UB to hold commencement ceremonies

Some 6,340 students are candidates to receive 6,831 degrees and certificates during UB’s 2023 commencement ceremonies being held April 28 through May 21.

Commencement season began on April 28 with the ceremony for students graduating from the MD program in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. The speaker was Eric J. Rubin, editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine and professor in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The event was the Jacob School’s 177th annual commencement ceremony.

The remainder of the commencement schedule:

• School of Dental Medicine: 3 p.m. May 5, Center for the Arts, North Campus. The speaker will be Frank Scannapieco, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Oral Biology and associate dean for faculty and professional development in the dental school. President Satish K. Tripathi will confer degrees.
• School of Public Health and Health Professions: 5 p.m. May 18, Alumni Arena, North Campus. The speaker will be Natalie Barnhard, founder of the Motion Project. Tripathi will confer degrees.
• Graduate School of Education: 9 a.m. May 19, Center for the Arts. No speaker is planned. Tripathi will confer degrees.
  
• School of Nursing: 9 a.m. May 19, Alumni Arena. No speaker is planned. Provost A. Scott Weber will confer degrees.
• College of Arts and Sciences (graduate): 1 p.m. May 19, Center for the Arts. No formal speaker is planned. The UB President’s Medal will be presented to Oren R. Lyons, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of American Studies. Agnes Williams, MA ’91, internationally regarded advocate for Indigenous rights and environmental justice, will receive a SUNY honorary degree. Tripathi will confer degrees.
• School of Management (undergraduate): 1 p.m. May 19, Alumni Arena. No speaker is planned. Weber will confer degrees.
• School of Architecture and Planning: 5 p.m. May 19, Center for the Arts. The speaker will be Robert G. Shibley, dean and SUNY Distinguished Professor. Tripathi will confer degrees.
• School of Management (graduate): 5 p.m. May 19, Alumni Arena. No speaker is planned. Weber will confer degrees.
• School of Social Work: 9 a.m. May 20, Center for the Arts. Speaking will be Hilary Weaver, chair of the board of the Council on Social Work Education and a former UB social work faculty member. Weber will confer degrees.
• School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (graduate 1): 9 a.m. May 20, Alumni Arena. No speaker is planned. The Charles P. Norton Medal, UB’s highest honor, will be presented to Marcus Yam, ’06, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. Tripathi will confer degrees.
• School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (graduate 2): 1 p.m. May 20, Alumni Arena. Providing a video message for graduates will be Laura Pyrak-Nolte, recipient of the SEAS Dean’s Award for Achievement and Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University. Tripathi will confer degrees.
• School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences: 5 p.m. May 20, Center for the Arts. Speaking will be Kari Mergenhagen, Infectious Diseases Pharmacy manager, VA Western New York Healthcare System. Weber will confer degrees.
• School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (undergraduate): 5 p.m. May 20, Alumni Arena. No speaker is planned. Tripathi will confer degrees.
• Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (undergraduate and graduate, including Roswell Park Graduate Division): 9:30 a.m. May 21, Center for the Arts. The speaker will be Arturo Casadevall, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor and chair, Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology, Johns Hopkins University. Weber will confer degrees.
• College of Arts and Sciences (undergraduate arts, natural sciences and mathematics): 9:30 a.m. May 21, Alumni Arena. No speaker is planned. Tripathi will confer degrees.
• College of Arts and Sciences (undergraduate humanities and social sciences): 3 p.m. May 21, Alumni Arena. No speaker is planned. Tripathi will confer degrees.
• School of Law: 3 p.m. May 21, Center for the Arts. The speaker will be Rose Sconiers, retired associate justice, New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Department. Weber will confer degrees.
• The university is also holding several university-wide recognition and certificate ceremonies. The first, the Veterans and Military Recognition Ceremony honoring graduating UB students who are reservists, members of the National Guard, newly commissioned officers or veterans of the U.S. armed forces, was held on April 27. The speaker was Maureen Casey, chief operating officer, Institute for Veterans and Military Families.

Other recognition events:

• Lavender Ceremony celebrating the achievements of graduating students who identify with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community at UB: 3 p.m. May 12, Student Union.
• Educational Opportunity Center, 7 p.m. May 17, EOC, 555 Ellicott St., Buffalo. The speaker will be David Scott, chief diversity officer and director of the Department of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Monroe County. Scott was formerly director of diversity, equity and inclusion for Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.
• ALANA Celebration of Achievement honoring graduating ALANA (African, Latino/a, Asian and Native American) students: 2 p.m. May 18, Center for the Arts. The speaker will be Adriana “Adri V.” Viverette, founder and creator of “The Go Getta Mix.” Tripathi will deliver remarks.
• University Honors College, 7:30 p.m. May 18, Center for the Arts. Speaking will be UB alumna Regina Campbell-Malone, a science teacher at Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, Mass.