UNR to award most-ever degrees through four Spring Commencement ceremonies

The University of Nevada, Reno’s 128th Commencement will confer 3,137 degrees, the largest amount of degrees conferred in one semester. The commencement exercises will take place over four ceremonies in three days: Thursday, May 17; Friday, May 18 and Saturday, May 19 and will be on the University’s historic Quad, located on the southern part of campus.

Each ceremony focuses on particular colleges, and both undergraduate and graduate degrees for each of those colleges will be granted.

— 5 p.m. Thursday, May 17: College of Engineering, Orvis School of Nursing and College of Science

— 8 a.m. Friday, May 18: College of Business, School of Community Health Sciences, Division of Health Sciences (Social Work) and School of Medicine (Speech Pathology)

— 5 p.m. Friday, May 18: College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources and College of Education

— 8 a.m. Saturday, May 19: College of Liberal Arts and Reynolds School of Journalism

Students receiving dual degrees may participate in more than one ceremony.

The Herz Gold Medal for Outstanding Scholarship will be awarded to Allison Monterey Blair, anthropology and English dual-major with minors in historic preservation and museum studies, during Saturday morning’s ceremony. Friday afternoon, John Farahi and Stacie Mathewson will be honored with Honorary Degrees and John Kenneth Creighton will be awarded the President’s Medal, which was introduced at the inauguration of President Joseph Crowley in 1979. Also, on Friday afternoon, Frank McCulloch and Joyce Anderson Bock will be honored as Distinguished Nevadans. The Distinguished Nevadan represents the most prestigious award conferred by the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

New this year is the Paul and Judy Bible University Teaching Excellence Award. The award will be given to Candice Bauer, College of Engineering faculty member, during Thursday evening’s ceremony.

During the University’s Commencement ceremonies this year, 2,519 bachelor degrees, 549 advanced-degrees (master’s and doctoral degrees) and 69 University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine degrees will be awarded. The University awarded 2,808 total degrees last spring and has seen a 50-percent increase in degrees conferred since 2010 due to increased enrollment and improved graduation rates.

Free public parking is available in the West Stadium Parking Complex and the Blue and Green surface lots on the north end of campus. Shuttles will be available two hours before each ceremony. The Brian J. Whalen Parking Complex will be available for handicap parking. Due to increased traffic seen around Commencement ceremonies, the public is strongly encouraged to allow extra time and arrive early.

The Nevada Wolf Shop inside the Joe Crowley Student Union will be open from 7:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. Thursday, May 17; 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. Friday, May 18 and from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m. Saturday, May 19.

Several special programs on campus surround the University of Nevada, Reno’s 2018 Spring Commencement:
Cultural Graduate Celebrations honor the diversity of students. Organized through The Center Every Student. Every Story., these celebrations recognize the cultures students brought with them to the University and shared during their time on campus.

Lavender Graduate Celebration
6 p.m. May 8, 2018 – The ceremony will take place in the Theatre at the Joe Crowley Student Union followed by a reception in the Great Room

American Indian/Alaska Native Graduate Celebration
6 p.m. May 10, 2018 in Ballrooms A and B at the Joe Crowley Student Union

Latinx Graduate Celebration
6 p.m. May 11, 2018 in Ballrooms A, B, C at the Joe Crowley Student Union

Asian American/Pacific Islander Graduate Celebration
6 p.m. May 15, 2018 – The ceremony will take place in the Theatre at the Joe Crowley Student Union followed by a reception in the Great Room

African Diaspora Graduate Celebration
5 p.m. May 16, 2018, in Ballrooms A, B, C at the Joe Crowley Student Union

Honor the Best recognizes top students, faculty and staff. The award ceremony will be from 3-5 p.m. Tuesday, May 15, in the Joe Crowley Student Union’s Milt Glick Ballroom.

The Senior Scholars Banquet recognizes outstanding seniors and their faculty mentors at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 16, at the Joe Crowley Student Union, Ballroom C.

The Orvis School of Nursing Convocation, at 9 a.m. Thursday, May 17, in the Joe Crowley Student Union’s Milt Glick Ballroom, is a pinning/hooding and awards ceremony for undergraduate, masters and doctorate of nursing practice nursing students.

Women in Science & Engineering Grad Ceremony & Reception is from 9-10 a.m. Thursday, May 17, in the Davidson Math and Science Auditorium, room 110.

The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine Academic Hooding Ceremony is at 1 p.m. Friday, May 18, at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts. The media contact for this event is Tessa Bowen, 775-682-9254.

View additional commencement-related celebrations and ceremonies here.

A mobile-friendly live-stream of all four ceremonies will be available at unr.edu/live. Closed captioning on mobile devices and unr.edu/live for the hearing impaired will also be available and can be accessed through a QR code provided at the event.

The University’s commencement ceremony will again feature two 20-foot-wide by 10-foot-tall screens, flanking both sides of the stage. The purpose of the screens is twofold; give more people the ability to better see what is taking place and provide closed captions of the event to better serve attendees.

University graduates and their families are encouraged to join the commencement conversations online by using the hashtag #PackPride.

For additional information, including parking maps and directions, please visit unr.edu/commencement.

— Nicole Shearer is a Communications Officer for the University of Nevada, Reno. She can be reached at nshearer@unr.edu