applied to participate in college commencement ceremonies. More than 4,800 UCSC students are earning undergraduate and graduate degrees for work completed during the 2016–2017 academic year. A total of 4,170 students are candidates for bachelor degrees for work completed in the arts, engineering, humanities, physical and biological sciences, and social sciences. Spring candidates for bachelor degrees total 2,609, according to the UC Santa Cruz registrar’s office. Another 1,561 completed coursework and applied for their degree after the summer, fall, or winter quarters.
Additionally, 222 doctorates will be awarded for the 2016–2017 academic year; 140 for work completed in summer, fall, and winter quarters, and 82 to candidates who have applied for a June degree.
Another 362 graduate students are eligible to receive master’s degrees; 237 have been awarded already, 125 students have applied for spring. Approximately 150 graduate students are expected to participate in commencement ceremonies, Friday, June 16.
Seventy-six students are scheduled to complete UCSC’s education teaching credential and master’s degree program in late summer.
The ten colleges, the graduate division, and the Baskin School of Engineering have invited an array of speakers to share advice and wisdom with soon-to-be alumni.
Speakers include:
Friday, June 16
- Graduate Division—J. Josh Guevara (Ph.D, literature), City of Santa Cruz economic development manager
Saturday, June 17
- Porter College—Mark Jarman (Porter, ’74), Centennial Professor of English at Vanderbilt University
- Merrill College—Kris Perry (Merrill, ’86), a plaintiff in a lawsuit that overturned, Proposition 8, a 2008 California constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages
- Rachel Carson College—Deborah Moore, western states senior campaign manager at the Union of Concerned Scientists
- Cowell College—Todd Thorpe (Cowell, ’02), core course instructor for the past six years
- Oakes College—Nicole Lee (Oakes, ’98), executive director of Urban Peace Movement, an organization that uses a model called “Healing Centered Youth Organizing” to build youth leadership in Oakland
- Kresge College—Catherine S. Ramirez, associate professor of Latin American and Latino Studies and director of the Chicano Latino Research Center at UC Santa Cruz
Sunday, June 18
- Crown College—John Laird (’72, Stevenson), California Secretary for Natural Resources
- College Nine—Mark Fathi Massoud, associate professor of politics and legal studies and award-winning author at UC Santa Cruz
- Stevenson College—Alice Mead, vice president at Greenwich Biosciences
- College Ten—Terisa Siagatonu, award-winning poet, arts educator, and community organizer in Bay Area
- Baskin School of Engineering—Bud Colligan, co-founder and co-chair of the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership
