Le Moyne College’s 73rd Commencement Weekend

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More than 900 students are eligible to process at two Le Moyne College commencement ceremonies taking place on Friday, May 19 and Sunday, May 21 as the College celebrates its 73rd commencement weekend.

On Sunday, May 21 at the undergraduate commencement ceremony at 9:30 a.m. at the Exposition Center at the New York State Fairgrounds, 623 students are eligible to participate, with 224 receiving a Bachelor of Arts and 386 receiving a Bachelor of Science. (Several students are both B.A. and B.S.). The student speaker will be Ivy Santana, a criminology major originally from the Dominican Republic, who grew up in Queens, N.Y. The commencement speaker will be Stephen Kuusisto, a disability right advocate who serves as university professor and director of the interdisciplinary programs and outreach at the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University.

In addition to Kuusisto, four others will receive honorary degrees at the Honorary Degree Ceremony, which took place on Saturday, May 20 at noon in Grewen Auditorium. Recipients were:

  • Dr. Leslie Shaw ’62, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and a pioneer in therapeutic drug monitoring.
  • Zacharia H. Mohamed ’16, currently enrolled in medical school at Upstate Medical University, who as a young boy escaped a civil war in his native Somalia.
  • Jack Podsiadlo, S.J., whose 40-plus year career built the Nativity Network of Schools into a national network dedicated to providing educational opportunities for underserved youth.
  • Joyce Suslovic, a history teacher at Henninger High School in Syracuse and an outspoken proponent of social activism and equality.

Other events on Saturday included the Honors Convocation at 2 p.m. in the Panasci Family Chapel, the Baccalaureate Mass at 4 p.m. in the Event Center, presided by Syracuse Bishop Douglas J. Lucia.

The weekend began with the graduate commencement, which was held at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 19 at the Le Moyne Event Center on campus. A total of 297 individuals were eligible to receive their masters at the ceremony. A highlight of the ceremony was awarding the first doctoral degrees in Le Moyne’s history, as ​two​ members of the inaugural cohort ​of the Executive Leadership Program ​will receive their ​Doctorate of Education degrees​. Diplomas were also given for the following programs: Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies, Master of Business Administration, Master of Science in Education, Master of Science for Teachers, Master of Science in Information System, Master of Science in Arts Administration, Master of Science in Nursing, Master of Science in Occupational Therapy, and two separate Certificates of Advanced Study (education and nursing). The student speaker for the ceremony was Erica Brandt from the Occupational Therapy program and the keynote speaker was Dr. Stephen Thomas, professor of medicine and microbiology and immunology at SUNY Upstate Medical University.

Both commencement ceremonies will be live streamed on the College’s YouTube channel.