Commencement celebrations started Friday, May 22, with the traditional School of Social Work barbecue, which this year had to be moved indoors due to inclement weather.
Graduates, their families, faculty and staff happily lined up into the Utopia Theater to get their barbecue plates, and then found cozy places all over the building to eat, share laughs and conversation, and have a good time.
The School of Social Work 2015 convocation ceremony took place in Bass Concert Hall on Saturday, May 23. The convocation speakers for the ceremony were David Alexander Sands, from the BSW program, and Travis Kent Singley, from the MSSW program.
“This program truly emphasizes the importance of equality and acceptance of all people and experiences. Now, I know that the world is not perfect or equal, but I do not believe that the program has never lied and said that it was. This program has truly taught us to recognize injustice and inequality in our reality and to develop novel ways to combat those evils through creativity, dedication, and tolerance,” Singley said to his graduating cohort (read the full speech here, PDF).
“Let us go forward (…) with the firm conviction in our hearts and minds that any difference we make in the lives of others and in the greater society, no matter how subtle or minute, no matter how long in the making, and no matter how easily or arduously achieved, is a victory no less valuable than any other, no less deserving of celebration and praise, and is therefore no less worth making,” Sands added (read full speech here, PDF).
See more pictures of the barbecue and convocation ceremony on the School of Social Work Facebook page.
Posted May 27, 2015.