UB to hold 168th commencement ceremony on Sunday

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Some 5,500 students are candidates to receive degrees this year as the University at Buffalo holds its 168th general commencement ceremony at 10 a.m. Sunday, May 18, in Alumni Arena on the UB North Campus.

President Satish K. Tripathi will deliver remarks. Marjorie T. Breslawski of Brockport, a French, psychology and social sciences interdisciplinary major, is the student speaker.

The late Ralph Wilson Jr., founder and 54-year owner of the Buffalo Bills, will posthumously receive the Chancellor Charles P. Norton Medal, UB’s highest honor.

Nancy H. Nielsen, MD ’76, senior associate dean for health policy, UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and Robert Gioia, president of The John R. Oishei Foundation and chair of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation, will receive the UB President’s Medal in recognition of extraordinary service to the university.

Also during the ceremony, SUNY honorary doctorates will be presented to UB alumnus Ira Flatow, host of Public Radio International’s “Science Friday”; Jack Lightstone, president and vice chancellor of Brock University in St. Catharines; and UB alumnus Norman McCombs, recipient of the 2013 National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

Video footage of the commencement ceremony will be available to media after 4 p.m. at https://ubcfavideo.box.com/s/r644o3pknqn9y4nbc3ww.

Press arrangements: Patricia Donovan, onsite, at 716-628-0604.