University News

UVA Graduates Urged To Set Sail and Improve the World Along the Way

With hugs and cheers, laughter and tears, nearly 4,000 newly minted University of Virginia graduates from nine schools walked the Lawn Sunday morning under sunny skies, marking a milestone in their educational journey.

Students from the School of Architecture, the McIntire School of Commerce, the School of Continuing and Professional Studies, the Darden School of Business, the School of Data Science, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Law, the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing received their degrees on Sunday.

The ceremonies followed similar events on Saturday. In the two days, UVA conferred 7,988 degrees, including 4,655 bachelor’s degrees. For comprehensive coverage of the full weekend’s events, plus profiles of the Class of 2025 students, visit UVA Today’s Final Exercises page.

“This has been a momentous journey for everyone, including all of you,” UVA President Jim Ryan told the graduates, adding a message to friends and family in the audience. “No one makes it to graduation on their own. To all the families and friends of our students: Today is your day, too.”

Ryan said the 2025 class will enter a world that may prove difficult, but he believes they are ready to meet the challenges.

“You cannot always control what happens, but you can control what you do in response,” Ryan said. “I know you will choose wisely and courageously, because you have done so time and again while on Grounds.”

Liv Schortmann, left, and James Edwards, right, processing down the Lawn holding the Class of 2025 banner

Liv Schortmann, the Class of 2025 vice president, joins Class President James Edwards in leading the procession of graduates down the Lawn on Sunday. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

For 2025 Class President James Edwards, who earned his Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Sunday’s final walk was cause for reflection.

“It was a beautiful day on the Lawn the other day, and I was kind of sitting there like, ‘Wow, I’m going to miss this a lot.’ I started to reflect on the people who have gotten me here,” Edwards said before the exercises. “As a class, I felt like we were able to get through some tragedies and difficult circumstances together, and we have become close.”

Edwards, who plans to return to his home state of Delaware to be a pediatric trauma nurse, recently received the University’s Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award for character and service. He said it’s an honor to be in the same class as “so many incredible people.”

Tuition Covered For Virginia Households Making <$100K

“The class of 2025 is doing extraordinary things. We have (champion swimmer and Olympian) Gretchen Walsh; one of my classmates was on the “Lego Masters” show with his grandfather and (Catharine Cossaboom) lives on the Lawn, is a Goldwater scholar and is doing groundbreaking research,” he said. “I feel honored to be able to call myself a part of this class.”

For Cedric Rucker, a 1984 graduate of the University who will retire this summer after serving as interim vice president of student affairs and dean of students, being Sunday’s commencement speaker shows how much the world can change in one lifetime.

Rucker was born in 1950s Richmond, a time when Virginia law segregated daily life, from schools and hospitals to restaurants and water fountains.

“I now stand in a space that I and members of my family would not have been permitted to occupy,” he said, thanking “generations of social justice champions” who helped open opportunities. “UVA has come far. Let us not go backward. Let us ever advance the benefits of such a magnificent array of students and scholars from across disciplines and professions to call this place home. We owe this to ourselves and to our world.”

UVA President Jim Ryan and Cedric Rucker hugging at the end of Cedric‘s speech

UVA President Jim Ryan embraces Cedric Rucker, special adviser to the vice president and chief student affairs officer, after Rucker’s emotional address to the Class of 2025. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)

On Saturday, the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the School of Education and Human Development presented degrees to more than 4,000 students.

University Professor Michael Suarez, director of Rare Book School, addressed the graduates. He spoke to the importance of American universities as beacons of academic freedom and “incubators” of innovation that have led to everything from a phone’s GPS system to synthetic insulin.

He told students he hopes their time at UVA gives them a chance to “land a job, or go to grad school,” but he also holds out for more: “My deeper ambition for you is that our conversations over these years will have broadened your understandings and enlarged your hearts.”

UVA’s three days of pomp and circumstance began on Friday with Valedictory Exercises at John Paul Jones Arena, where 1994 alumnus and actor Jason George served as the keynote speaker, telling students taking risks is a part of life.

“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. Virginia has been your home for the last four years or so. You feel safe here. But the University hasn’t been preparing you to be safe,” George told the Class of 2025. “I see the honor in each and every one of you. And I look forward to seeing what wonderful things you do when your ship sets sail.”