LSU Holds Virtual Graduation Celebration, Confers 609 Degrees

08/07/2020
BATON ROUGE – On Friday, Aug. 7, LSU honored more than 600 summer graduates with a virtual graduation celebration, and during the ceremony, 609 degrees were conferred. The virtual graduation watch party took place on the LSU Facebook page, and following the ceremony, all the graduates names were displayed on the scoreboards in Tiger Stadium.

The summer graduating class, while completing their LSU studies remotely, represented one of the most diverse summer graduating classes ever at the university. The class included the most degrees awarded to Black and Hispanic students, and the most graduate and doctoral degrees awarded to multi-racial students than ever before. In addition, summer 2020 represented the most degrees awarded to veteran students.

LSU’s virtual graduation featured a “Year in Review” video; LSU alumnus and “Hamilton” San Francisco case member Deaundre’ Woods singing the “Star Spangled Banner” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing”; messages from Interim President Tom Galligan, Executive Vice President & Provost Stacia Haynie, and Board of Supervisors Chair Mary Werner, who also conferred degrees; messages from the deans of the senior colleges; and LSU School of Music faculty and staff performing the LSU Alma Mater.

Galligan congratulated the graduates on behalf of the entire LSU family.  

“With your graduation today, you have proven you are precisely the people we need to lead us in the future. As you go forward on your journey, I urge you to focus not on the challenges you are confronted with, but on the opportunities created by them,” Galligan said. “Always remember the resiliency, optimism and hard work that brought you to this day, for these are the same traits that will help you reach many more milestones in your lives and in your careers.”

LSU’s August 2020 graduating class represents 37 Louisiana parishes, 38 U.S. states and 32 foreign countries. Women made up 55.34 percent of the class, and men made up 44.66 percent. The oldest graduate is 54, and the youngest are 20.

“Congratulations to the Class of 2020! We are all so proud of you and all you have persevered through to reach this day,” Werner said. “You step out into a world of a lot of uncertainty, but you’ve already come through so much. We know there are great things ahead and can’t wait to see you back.”

The 609 total graduates are made up of 310 students who received bachelor’s degrees; 169 who received master’s degrees; 23 who received education specialist or graduate certificates; 96 who received a Ph.D.; five who received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree; and six who received a post-bachelorette certificate. Also, seven LSU employees were among those who received degrees this spring.

“Class of 2020 will forever designate you as a graduate who is fierce and resilient, and who persists even in the face of a pandemic,” Haynie said. “While I won’t be able to deliver your diploma to you in-person, or shake your hand, or be there cheering with your family and your friends, know that my excitement could not be greater, even if it’s virtual.”

Twenty-seven students graduated with honors, including five students who received the University Medal for graduating with the highest undergraduate grade-point average in the class.

The Center for Community Engagement, Learning, and Leadership, or CCELL, in conjunction with LSU Campus Life, announced that one student graduated with the Engaged Citizen distinction for Summer 2020. College of Human Sciences and Education and School of Kinesiology graduate Kaitlyn Fagan, of Lake Charles, La., earned nine service-learning credit hours and volunteered approximately 77 hours across her local and global communities. Some of Fagan’s volunteer opportunities include a week-long mission trip to Honduras with the university’s Global Brigades Medical/Dental Chapter and house-building with Habitat for Humanity as part of LSU's 2019 Greek Week.

All spring graduates will have the opportunity to walk during a future LSU commencement. As usual, graduates’ names are listed on the LSU commencement website by hometown for newspapers to pull graduates’ names from their areas

For more information, visit https://lsu.edu/celebration/.  

Media Note:
Lists of graduates and honor graduates are posted on LSU’s commencement website, www.lsu.edu/commencement. The lists include graduates who have authorized the release of their names. In addition, videos from LSU’s virtual celebration are available on the university’s YouTube page, www.youtube.com/lsu. 

 

 

 

Contact Ernie Ballard
LSU Media Relations
225-578-5685
eballa1@lsu.edu