SPHHS Celebrates Class of 2025
The SPHHS ceremony recognized its undergraduate Class of 2025, which this year welcomed nearly 500 graduating seniors.
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The School of Public Health and Health Sciences held its Senior Recognition Ceremony on Saturday, May 17, 2025 in the Mullins Center on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus. The SPHHS ceremony recognized its undergraduate Class of 2025, which this year welcomed nearly 500 graduating seniors into its ranks.
View our Facebook gallery for photos from the event.
Dean Anna Maria Siega-Riz welcomed a large crowd of family, friends, and guests who were gathered to celebrate the new graduates. She shared two “powerful reminders” with the new graduates: don’t be afraid to fail and never stop learning.
“Each failure is an opportunity to grow, to reassess, to build resilience, and to try again with greater wisdom,” she said. “We did not train you to be perfect. We trained you to be courageous, compassionate, and creative—to take risks, learn from them, and lead with humility.”
She closed with a message that graduation was not the end, but “…the beginning of a lifelong journey in service to others, built on the foundation of hard work, perseverance, kindness, and compassion.”
Kimberly Manyanga, a Public Health Sciences graduate passionate about advancing health equity through policy, communications, and systems change, served as the ceremony's student speaker. Manyanga shared her story of the traumatic accident that occurred the summer after her senior year of high school, less than two months before she was supposed to start college, and how it changed the course of everything for her.
The accident made it painfully clear to her that health outcomes are shaped by the external forces wrapped around you. “I persevered because my parents dedicated their lives to moving us halfway across the world.... My parents chose to build a life here in Massachusetts — because they believed I could access one of the best educations in the world. Every day, I carried with me my parents’ sweat. Their tears. Their sacrifice. I brought all of it with me. Into every class. Every exam. Every late night. Every win. I persevered — because they did.”
She closed with a reminder to the Class of 2025 that they are all unified by their education, experiences, beliefs, and sacrifice. “So as we step into whatever comes next — May we move with the same heart that brought us here. May we keep building the safety nets, supports, and solutions we once needed. And may we never forget: This is what we’ve trained for.”
In addition, the ceremony featured a recognition of teaching award recipients from Gloria DiFulvio, associate dean for undergraduate academic affairs, and talks from Lindiwe Sibeko, chair of the Department of Nutrition; Richard van Emmerik, chair of the Department of Kinesiology; Gwyneth Rost, undergraduate program director for the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences; and Sofija Zagarins, program director for the Public Health Sciences major.
A full replay of the ceremony is available on the SPHHS livestream webpage.
The SPHHS Senior Recognition Ceremony was one of numerous graduation activities held over the course of the university’s 155th Commencement, during which UMass Amherst conferred degrees to over 9,000 students. Alumnus David Korins ’99 delivered the undergraduate commencement address to the approximately 4,200 undergraduate students and 16,000 family, friends and faculty in attendance at Warren P. McGuirk Alumni Stadium on Friday, May 16th.
Highlights from the 2025 Undergraduate Commencement can be found here.
Earlier that day, the university held its Doctoral Hooding Ceremony, during which 377 doctoral students had their degrees conferred. Ann-Marie Sylvia, who earned her doctorate in Kinesiology, served as the featured student speaker at the event.
Highlights from the 2025 Doctoral Hooding Ceremony can be found here.
On May 18th, the university conferred a record 2,502 master’s degrees and 17 education specialist degrees in a Commencement ceremony at the William D. Mullins Memorial Center.
Highlights from the 2025 Master’s and Education Specialist Ceremony can be found here.