Moore to speak at UConn graduation
UConn women’s basketball legend Maya Moore has created an impact far larger than anything ever done on the basketball court.
Sure, the former Husky is a two-time Olympic Gold medalist and will be inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame (Saturday night in Knoxville), but her legacy only starts on the hardwood. Since moving on from basketball, Moore has focused her life pursuits on criminal justice reform and works to help release wrongfully convicted prisoners.
On Sunday, May 5, Moore will share her story and inspire the next generation as a commencement speaker at the 2024 UConn College of Liberal Arts and Sciences graduation ceremony at Gampel Pavilion at 6 p.m. Moore will also receive
an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters.
Moore graduated from UConn in 2011 with an individualized major in sports media and promotion and a 3.7 GPA. She was twicenamed a Big East ScholarAthlete of the Year along with being a three-time CoSIDA Academic All-American First Team selection.
On the basketball court, the former Husky led
UConn to the 2009 and 2010 national championships and still owns the program records for most career points (3,036) and most points in a single-season (868).
She was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 WNBA Draft and helped the Minnesota Lynx win four WNBA championships in a seven-year span. Moore, a six-time WNBA All-Star, walked away from basketball in 2019 to focus on social justice and officially retired from the sport in 2023.
In July 2020, her efforts helped lead to the release of the wrongfully convicted Jonathan Irons from prison in Missouri. Moore and Irons married later that summer and welcomed their first child in July 2022. The couple published a book about their story in 2023, Love and Justice: A Story of Triumph on Two Different Courts.
Moore is the founder of Win With Justice, which helps advocate for criminal justice reform. She won the 2021 Arthur Ashe Award for Courage because of her efforts to help better the American justice system.
Other UConn commencement speakers include: Barbara Liskov, Medina Jett ‘08, Jerold Mande ‘78, Chief Marilynn “Lynn” Malerba ’08, Commissioner Jodi Hill-Lilly and Kiana Foster-Mauro ’20/’21.