UCSD’s commencement weekend will kick off June 11 with the All Campus Commencement featuring keynote speaker Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient and founder of the global microfinance movement. The event, at 10 a.m. on Saturday, at RIMAC Field will mark the first time in 16 years that UC San Diego will convene all of its graduating undergraduate and graduate students for a campuswide commencement ceremony. “We are confident the UC San Diego class of 2016 will have a positive impact on our world,” said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “Our students and alumni are courageous and inventive, they push boundaries and challenge expectations, much like our keynote speaker for the All Campus Commencement, Muhammad Yunus. We are pleased to have Yunus address all of our graduating students, as he embodies UC San Diego’s ideals of public service, social mobility and global citizenship.” Yunus will encourage UC San Diego students to use their creativity to be a job creator, not a job seeker, as he believes everyone is an entrepreneur, whether they realize it or not. “I would say it is in human DNA to be go-getters and problem solvers which we call entrepreneurship,” he recently told Biz News.com. “I believe human beings are born with unlimited creative capacity.” Following the ceremony, the campus’s six undergraduate colleges, two professional schools and various graduate programs will host personalized graduation events where students will walk across stage as their names are read. Saturday, June 11
Graduate Division, 1:30 p.m.: The Graduate Division commencement ceremony is set to take place inside RIMAC Arena with 1,820 graduates and 2,000 guests. Of the new graduates, 1,275 will receive master’s degrees and 545 will receive doctoral degrees. The keynote speaker is superintendent Cindy Marten, who earned a master of arts in education studies from UC San Diego in 1995. Total number of graduates: 1,820.
Warren College, 2 p.m.: Earl Warren College will hold its ceremony for about 900 graduating students and 5,000 guests. Graduating senior Veronica Bradley, who is earning a bachelor’s degree in bioengineering, will deliver the keynote speech. Total graduates: 900.
Sixth College, 5:30 p.m.: Keynote speaker and alumnus Jameson Rogers will address approximately 1,000 graduating students and 5,000 guests. Jameson, who attended Sixth College and earned a bioengineering degree from the campus in 2008, is a biotechnologist and data scientist. He was named a member of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and is the author of several scientific articles and patents. Total graduates: 1,000. Sunday, June 12
Thurgood Marshall College, 8 a.m.: Marshall College will honor 1,050 graduates with more than 5,000 guests on RIMAC Field. The keynote speaker will be John Marshall, son of Justice Thurgood Marshall, who is former Virginia secretary of public safety and senior advisor to the national Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which provides resources and scholarships to students at historically black colleges and universities. Total number of graduates: 1,050.
Rady School of Management, 9:30 a.m.: Inside RIMAC Arena, two alumni who earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Rady School in 2006 will deliver commencement addresses to 400 guests and the school’s 169 graduates, of which 98 are earning MBAs, four are receiving doctorates in management and 77 are receiving a Master of Finance. The speakers are Ciara Kennedy, chief operating officer of Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, and Sean McCarthy, chief executive officer of CytomX Therapeutics Inc. Total number of graduates: 169.
Revelle College, 11:30 a.m.: Alumnus Philip Wang will address about 850 Revelle College graduating students and more than 5,000 guests. Wang graduated from UC San Diego in 2006 where he earned a bachelor’s degree in visual arts. While attending UC San Diego, Wang met Wesley Chan and Ted Fu, also visual arts majors, and together the three alumni run Wong Fu Productions. The growing independent production company has a well-known YouTube channel with more than 2.5 million subscribers and has garnered over 200 million views of short films, music videos and video blogs from its large and loyal fan base. Total number of graduates: 850.
School of Global Policy and Strategy, 12:30 p.m.: The School of Global Policy and Strategy will bestow 105 Masters of International Affairs, six Masters of Pacific International Affairs, 33 Masters of Advanced Studies in International Affairs as well as six joint Bachelors of Arts in international studies and Master of International Affairs degrees to graduates. The graduating students and more than 700 guests will gather inside RIMAC Arena to listen to Tom Malinowski, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor. Total number of graduates: 150.
Roosevelt College, 2:30 p.m.: Some 990 graduates and about 8,000 guests will gather to hear the commencement speech from UC San Diego graduating senior Megan Ludington. Ludington developed a strong sense of global citizenship from a very young age. She spent the majority of her childhood in Russia and Uzbekistan, traveling to over twenty countries before she was 18. She is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in public health, with a minor in global health. Total number of graduates: 990.
Muir College, 5:30 p.m.: Graduating Muir seniors Peter Levin and Hope Aleta Czbas will deliver the keynote speeches to the college’s 940 graduating students and about 4,000 guests. Total number of graduates: 940.