Ceremonies will be held at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Friday, Dec. 17, and 9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 18, at the UCF Arena.

The anticipated fall graduates include 3,546 students who filed for bachelor’s degrees, 761 for master’s degrees, five for education specialist degrees and 73 for doctoral degrees.

The 9 a.m. ceremony on Dec. 17 will feature graduates of the College of Business Administration, College of Engineering and Computer Science and College of Optics and Photonics. The speaker will be retired Lt. Gen. Thomas L. Baptiste, president and executive director of the National Center for Simulation. In this role, he works closely with UCF’s Institute for Simulation and Training, as well as industry and government partners, to expand the industry’s $3 billion economic impact in Central Florida.

The 2 p.m. ceremony on Dec. 17 will include graduates from the College of Arts and Humanities, College of Graduate Studies, College of Health and Public Affairs, Office of Undergraduate Studies and Rosen College of Hospitality Management. Carolyn Fennell, director of Public Affairs for the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, is the speaker. Fennell was inducted this year into the Central Florida Hospitality Hall of Fame, an honor established by UCF’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management.

The 9 a.m. ceremony on Dec. 18 will feature graduates from the College of Education, College of Medicine’s Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Nursing and College of Sciences. The speaker will be Bill Vogel, superintendent of Seminole County Public Schools. In this role, he oversees a district of about 65,000 students. Since 2003, he has served on the UCF College of Education’s Progress Energy/UCF Leadership Institute Advisory Council.

The procession of graduates will begin 20 minutes before the start times of each ceremony.

Guests need tickets to attend the ceremonies. Guests without tickets can watch live broadcasts of all ceremonies at the Fairwinds Alumni Center across from the UCF Arena. Webcasts also are available online live and after the ceremonies.

Following the three ceremonies, UCF will have awarded more than 211,000 degrees since classes began in 1968. President John C. Hitt will have awarded about 156,000 of those degrees.

For more information about commencement, including details about parking and area hotels, click here.