Commencements held at UT after pandemic delays

After 16 months of canceled commencements, the University of Texas welcomed nearly 4,600 graduates back to campus last week for the graduation celebrations they never got to attend last year.

Many of the 17,220 students who graduated from UT between December 2019 and December 2020 chose not to return.

On Friday, the alumni attended belated smaller in-person ceremonies for their specific colleges before attending the main commencement event in the evening. Many of the graduates wore the traditional ceremonial black gowns, stoles and decorated caps that they had bought more than a year ago when they were still students.

Thousands of former students were recognized during the main ceremony in front of the UT Tower with a message from UT President Jay Hartzell and the commencement address from author and speaker Brené Brown.

Hartzell congratulated the alumni for graduating from UT during an “extremely challenging” time.