The University of Chicago community and its graduating students will celebrate Convocation beginning June 3, with three days of on-campus events honoring the Class of 2022.
The University-wide ceremony will begin 9:15 a.m. on Saturday, June 4 with a procession of graduating students into the Main Quadrangles. During the traditional “calling together” of the UChicago community, President Paul Alivisatos will confer degrees to candidates and provide remarks, along with Provost Ka Yee C. Lee.
“I look to forward to celebrating the achievements of the Class of 2022, who have achieved so much in the face of unprecedented circumstances,” said Alivisatos, AB’81, who began his tenure as president last fall. “I am also excited to welcome the broader UChicago community to campus. Convocation is an opportunity to bring together those family members, friends, faculty and staff who have contributed to our graduates’ success during their time at the University of Chicago, and to celebrate these accomplishments as a community.”
This year’s Convocation faculty speaker is Prof. Wendy Freedman. One of the world’s leading cosmologists, Freedman led the team that made a landmark measurement in 2001 of the Hubble constant—the rate at which the universe is expanding.
On Friday, June 3, the College will celebrate the accomplishments of graduating students with Class Day. Beginning at 2 p.m., the ceremony will include remarks from bestselling author Samira Ahmed, AB’93, MAT’93, along with graduating students David Liang, Zara Malik and Allison Mattessich.
The University’s graduate divisions and schools also will hold diploma and hooding ceremonies June 3-5.
For those unable to attend, the Class Day and Convocation ceremonies will be webcast on the UChicago News website. For more information, and a full schedule of diploma and hooding ceremonies, visit the Convocation website.
Members of the University community, along with their family and friends, are invited to share photos, memories and congratulatory messages on UChicago social media channels using #uchicago2022.
University honors
During the main Convocation ceremony on June 4, the University will award honorary degrees to four distinguished scholars: Cora Diamond, a philosopher at the University of Virginia; Katherine H. Freeman, an organic biogeochemist at Pennsylvania State University; Mercedes García-Arenal, a historian at the Spanish National Research Council; and Nergis Mavalvala, an astrophysicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The University also will recognize faculty members for excellence in teaching with presentations of the Llewellyn John and Harriet Manchester Quantrell Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the Faculty Awards for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring.
Event logistics
Information about the weekend’s events can be found on the Convocation website. Parking restrictions and road closures will be in place throughout Hyde Park from June 3-5. On June 4, CTA bus routes 171 and 172 will rerouted in the morning and suspended from noon to 5 p.m. Convocation shuttles can be tracked at the UChicago TransLoc website.
Tickets are not required for the main ceremonies, although they may be required for individual division and school ceremonies. General seating for Convocation will open at 7 a.m. and is available on a first-come basis. The University recommends that individuals wear a mask in indoor settings when others are present.
Please note that all bags are subject to inspection before entering the Main Quadrangles. Items that may disrupt other guests from seeing or hearing the ceremony are not permitted inside the Quadrangles.
—Prof. Jacqueline Stewart
