In-person spring commencement ceremonies set to return to UC Merced this weekend
.JPG "UC Merced has announced it will hold in-person ceremonies in 2022, more than two years after the COVID pandemic changed graduation ceremonies. Shown here, a photo of UC Merced’s graduation ceremony years before COVID.")
Two years after the COVID-19 pandemic largely put traditional college graduations on hold, UC Merced this weekend is scheduled to hold in-person spring commencement ceremonies for its graduates.
The weekend of events is an important moment for the university, which for the last two years held its spring commencement virtually.
The campus expects to graduate 1,460 total students this year, compared to roughly 1,000 students each of the last two years.
“We are proud of all these young people who worked so diligently, with the support of their families, their friends and outstanding faculty, to earn their degrees,” said UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sanchez Munoz, said in a news release.
“This campus weekend will be a great celebration of their accomplishments and a fitting start to the lives of success upon which they will embark.”
This year’s graduating class will walk in ceremonies on Saturday and Sunday. The School of Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts is scheduled to have its ceremony 10 a.m. Saturday, May 14 on the Bobcat Recreation Fields.
The School of Engineering and the School of Natural Sciences is scheduled to have its ceremony 10 a.m. Sunday, May 15, also on the schools’ recreation field.
There will also be commencement ceremonies for the school’s two graduating classes for years 2020 and 2021. That event is set for 6 p.m. Friday, May 13 at 6 p.m. on the Bobcat Recreation Fields.
Speakers this year include Cathryn Flores, a graduating senior who will present her speech on Saturday. UC Board of Regents Chairman Emeritus Fred Ruiz will speak at the social sciences, humanities and arts ceremony and UC Regents Chair Cecilia Estolano will speak at the engineering and natural sciences ceremony.
UC Merced hosted an in-person graduation ceremony in December for students who graduated at the end of the fall 2021 semester, although students who finished coursework for their degrees in summer 2021 were also invited to participate in the winter ceremony.
The December commencement was the first in-person graduation ceremony overall that the university was able to host since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s on the minds of students,” said Josue Herrera, a sophomore UC Merced student, of the upcoming commencement weekend. “I know people who are finding ways for their families to stay for graduation.”
As the university moves towards bringing back in-person activities on campus, students are looking forward to graduation celebrations and get-togethers, Herrera said.
“One of my teammates parents’ rented an AirBnB and they’re going to have a graduation celebration,” Herrera said.
This story was originally published May 9, 2022 at 12:56 PM.