University Prepares to Celebrate the Class of 2023

The UMass Amherst community is preparing to welcome an estimated 25,000 attendees who will celebrate the graduation of approximately 7,500 undergraduates and 2,000 master’s and doctoral students at a combined 2023 Commencement ceremony Friday, May 26.

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Hall of Fame soccer star and UMass alumna Briana Scurry will present the keynote address at the ceremony, scheduled for 9 a.m. at McGuirk Stadium. Scurry, a trailblazer for women in sports, will receive an honorary degree at the event, as will Cheryll Toney Holley, the leader of the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band, alumna and social justice advocate Esther Terry '74, who was a founding faculty member of UMass Amherst’s pioneering W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, and William and Joyce Cummings, husband and wife entrepreneurs and philanthropists. Charles Hallberg '74, an alumnus who founded a pharmacy benefits management company focused on consumer-driven, cost-effective and therapeutically appropriate prescription drug care will receive a Distinguished Achievement Award.

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Vikram Singh, a computer science major with a passion for using his technical expertise to benefit the community, and Patricia Feraud-King, a doctoral candidate and mother who advocated for family-friendly workspaces for her fellow graduate students, will represent the undergraduate and graduate classes of 2023, respectively, as Student Speakers at Commencement.

 

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Graduate students being honored at the event include Nicholas Perello ’18, who will receive the Commitment to Diversity Award, and Ajit Kumar Sorout and Porntip Israsena Twishime ’18G, who will each receive Distinguished Teaching Awards. Ten undergraduates will also be honored as 21st Century Leaders.

For those wishing to watch the celebration from home, the complete 2023 Commencement Ceremony will be livestreamed at https://www.umass.edu/commencement/livestream.

Festivities will continue through Saturday, as the schools and colleges of the university will hold their individual senior celebrations at locations across campus.

The public is advised to plan ahead for heavy traffic, delays and some street closures around campus throughout the weekend. The campus will close regular business operations for the entire day on Friday in order to reduce traffic and provide parking for graduating students and their guests.