Please see commencement.nd.edu for all details about the weekend: schedule of events, ceremony tickets, live webcast, speakers, and planning your visit.
The University of Notre Dame will confer 3,100 degrees during Commencement Weekend Saturday and Sunday (May 19 and 20) on campus.
Degrees will be conferred on 2,065 undergraduate students at Notre Dame’s 173rd University Commencement Ceremony on Sunday. Brazilian Judge Sérgio Moro will be the principal speaker and recipient of an honorary degree. Sister Norma Pimentel, M.J., executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley and longtime advocate for immigrants and refugees, will receive the 2018 Laetare (lay-TAH-ray) Medal, the oldest and most prestigious honor given to American Catholics.
Andrew Grose, a preprofessional studies and Spanish major from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, will deliver the valedictory address. Salutatorian Harisa Spahić, a biochemistry major from Granger, Indiana, will deliver the invocation.
In addition to Moro, five others will receive honorary degrees. They are Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, who was appointed by Pope Francis to the Congregation for Bishops and the Congregation for Catholic Education; William M. Goodyear, a member of Notre Dame’s Board of Trustees, a Fellow of the University and the retired chairman and chief executive officer of Navigant Consulting; Kamal Hossain, an internationally renowned jurist who is considered the father of the Bangladeshi constitution; Margaret Murnane, professor of physics and electrical and computer engineering at the University of Colorado; and Louise Richardson, the vice-chancellor (chief executive) of Oxford University and an Irish political scientist.
On Saturday, 406 students will receive master and doctoral degrees at the Graduate School Commencement Ceremony, along with 385 master’s degree students at the Mendoza College of Business Ceremony and 238 at the Law School Ceremony.
Some notable Commencement weekend events are:
- The ROTC Commissioning Ceremony, 9 a.m. Saturday, Leighton Concert Hall, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.
- The Graduate School Commencement Ceremony, 10 a.m. Saturday, Compton Family Ice Arena.
- The Mendoza College of Business Graduate Ceremony, 10 a.m. Saturday, Purcell Pavilion, Joyce Center.
- The Law School Ceremony, 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Hesburgh Library Reflecting Pool.
- The Service Send-Off Ceremony, 1 p.m. Saturday, Leighton Concert Hall, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.
- Commencement Mass, 5 p.m. Saturday, Purcell Pavilion, Joyce Center.
- The undergraduate college and department diploma ceremonies beginning at 2 p.m. Sunday throughout campus.
The academic processional will begin at 9:30 a.m. Sunday. All attendees must have a ticket for admission. Guests can enter the stadium beginning at 8 a.m. through Gate A on the northeast side and Gate B on the southeast side.
Many common items will be prohibited from entering the Stadium during Commencement. For a complete list of prohibited items, visit the Commencement website.