On Friday, 2,664 Virginia Tech students will graduate, walking across the stage at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg to receive their diplomas.
The university commencement ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m., and the graduate school ceremony will follow at 2:30 p.m.
Doors will open an hour before each event. Each ceremony is expected to last about two hours.
Both events will be available via livestream video from the university homepage for those unable to attend in person.
The keynote speaker for the university commencement ceremony will be Amy Pruden, University Distinguished Professor and the W. Thomas Rice Professor in the Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, where her research program focuses on using DNA-based tools to track pathogens and antibiotic resistance in the environment.
For the graduate school commencement, three student speakers will speak:
- Imani Lewis, who is earning a master’s degree of public and international affairs
- Ikhlas Rabab’ah, who is earning a doctoral degree in architecture and design research and graduating this semester with her master’s degree
- Norovbanzad Tsogt-Ochir, who is earning a master’s degree in civil engineering
Bachelor’s degrees to summer and fall graduates:
During the university commencement ceremony, 1,669 undergraduates will be recognized for earning bachelor’s degrees.
- College of Engineering: 416
- College of Science: 381
- Pamplin College of Business: 361
- College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences: 286
- College of Agriculture and Life Sciences: 149
- College of Natural Resources and Environment: 71
- College of Architecture, Arts, and Design: 24
- Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine: 20
A total of 995 students will receive advanced graduate certificates.
The graduate degree candidates include 632 master’s degrees, one education specialist degree, 173 Ph.D.s, and five doctors of education.
The graduate school also will recognize its Alumni Achievement Award recipient, Owen Wagner ’07, during its ceremony. The award was established in 2003 to recognize outstanding graduate alumni who have demonstrated extraordinary national or international achievement and exemplary contributions to their profession, discipline, community and society. Wagner, vice president and senior analyst for North American markets at Rabobank, is researching sustainable aviation fuel utilizing agricultural feedstocks, such as oils, corn and cellulosic biomass, to supplement conventional jet fuel.
Of the degree recipients, 102 Ph.D. students and 230 master’s degree students are expected to attend the ceremony in-person, as well as 900 undergraduate students.
For more information, visit commencement.vt.edu/index.html
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Crystal Graham
