Over 1,600 university grads about to receive degrees
More than 1,600 students will receive degrees this week in six convocation ceremonies at UBC Okanagan.
The festivities start on Thursday, with four ceremonies, and wrap up Friday, with two additional ceremonies. During these two days, UBC will confer 33 doctoral degrees, 148 master degrees, 1,465 undergraduate degrees and an honorary degree to Canadian artist Alex Janvier.
This is the 12th graduating class at UBC’s Okanagan campus, and the number of graduates has more than tripled since 2006, when UBCO’s first graduating class of 468 crossed the stage.
UBCO will also be honouring some of its staff and faculty at the events. Ramon Lawrence, an associate professor in computer science, and Christine Schreyer, an associate professor in anthropology, will be presented with the Award for Teaching Excellence and Innovation. Security manager Michael Gesi will be presented with the President’s Service Award for Excellence.
Arts and sciences grads will receive their degrees in three ceremonies on Thursday — at 8:30 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. A ceremony at 4 p.m. will honour students from the faculty of applied science and the school of engineering.
On Friday, students from the faculties of education and management will receive their degrees at 8:30 a.m.
Students in health, social development, exercise sciences, nursing and social work will receive their degrees at 11 a.m. on Friday.