Media Advisory: Thousands of UB students to take part in commencement ceremonies

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Thousands of University at Buffalo students will don caps and gowns this week as families fly in from around the world to attend UB’s commencement celebrations.

More than a dozen ceremonies will be held over the course of the next week and a half, with the largest being the 170th University Commencement at 10 a.m. on Sunday, May 15 at Alumni Arena on UB’s North Campus.

About 1,450 students will participate in University Commencement, and some 5,846 students are graduating from UB.

At University Commencement, UB President Satish K. Tripathi will deliver remarks. Yong Han Dorminic Ong will be the student speaker.

Paras Prasad, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Physics, Medicine and Electrical Engineering, and Claude E. Welch Jr., SUNY Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science, will receive the UB President’s Medal.

Receiving SUNY honorary degrees will be Leslie G. Ford, associate director for clinical research for the National Cancer Institute’s Division of Cancer Prevention, and Helene D. Gayle, chief executive officer of the McKinsey Social Initiative.

Tripathi will confer bachelor’s and associate degrees from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Thirty-five students will receive special recognition during the ceremony.

Anne E. Morris will receive the Student Affairs Senior Leadership Award.

Students receiving the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence are Caroline D. Brown, Ashley E. Cercone, Max F. Crinnin, Elizabeth A. Kaltenbach, Minahil Khan, Natasha Singh and Alexandra K. Van Hall.

Graduates receiving the Outstanding Senior Award from the College of Arts and Sciences are:

• Ashley E. Cercone, Anthropology;
• Amanda Killian, Art;
• Daniel G. Beyer, Asian Studies;
• Kenneth W. Minorczyk Jr., Biological Sciences;
• Alexandra K. Van Hall, Chemistry;
• Elizabeth A. Hunter, Classics;
• Kelsey L. Gage, Communication;
• Caroline D. Brown, Communicative Disorders and Sciences;
• Laura M. Mannara, Economics;
• Max F. Crinnin, English;
• Anna M. Kozlowski, Geography;
• Ryan Till, Geology;
• Shaina S. Ahmed, History;
• Rachel M. Boerschig, Linguistics;
• Jessica L. Eisenhauer, Mathematics;
• Katherine M. Van Deusen, Media Study;
• Ellen Aroune, Music;
• Isaac N. Berger, Philosophy;
• Geoffrey L. Fatin, Physics;
• Sarah I. Shafik, Political Science;
• Shereen Khoo, Psychology;
• Blake Cooper, Romance Languages and Literatures;
• Yarden Abittan, Social Sciences Interdisciplinary;
• Bridget T. Scott, Sociology;
• Yun Beom Lee, Special Studies;
• Chase D.H. Brooks, Theatre and Dance; and
• Inbal G. Fischer, Transnational Studies.

Vocalists are Jordon T. Hoffman, Sean P. Ryan and Paul E. Urriola, all of whom will receive degrees in music theatre.

The commencement season began on April 29 with the ceremony for the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. The School of Dental Medicine held its commencement celebration on May 6.

The remainder of the commencement schedule:

• Graduate School of Education: 9 a.m. on Friday, May 13, Center for the Arts.
• School of Nursing: 10 a.m. on Friday, May 13, Alumni Arena. The speaker is Mary Garlick Roll, MS ’88 & BS ’84, national director and clinical trials liaison for Halozyme Therapeutics Inc., and president of the UB Alumni Association.
• College of Arts and Sciences (graduate): 1 p.m. on Friday, May 13, Center for the Arts.
• School of Architecture and Planning: 5 p.m. on Friday, May 13, Center for the Arts. The speaker is Toshiko Mori, principal of the New York-based Toshiko Mori Architect. Mori, the Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, designed the visitor center at the Darwin Martin House in Buffalo.
• School of Management (graduate): 5 p.m. on Friday, May 13, Alumni Arena.
• School of Social Work: 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 14, Center for the Arts. Shauna O’Toole, LGBTQ outreach educator at the LGBTQ Center of the Finger Lakes, will speak.
• School of Management (undergraduate): 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 14, Alumni Arena.
• School of Public Health and Health Professions: 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 14, Center for the Arts. Helene Gayle, chief executive officer of the McKinsey Social Initiative and SUNY honorary degree recipient, will speak.
• School of Engineering and Applied Sciences: 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 14, Alumni Arena. Norman Hayes, BS ’80, director of ASIC engineering at Juniper Networks Inc., will speak.
• School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences: 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 14, Center for the Arts. The speaker will be Tricia Lee Wilkins, pharmacy adviser and health IT specialist in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
• Biomedical Sciences (undergraduate and graduate, including Roswell Park Graduate Division): 2 p.m. on Monday, May 16, Center for the Arts. The speaker will be Dyann Wirth, the Richard Pearson Strong Professor of Infectious Diseases and chair of the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
• Educational Opportunity Center: 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 18, Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall.
• School of Law: 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, Center for the Arts. Robert Odawa Porter, an attorney, legal scholar and former president of the Seneca Nation, will speak.