More than 3,900 University of Central Florida students plan to graduate during three ceremonies next week, when President John Hitt will award the 25,000th master’s degree of his 17-year career at UCF.
Ceremonies will be held at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18, and 9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 19, at the UCF Arena.
The anticipated fall graduates include 3,176 students who filed for bachelor’s degrees, 660 for master’s degrees, seven for education specialist degrees and 79 for doctoral degrees.
The 9 a.m. ceremony on Dec. 18 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 UCF alumnus Andrew Titen, president and CEO of Bisk Education in Tampa, which provides online degree and certificate programs for universities. Titen was inducted into the College of Business Administration’s Hall of Fame in 2005.
The 2 p.m. ceremony on Dec. 18 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. State Senate President-elect Mike Haridopolos will be the speaker. He represents parts of Brevard, Indian River, Osceola and St. Lucie counties.
The 9 a.m. ceremony on Dec. 19 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 U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, who represents portions of Orange, Seminole, Brevard and Volusia counties.
An honorary doctoral degree will be awarded to Jerry Roth during the 9 a.m. ceremony Dec. 18. Roth is the owner of Hill Dermaceuticals in Sanford, which develops and markets products for skin diseases in children. Roth is a champion of the university’s academic and athletic programs, and the Roth Tower at Bright House Networks Stadium bears his name.
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 live and after the ceremonies at http://webcast.oir.ucf.edu.
Following the three ceremonies, UCF will have awarded more than 198,000 degrees since classes began in 1968. President Hitt will have awarded more than 142,000 of those degrees.
For more information about commencement, including details about parking and area hotels, visit http://www.registrar.ucf.edu/commencement/terms/2009/fall.