Congratulations to the Class of Fall 2017

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Dean Cynthia Peterson (middle) pictures with the Fall 2017 University Medalists in the College of Science and graduate commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy.Photo Credit: LSU College of Science

 

Just before the holidays, more than 150 College of Science students had much more to celebrate than gifts under the tree. On Friday, December 15, these students became newly minted LSU graduates with all the rights and privileges thereof.

The College of Science class of 2017 included 16 PhD recipients, 13 master’s degree recipients, and 124 bachelor’s degree recipients. The commencement celebration was led by College of Science Dean Cynthia Peterson who encouraged the graduates to blaze a new trail as they embark on the new adventure of life after LSU.

Jonathan Earle, dean of the LSU Ogden Honors College, served as this year’s diploma ceremony speaker. He urged the graduates to not be afraid to use their disciplinary thinking and their mastery of the scientific method.

“Science and the scientific disciplines are each powerful tools for making sense of things that are complex; and they provide a strikingly successful way to build knowledge that affects other disciplines, even ones in the humanities (where I make my own epistemological home),” said Earle.

“This scientific way of looking at the world has done wonders, and improved humans’ lives on a massive scale. It has allowed us to better understand our home planet, and even to explore beyond its boundaries. It has enabled us to nearly double our species’ life expectancy during the past hundred years alone, and to increase our global abundance.”

This year’s fall graduates come from 10 countries, 15 states, and 22 parishes within Louisiana. Fifty-five percent of the undergraduates were women with 45 percent men. Forty-five percent of the graduate students were women with 55 percent men.

Of the 124 bachelor’s degree recipients, 28 earned Latin honors, five earned the University Medal, LSU’s highest honor, and one graduated with college honors, the highest recognition given by this college and the LSU Honors College. There was also one graduate honored with the Distinguished Communicator Award. This award is the first of its kind in the nation and recipients are outstanding in four areas of communication: written, spoken, visual, and technological. There was also one graduate commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy.