Binghamton University Commencement Weekend 2017
Eight ceremonies will be held over three days, May 19-21
Binghamton University will confer nearly 3,700 degrees for bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral candidates during Commencement 2017 ceremonies. Approximately 3,000 of the degrees awarded will be baccalaureate degrees, with nearly 600 master’s candidates expected to cross the stage. One hundred doctoral candidates will be hooded.
Each school and college will have its own ceremony, with Harpur College of Arts and Sciences holding three ceremonies to accommodate all of its graduates. The Graduate School will hold its ceremony at 3:30 p.m. Friday, May 19, in the Events Center. With the exception of the Decker School of Nursing and the College of Community and Public Affairs, all master’s candidates will be recognized at the Graduate School ceremony, when doctoral candidates will also be hooded.
Four honorary doctorates will be awarded at the Graduate School ceremony, three of them to Binghamton University alumni. The Doctor of Humane Letters will be awarded to Easter Island archaeologist Sergio Rapu Haoa, who will speak at the ceremony. The Doctor of Letters will be awarded to award-winning author, playwright and translator Nathan Englander ’91, sportswriter, author and broadcaster Tony Kornheiser ’70 and Geraldine MacDonald ’68, MS ’73, retired senior vice president for AOL.
MacDonald will speak at the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science ceremony at 8 a.m. Saturday, May 20; Kornheiser will speak at the Harpur College ceremony at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, May 21; and Englander will speak at the Harpur College ceremony at noon Sunday, May 21.
The 2017 Commencement ceremonies will all to be held in the Events Center as follows:
Friday, May 19
• 3:30 p.m. - Graduate School
Honorary degree recipient remarks: Sergio Rapu Haoa
Saturday, May 20
• 8 a.m. - Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science
Student speakers: Stephanie Tsalwa and Danielle Goldinsky
Honorary degree recipient remarks: Geraldine MacDonald ’68, MS ’73
• 11:30 a.m. - College of Community and Public Affairs/Graduate School of Education
Student speakers: Amber Decker, Jacqueline Mamorsky and Peter Gierlach
• 3 p.m. - School of Management
Student speaker: William Rayfield
Alumni award recipient remarks: Thomas J. Porcelli Jr., managing director and chief U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets
• 6 p.m. - Decker School of Nursing
Student speakers: Kelly Gleason and Denisa Talovic
Sunday, May 21
• 8:30 a.m. - Harpur College of Arts and Sciences ceremony 1, including graduates from Africana studies, anthropology, art and design, art history, Asian and Asian American studies, biochemistry, biological sciences, chemistry, cinema, classical and near eastern studies, comparative literature and economics
Student speaker: James Shih
Alumni award recipient remarks: Mitchell Lieberman ’80, retired head of Global Securities Services for Goldman Sachs
• Noon - Harpur College of Arts and Sciences ceremony 2, including graduates from English, environmental studies, geography, geological sciences, German and Russian studies, global and international affairs, history, the Individualized Major Program, integrative neuroscience, Judaic studies, Latin American and Caribbean area studies, and linguistics
Student speaker: Khadijah Collins
Alumni award and honorary degree recipient remarks: Nathan Englander ’91
• 3:30 p.m. - Harpur College of Arts and Sciences ceremony 3, including graduates from mathematical sciences; medieval and early modern studies; music; philosophy; philosophy, politics and law; physics; political science; psychology; Romance languages; sociology; and theatre
Student speaker: Dyana Beretz
Alumni award recipient remarks: Amy J. Hyatt ’78, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Palau
All residential communities will hold recognition ceremonies at 5 p.m. Friday, May 19, in their communities.