Campus Life

Texas A&M Meeting Its Commitment To Texas, Set To Graduate Over 10,000

May 4, 2017

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By Nancy Sawtelle, Texas A&M University Office of the Provost

Texas A&M University is projected to award more than 10,000 degrees this month during 14 commencement ceremonies held across Texas and at its branch campus in Doha, Qatar.

The College Station-based commencement ceremonies begin Wednesday, May 10 with the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Degrees presented by the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. Seven ceremonies featuring 11 colleges and schools will follow in Reed Arena May 11-12, culminating in the College of Engineering ceremony in Kyle Field, Saturday May 13.  Combined with ceremonies for branch campus and educational sites around Texas for Texas A&M University Galveston Campus (May 13), School of Law (May 12), College of Medicine (May 20), College of Dentistry (May 23) and Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy (May 27), students completing 10,074 degrees in undergraduate, graduate and professional programs will be recognized.

Texas A&M University Qatar Campus marked its 10th graduating class by awarding 95 students with bachelor’s and master’s degrees at ceremonies on May 4 in Doha, Qatar.

“I’m proud to celebrate the work of our faculty and these students in not only reaching this personal pinnacle of graduation, but for the future impacts these graduates will have on our state, nation and world,” said President Michael K. Young.  “Texas A&M is meeting our fundamental commitment to Texas by graduating academically prepared students, with character defined by our core values and a commitment to the greater good.”

Supported by growing enrollments, student success initiatives and timely graduation incentives, this May’s ceremonies will feature the highest number of bachelor’s degrees (7,273), master’s degrees (1,903), professional degrees (558) and doctoral degrees (339) for any one semester in the university’s, as well as the state of Texas’, history.

These ceremonies also will include the commissioning of approximately 112 members of the Corps of Cadets as part of the 2 p.m. Friday (May 12) ceremonies. Additionally, midshipmen of Texas A&M Galveston’s Texas A&M Maritime Academy will receive their officer licenses for the U.S. Merchant Marine during the branch campus’ ceremony. The number of students receiving commissions is the most since 1984 for a comparable period, with the newly commissioned officers representing all four branches of the armed forces.

University officials point out that the graduation and commissioning figures are based on current filings and related status and can be expected to vary slightly by the time of the ceremonies.

For a full listing of the commencement ceremonies, see graduation.tamu.edu.

The university’s May 11-13 College Station-based commencement exercises will be broadcast on KAMU-TV.  Video recordings can also be purchased by downloading order form from KAMU-TV website or via shortcut at tx.ag/graduationvideo.

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About Texas A&M University: Texas A&M, established in 1876 as the first public university in Texas, is one of the nation’s largest universities with more than 66,000 students and more than 427,000 living alumni residing in over 150 countries around the world. A tier-one university, Texas A&M holds the rare triple land-, sea- and space-grant designation. Research conducted at Texas A&M represented annual expenditures of more than $892.7 million in fiscal year 2016. Texas A&M’s research creates new knowledge that provides basic, fundamental and applied contributions resulting, in many cases, in economic benefits to the state, nation and world. The school’s Lead by Example campaign is a comprehensive effort to raise $4 billion by the year 2020, making it the largest higher education campaign in Texas history and the second largest conducted nationally by a public university. Aggies are known for their deep commitment to the success of each other and a strong desire to serve.

Contact: Nancy Sawtelle at (979) 845-4016  or  n-sawtelle@tamu.edu

For more news about Texas A&M University, see https://today.tamu.edu/.

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