By the end of this weekend, nearly 1,000 University students will have made the leap from lowly undergraduates to official University alumni.
Summer term commencement ceremonies will be held at 10 a.m. Aug. 18 at the Memorial Quadrangle near the Knight Library, located at the west edge of the University campus. In the event of rain, commencement will be held in McArthur Court.
In keeping with a University tradition of asking the newest dean on campus to give the summer commencement speech, graduate school Dean Richard Linton will address the graduates.
Linton, who is also the University vice president for research and graduate studies, has been a faculty member since August 2000.
He said he chose the title of his speech, “Magnus Cum Laude: Seeking a Life of Distinction,” as a reference to the life of St. Albert Magnus. Magnus “demonstrated that faith and science may go hand in hand,” he said.
Linton said his address “will draw parallels between the ‘experimentalist’ approach to scholarly research and a path to seeking a life of distinction in service to society.”
Unlike the large graduation ceremony held in the spring, summer commencement is usually “a smaller, much more intimate” event, University spokesman Ross West said.
Of the 982 degree candidates this term, 624 will be receiving bachelor’s degrees, 260 will be eligible for master’s degrees, and 45 will be receiving their doctoral degrees.
More than 10 percent of those graduating — 139 — will receive degrees in education.
“Our students make up a significant portion of the students who complete in the summer,” said Marty Kaufman, the dean of the college of education.
Many education students graduate in the summer so they can earn a master’s degree or teaching license, he said.
And, he added, because most educators do not work in the summer, many teachers take University classes during summer term.