Commencement Exercises Begin This Week at UC Davis

This spring 5,098 graduates are expected to receive diplomas at the University of California, Davis, in a series of commencement exercises that begins Saturday, May 18, and ends Sunday, June 16, as individuals graduate from three colleges and four professional schools. The number of students expected to complete their undergraduate studies this spring comes to 2,317, bringing the total number of undergraduate diplomas awarded this academic year to 3,797. The number of students receiving graduate or professional degrees is 1,301. The first ceremony of the spring is for the School of Law, which has 149 candidates eligible for doctor of law degrees. The commencement program will take place Saturday, May 18, at 10:30 a.m. in Recreation Hall. Attorney General Janet Reno will deliver the commencement address. As attorney general, Reno is the highest-ranking law enforcement official in the nation and heads the United States Department of Justice. On Friday, June 7, the School of Medicine will award Doctor of Medicine degrees to 82 students at a 6 p.m. ceremony in the Health Sciences Quadrangle. Dr. Robert E. Quadro, clinical associate in internal medicine at the medical school and medical director of the Mercy Hospital Hospice Program, will be the keynote speaker. The School of Veterinary Medicine will hold its graduation ceremony Saturday, June 8, at 10 a.m. in Recreation Hall. Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degrees will be awarded to 123 students. In addition, 17 students will receive a Master of Preventive Veterinary Medicine degree and 28 students will receive certificates of residency. Richard A. LeCouteur, UC Davis professor of veterinary neurology and neurosurgery, will be the faculty speaker. Eleven of the students will also receive a bachelor of science in veterinary medicine. (These are students who entered veterinary school before receiving an undergraduate degree. Concurrently with their course work in veterinary school they completed requirements for their bachelor's degrees and will be awarded bachelor of science degrees). On Thursday, June 13, Graduate Studies will award 838 graduate degrees to students in a 6:30 p.m. ceremony in Recreation Hall. Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Robert Grey will preside over the graduation ceremony. During the evening event, 452 master's degrees and 386 doctorates will be awarded to students. The College of Engineering will give diplomas to 343 students in a ceremony Friday, June 14, at 6:30 p.m. in Recreation Hall. Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Robert Grey will preside over the graduation ceremony. Darren Mack, a civil and environmental engineering major, will be the student commencement speaker. The Graduate School of Management will hold its graduation ceremony Saturday, June 15, in Freeborn Hall, awarding Master of Business Administration degrees to 64 students at 10 a.m. Charles J. Soderquist, president of Technology Development Center, will be the commencement speaker. The Division of Biological Sciences will hold its graduation ceremony for 686 students who are expected to graduate on Saturday, June 15. (These biological science majors are included in the number of graduating seniors provided by the College of Letters and Science and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.) Deborah J. Neff, president of Becton Dickinson Immunocytometry Systems, will be the commencement speaker. Neff is a UC Davis alumna, having earned a bachelor's of science degree in physiology in 1976. Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef will preside at the ceremony at 9 a.m. in Recreation Hall. On Saturday, June 15, approximately 1,267 students in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are expected to receive their bachelor's degrees at 2:30 p.m. in Recreation Hall. W.R. Gomes, University of California vice president of the agriculture and natural resources division, and director of the University of California systemwide Cooperative Extension, will be the commencement speaker. Vanderhoef will preside at the college's commencement program. The final ceremony of the spring will be on Sunday, June 16, approximately 2,187 students in the College of Letters and Science are expected to graduate in two separate programs in Recreation Hall. Pearl T. Robinson, director of the international relations program and associate professor of political science at Tufts University and an adjunct associate professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy, will be the commencement speaker at the morning program, which begins at 9 a.m. Angel Martinez, president and chief operating officer of Rockport Co. and alumnus of UC Davis, will be the afternoon commencement speaker beginning at 2:30 p.m.

Media Resources

Julia Ann Easley, General news (emphasis: business, K-12 outreach, education, law, government and student affairs), 530-752-8248, jaeasley@ucdavis.edu