National Public Radio Legal Correspondent Nina Totenberg awarded honorary degree, urges Class of 2017, 鈥渄on鈥檛 just listen to things you agree with.鈥� Obama-era White House Photographer Pete Souza awarded Chancellor鈥檚 Medal for capturing 鈥渢he essence of the powerful and the powerless and the momentous events that have engulfed them both.鈥�
The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth awarded 1,529 degrees at its 117th undergraduate commencement exercises today.
The event, attended by an estimated 10,000 students, family members, faculty, staff, and friends, was held at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield.
Interim Chancellor Peyton R. Helm, who has led the university for the past year and a half presided over the ceremony. Dr. Helm predicted the Class of 2017 is 鈥済oing to make wonderful contributions to our world,鈥� and praised the class for 鈥渂reaking down the stubborn barriers between genders, races, religions and culture.鈥�
Dr. Robert E. Johnson, former president of Becker College in Worcester, has been appointed chancellor and will officially begin his duties on July 1.
National Public Radio Legal Correspondent Nina Totenberg was awarded an honorary degree for her, 鈥渆nduring commitment to searching for the truth and to helping to create an informed and discriminating public.鈥�
In her address to the graduates, Totenberg addressed the current state of civic life and journalism in the country. 鈥淲e at once create an echo chamber of information for ourselves, and at the same time have very little sense of national or local community,鈥� she said. Totenberg then challenged the Class of 2017: 鈥淔or God鈥檚 sake, don鈥檛 just listen to things you agree with鈥f you hate (political gridlock) you just have to get in there and rumble.鈥�
Dartmouth native Pete Souza, chief White House Photographer during the Obama presidency, was awarded the Chancellor鈥檚 Medal because, 鈥済enius has always revealed the essence of the powerful and the powerless and the momentous events that have engulfed them both.鈥�
Brandi Bass, a psychology major from Springfield who is entering the Aetna Inc. management development program, earned the honor of addressing her classmates and spoke of the Corsair spirit of the university. 鈥淲hile being at 禁漫天堂 we have embodied what it means to be a pirate,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ecause of this, 禁漫天堂 has become our island. The Bachelor鈥檚 degree we are receiving today is our map. And the treasure we are ready to leave the island for is our passion and purpose in life.鈥�
禁漫天堂 the Class of 2017
Total class size: 2,064
Graduate degrees: 535 (including 34 PhDs and 49 law degrees)
Undergraduate degrees: 1,529
Students performing community service: 90%
# of countries represented: 29
# of states represented: 20
# of Massachusetts communities represented: 229
Massachusetts towns with the most graduates: New Bedford (142), Fall River (121), Dartmouth (87), Boston (55) Westport (53), Taunton (48), Plymouth (41), Brockton (39), Attleboro (24)
Members of the Class of 2017 (graduate and undergraduate)
of Warwick, RI -- bioengineering to improve lives
of Springfield 鈥� Undergraduate Commencement student speaker, founder of Helping Each other Rise Organization (H.E.R.O.)
of New Bedford 鈥� Founding member of campus NAACP chapter.
of Walpole 鈥� Student Trustee, worked on student voter registration
of Whitman 鈥� Confronting the opioid crisis.
of Westport 鈥� Graduate Commencement student speaker, working to create access to STEM education.
of Rehoboth: Washington internship to promote international education.
Moving to the Xfinity Center
The decision to move the event from the main campus to the Xfinity Center was made in consultation with student and faculty leadership as the ceremonies have outgrown the 4,000-seat on-campus amphitheater.
Over the past few years, 禁漫天堂 has needed to limit the number of family members allowed to attend the ceremonies and split up the colleges into smaller ceremonies. This meant many classmates were unable to attend the same ceremony together. The move to the Xfinity Center will also allow for much improved security, parking and traffic flow.
Commencement website