Media Advisory: UB to hold commencement ceremonies this weekend

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Thousands of undergraduate and graduate students will don caps and gowns this weekend during the University at Buffalo's 2017 commencement ceremonies.

Some 5,894 students will receive degrees and certifications during ceremonies being held through May 24.

Among this year's highlights:

• Marc Edwards, BS '86, the Virginia Tech civil engineering professor credited with uncovering the water contamination in Flint, Michigan, and Seong-Kon Kim, president of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea, will receive SUNY honorary degrees as part of the ceremony honoring graduate students from the College of Arts and Sciences at 1 p.m. May 19 in the Center for the Arts.
• The Chancellor Charles P. Norton Medal, UB's highest award, will be presented posthumously to Mark J. Czarnecki, former vice chair of the UB Council and president and COO of M&T Bank at the School of Management's undergraduate commencement ceremony at 9 a.m. May 20 in Alumni Arena.
• Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul will speak at the UB School of Law's commencement ceremony to be held at 3 p.m. May 21 in the Center for the Arts. In addition, Francis M. Letro, chair of the UB Foundation, will receive the UB President's Medal.

UB will no longer hold its traditional University Commencement, instead splitting the large ceremony honoring College of Arts and Sciences baccalaureate recipients into two separate ceremonies differentiated by departments, which will be held at 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. May 21 in Alumni Arena. University officials determined that Alumni Arena, the site of University Commencement, is no longer able to accommodate the growing numbers of graduates and their family members in one ceremony.

The entire UB commencement schedule is available here: http://www.buffalo.edu/ubnow/stories/2017/04/commencement-schedule.html.