University Registrar Scott Owczarek at Spring Commencement 2023
Spring Commencement kicked off Friday, May 12, 2023 at the Kohl Center to celebrate Doctoral, MFA and Medical Professionals. The celebrations continued on Saturday, May 13 with graduating Bachelor’s, Master’s and Law Degree Candidates. There is no other energy and excitement of more than 7,800 graduates inside Camp Randall surrounded by their faculty, family, classmates, loved ones, and supporters. This year’s spring commencement was particularly exciting as it marked Chancellor Mnookin’s first Spring Commencement.
Each ceremony featured fantastic speakers. On Friday, we heard from Cecil Garvin, who received an honorary doctorate for all his work passing on the Ho-Chunk language and culture. And on Saturday, Former U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. delivered the keynote address at Camp Randall Stadium. Saturday’s ceremony also included remarks by two students from the Blk Power Coalition. They shared their struggles and triumphs as Black students at UW–Madison, a good reminder and reflection moment marked after the recent viral racist video from another UW student.
The Office of the Registrar held several diploma-stuffing parties prior to commencement. Beth Warner and Will Lipske were on hand the day of the ceremonies to help with their distribution. There were also 8 people this year who helped marshall at the ceremony. All were happy that this year’s event was not as hot as last year’s. Both the ceremonies and the preparations are incredible logistical undertakings and require great collaboration. I am grateful to our partners and those in our office and division who helped out! The hope and spirit at these ceremonies are great reminders of the impact we all have on students as they make progress to completing their degrees.
