Commencement
May 6, 2019
The University of Portland celebrated its Commencement on Sunday, May 5, with 1,116 graduates who earned degrees from the Shiley School of Engineering, the Pamplin School of Business, the School of Education, the School of Nursing, and the College of Arts & Sciences. University President Rev. Mark L. Poorman, C.S.C. conferred bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees during two commencement programs.
“My hope for you is that the powerful goodness you have known in this place will illuminate and guide all of the decisions in your days to come,” Poorman said to the Class of 2019.
To accommodate the increasing number of graduates and their family members, the University held two ceremonies this year: Commencement I included graduates of the Pamplin School of Business, Shiley School of Engineering, and School of Nursing. Commencement II included graduates of the College of Arts and Science and School of Education.
Within the undergraduate class of 2019, 91 students completed at least two majors, and two were triple majors. The three most popular majors were nursing (25% of graduates), biology (14%), and mechanical engineering (10%). Of these graduates, 201 had at least one family member who attended the University of Portland and another 200 students are first generation students.
Valedictorians Nicole Edwards ’19, who received a marketing degree with a minor in communications, and Caroline Holyoak ’19, who received degrees in English and Spanish with a minor in psychology, spoke to the Class of 2019 during the Commencement ceremonies.
“Remember what you’ve learned here at UP—that we can see multiple solutions to a single problem, that we can move beyond binaries to account for spectrums and pluralized ways of beings, that we can see other people as individuals who are worthy of our time and respect—in hopes of creating a world that celebrates difference and is all the more loving for it,” Holyoak said during the Commencement II ceremony.
Five honorary doctorates were conferred during the Commencement ceremonies. Honorary doctorate recipients were Retired U.S. Ambassador Mary Carlin Yates, Amy Dundon-Berchtold, Susan Sygall, Mucki (Pei Ling) Tan ’80, and Robert Watzke, M.D. Sr. Alberta Dieker, O.S.B. received the Christus Magister Medal, the University’s highest honor.
More information about the University’s Commencement ceremonies can be found at http://www.up.edu/commencement.University of Portland
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