UW News

June 11, 2013

138th Commencement for UW’s Seattle campus — 1:30 p.m. June 15 at CenturyLink Field

News and Information

About 5,000 graduates, a record number, are expected to attend the University of Washington commencement ceremonies at CenturyLink Field in Seattle on June 15.  President Michael K. Young will officiate.

An estimated 12,320 degrees will be awarded this year – 7,700 bachelor’s degrees, 3,324 master’s degrees, 753 doctorates and 560 professional degrees.

Graduates begin to line up in the CenturyLink Event Center at 12:30 p.m.  The academic procession begins at 1:30.  The ceremony takes three hours and could be shortened in the event of inclement weather. Commencement exercises are being held  at CenturyLink this year while Husky Stadium is under construction.  The ceremony will return to Husky Stadium for 2014.

Scene from commencement 2012    The ceremony will be broadcast live on UWTV starting at 1:30 p.m. on Comcast channel 27 throughout the Puget Sound region, and also online via simulcast at http://uwtv.org/live. UWTV will also archive highlights of the ceremony, including the keynote address, at uwtv.org.  DVDs of the commencement ceremony can be pre-ordered at http://bit.ly/10PjQR1.

Commencement speaker is former ambassador and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman.

An audience of about 40,000 family members and guests is expected.  Degrees are awarded to those who have completed academic requirements some time during the 2012-2013 academic year.

Other recipients of special honors to be acknowledged at the Seattle commencement include  the Alumnus Summa Laude Dignatus, Distinguished Teaching Awards and the President’s Medals — presented to two graduating seniors (a four-year student and a transfer student) with the most distinguished academic records.

Members of the Board of Regents, deans and other representatives of the university’s 16 colleges and schools will participate in the ceremony.

Many of the colleges and schools also have separate graduation programs and investiture ceremonies (http://www.washington.edu/graduation/other-ceremonies). Complete information is available at http://www.washington.edu/graduation/.

UW Bothell will be celebrating its 22nd commencement ceremony at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 16, in Hec Edmundson Pavilion, Alaska Airlines Arena. Oscar Arias, former president of Costa Rica and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, will be the commencement speaker.

UW Tacoma will celebrate its 23rd commencement ceremony at 10 a.m. Friday, June 14, in the Tacoma Dome. The featured speaker is a graduating student, Dee Ann Sonntag, who is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary arts and sciences, majoring in politics, philosophy and economics, with a minor in human rights.