UK Honors 2020 Graduates With Virtual December Commencement Celebration
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 4, 2020) — The University of Kentucky will celebrate Fall 2020 graduates with a virtual Commencement ceremony today, Friday, Dec. 4. May and August 2020 grads who registered for the ceremony will also be recognized.
The livestreamed event will begin at 2 p.m. EST and can be accessed at this link. Anyone can attend the virtual ceremony.
The virtual ceremony will feature many of the same portions of an in-person Commencement such as messages from UK President Eli Capilouto, the president of the UK Alumni Association, a graduating student and surprise guests and recognition of the graduates.
“While this Commencement is unlike anything UK has done in the past, it will be exciting to watch students participate online by sharing their Graduate Slide and watching the videos that we have filmed with surprise guest speakers,” shared Sally Martin, Commencement coordinator.
A student speaker will address the audience, as per tradition. Tamara Vest, of Nicholasville, Kentucky, is graduating with a bachelor’s degree from the UK College of Social Work and will deliver this semester’s address.
The UK Board of Trustees will approve conferral of 1,854 degrees for December 2020 graduates. This total includes 1,321 undergraduate, 512 graduate (encompassing master and doctoral degrees), and 21 professional degrees for December 2020. These numbers reflect degree candidates, not individual graduates (some graduates earn more than one degree, thereby being counted as a degree candidate multiple times). Degrees will be certified by the UK registrar, ensuring individuals have satisfactorily completed all requirements.
The Board of Trustees also conferred 641 degrees for August 2020. Those graduates had the opportunity to participate virtually in this ceremony alongside December graduates.
The University of Kentucky has also been celebrating its graduates by turning the campus blue. From 6 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 3, through 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6, various buildings around campus are lit with blue lights in honor of graduates.
For other Commencement FAQs, please visit https://commencement.uky.edu.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.
In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.