The University of Kentucky December 2015 Commencement Ceremonies

Please make sure you are using the latest version of your browser. The Graduate and Professional Ceremony begins at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 18 and the Undergraduate Ceremony begins at 3 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18. Individual videos of each ceremony will be available within two weeks on the UK YouTube channel. 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 18, 2015) — Today, the University of Kentucky will celebrate nearly 1,000 students as they become UK graduates at the 2015 December Commencement Ceremonies.

The ceremonies will recognize the accomplishments of undergraduate, graduate and professional students who will have completed their degrees by the end of the fall 2015 semester. Graduate and professional degrees will be conferred at 10 a.m. and undergraduate degrees will be conferred at 3 p.m.  All ceremonies will be streamed live on UKNow. 

Today's events mark the first time December Commencement will be held in Rupp Arena. The December ceremonies had taken place in Memorial Coliseum since they began in 2010. The change was necessary due to the growing number of participants and their guests. 

  Approximately 830 undergraduates and nearly 200 graduate and professional students are expected to participate in the ceremonies. Overall, a total of 1,788 undergraduate, 936 graduate and 113 professional degrees have been conferred for August and December 2015.

These graduates will join the May 2015 graduates in receiving special diplomas that honor the university's sesquicentennial. All 2015 diplomas bear a seal commemorating 150 years of UK's dedication to research, education and service. 

While all graduates are celebrated for their tremendous achievements, many have particularly interesting stories to share about their lives and time at UK.

• After serving our country for more than eight years in U.S. Army Intelligence, Jessica Wilson walked into the UK Veterans Resource Center feeling nervous about starting her college career. Now, two and a half years later, she's completing that mission with a walk across Rupp Arena's stage during December Commencement. Wilson is graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics, but her journey to Commencement was not typical.  After graduating from high school, she went straight into the military as an intelligence analyst.  Her service included tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Wilson credits the Veterans Resource Center with helping her transition from military to college life and to learn about military benefits available to her.  She now wants to use her degree as well as her experience in the military to help other veterans who feel detached from society, helping them gain access to benefits and services they are entitled to. 

• While many graduating students are preparing to enter the workforce or graduate school, sailing across the South Pacific from the Caribbean to New Zealand is next on Jessica Meyer’s to do list. She’ll head to Antigua first for a few months learning how to sail charting yachts and then along her journey, with small islands as her rest stops, she’ll blog about indigenous communities and traditional ecological knowledge. The environmental and sustainable studies major from Walton in Northern Kentucky first developed a curiosity for sustainable environments when her neighbors’ 200 acre-farm was turned into an industrial suburb. In her third semester at UK, she studied abroad in New Zealand. Since then, she’s been planning her return, the trip of a lifetime.

• Morgan Saint James, 19, graduates this December with degrees in Russian Studies and Middle Eastern Studies.  Her extensive studies abroad in Jordan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, enhanced her fluent Russian and Arabic language skills as well as her ability to interact with people of very diverse backgrounds. Saint James home schooled in Virginia and earned an associate’s degree, summa cum laude, there in 2012, before attending UK.  A member of Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Theta Kappa honorary societies, she advanced her already extensive multi-lingual public speaking skills while at UK, including reading  and even reciting Russian stories and poems on WRFL, the student public radio station.

Student Speaker

UK President Eli Capilouto will deliver remarks at both ceremonies, and a student will address the audience during the undergraduate ceremony, as per UK tradition. Kristyn Cherry, an integrated strategic communication major from Stockbridge, Georgia, has been selected by the president to serve as student speaker. Read more about Kristyn Cherry.

Honorary Degree

Matt Cutts, a 1995 UK graduate and software engineer for Google, will receive an honorary doctorate of engineering during the 3 p.m. Undergraduate Ceremony. Cutts is one of the first 100 employees of Google and is known for writing the first version of "Safe Search," the company’s family filter feature. Read more about Matt Cutts.

Livestream

Both ceremonies will be streamed live at www.uky.edu/uknow, the university’s news website. Full video of each ceremony will be available within two weeks after Commencement on the university’s YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/universityofkentucky.

MEDIA CONTACT: Jenny Wells, 859-257-5343; jenny.wells@uky.edu