Feature: Graduation Ceremony 2022

THANK YOU! Graduating students turn around to acknowledge their family members, friends, faculty members, and other supporters as Rich Handler ’83 (at the podium), chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, invited them to show their appreciation for those who helped them achieve the milestone of Commencement. As part of his remarks, Handler shared a handful of thoughts with graduates, offering advice for how they could make their future lives as leaders rewarding and successful (Photo: J. Adam Fenster)

Photo Gallery: Commencement 2022

For more photos from the 2022 ceremony, visit the Commencement website.

The spirit of commencement took on added meaning this spring as the University celebrated the beginning of postgraduate life for the Class of 2022.

The May ceremony—the first fully in-person spring ceremony since 2019 and a return to the tradition of an all-University commencement—brought new energy to the idea of strengthening the ties that connect all members of the University community.

“It’s really wonderful to see this University come together as one to celebrate this special class on this special day,” said President Sarah Mangelsdorf as she welcomed the graduates and their families, faculty, staff, alumni, and guests to the ceremony in Fauver Stadium at the Brian F. Prince Athletic Complex.

“We’re restarting a great University tradition and creating a new one, a new tradition rooted in the idea that no matter your school or discipline, everyone who graduates today is a graduate of the University of Rochester.”

Re-establishing a University-wide spring commencement had been a goal of Mangelsdorf’s since she became Rochester’s president in 2019, but the pandemic forced such plans to be postponed.

But on a beautiful May morning, about 2,000 graduating students and more than 6,000 guests filled the field of the stadium for what turned out to be the largest single commencement ceremony in University history. Across all units, more than 4,000 degrees were conferred during the ceremony.

The day was a reminder of the power of connectedness, Mangelsdorf said. “Today we honor that singular community with all its complexity and difference, the community of University of Rochester graduates.”

This year, we are reviving two different traditions—holding the commencement ceremony in Fauver Stadium and unifying the degree conferral into a “One University” event. Can you tell me when we last used Fauver, and conducted a single commencement?—Christine Rovet, executive director, Event and Classroom Management

Commencement has been held in many locations since 1851 when it premiered at Rochester’s premier location, Corinthian Hall. When that hall was remodeled to become the Academy of Music in 1879, the University moved the ceremony to the First Baptist Church. Other venues included the Lyceum Theatre, the Central and Third Presbyterian churches, the University’s own Alumni Gymnasium (which opened in 1900 on the Prince Street Campus), and, beginning in 1923, Eastman Theatre.

Changes in location can sometimes be tracked to changes in administration: Fauver Stadium was first used for commencement in 1953, two years after Cornelis de Kiewiet became president, and the ceremony was held there until 1966. The War Memorial (now the Blue Cross Arena) hosted the event from 1967 to 1971, when it returned to Eastman Theatre.

As was the case for the ceremony’s changing locations, the University’s commencement season evolved in the second half of the 20th century to adapt to the needs of the institution.

According to Arthur May’s history of the University, there were 13 joint and divisional degree conferrals, many held in Strong Auditorium, from the summer of 1943 to the autumn of 1945, to accommodate the accelerated wartime schedules of the medical school and V-12 units. As enrollment continued to grow, departmental diploma ceremonies were introduced in 1964 to individually recognize bachelor’s and master’s students. By the early 1970s, schools began to adopt separate academic calendars, creating a need for unit-specific ceremonies to recognize students who were graduating at different times each spring.

During the presidency of Dennis O’Brien, “Filling Fauver” for commencement resumed in 1987 and continued until 1995. Soon after the arrival of President Thomas Jackson, the University began celebrating commencement based primarily on academic divisions.

When Fauver was first used, a press release noted, “The greater seating capacity of the stadium will enable many more to attend these exercises.”

A total of 939 degrees were conferred that day; in 2022, about 4,000 degrees were awarded.

For more about the ceremony