Graduation caps are prepped and ready to fly as approximately 4,500 UCSB students await their commencement ceremonies.

Starting June 7 and concluding June 14, eight official commencement ceremonies will take place on the Commencement Green behind the Faculty Club and in various other locations on campus. An estimated 40,000 visitors will join faculty members to celebrate students graduating from the College of Creative Studies, the College of Engineering, the College of Letters and Science, the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management and the Graduate Division. As per university tradition, Chancellor Henry T. Yang will personally congratulate and shake the hand of every individual graduate at each of these ceremonies.

The festivities will begin with the College of Creative Studies commencement ceremony on Sunday, June 7 at 11 a.m. in Campbell Hall, followed by the Bren School ceremony on Friday, June 12 at 10 a.m. The weekend will see the six remaining ceremonies, all of which will be held on the Commencement Green.

According to Paul Desruisseaux, Associate Vice Chancellor of Internal Public Affairs, the importance of the commencement ceremonies extend far beyond the students themselves, playing a huge role in the Santa Barbara community.

“Beyond being a major event in the life of our campus, it’s a major regional event as well,” Desruisseaux said. “Our commencement season brings more visitors to the Santa Barbara area than any other event or occasion [other than the Fiesta Festival in downtown Santa Barbara].”

The ceremonies will feature a diverse group of keynote speakers from a range of fields, including Bob Duggan, chair and CEO of the biotech company Pharmacyclics and Alan F. Horn, President and Chief Operating Officer of Warner Bros.

Desruisseaux said faculty members have worked hard to accommodate the outstanding amount of visitors the commencement ceremony will attract.

“For the 4,200 graduating students that have signed up to walk in at least one of the ceremonies, it’s estimated that each one is responsible for as many as 10 friends and family members,” Desruisseaux said.

Chris Hovsepian, a fourth-year graduating electrical engineering major, said he is ecstatic to be recognized for four years of hard work.

“After four years of intense studying, the big day is finally coming up,” Hovsepian said. “I’m fucking stoked to be walking the stage in cap and gown.”

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