Commencement ceremonies planned for Friday and Saturday

Entrepreneur and philanthropist Michael R. Bloomberg will present the commencement address at the plenary ceremony in the Academic Quad May 12. Degrees for Rice’s Class of 2018 will be conferred after Bloomberg’s speech.

Individual recognition of graduating students will take place May 11 during separate ceremonies at which each degree recipient will be named, presented and congratulated.

Friday’s ceremonies begin at 9 a.m. with the Advanced Degrees Convocation in Tudor Fieldhouse. All recipients of a master’s degree, except for MBAs, are expected to attend, along with graduates who are receiving an Artist Diploma in Music or a Bachelor of Architecture degree.

The Jones Graduate School of Business Investiture for MBA Programs will be at 1 p.m. Friday in Tudor Fieldhouse. All Master of Business Administration degree recipients are expected to attend, along with faculty members who have an appointment in the Jones School.

The Doctoral Convocation will be at 2 p.m. Friday in Stude Concert Hall in Alice Pratt Brown Hall. Ph.D. recipients are expected to attend, along with the faculty member they have selected to hood them, who is typically their thesis adviser.

Friday night light bites will be available to gradating seniors and their immediate family in their home residential colleges from 4:30 to 6.

The Undergraduate Convocation will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Academic Quad unless inclement weather makes it necessary to move the ceremony indoors at Tudor Fieldhouse. All recipients of bachelor’s degrees except for the Bachelor of Architecture degree are expected to attend. Each student gets to cross the stage, receive a tube for their diploma and be congratulated. Brief remarks will be presented by a student-selected member of the graduating class, by a college magister and by President David Leebron. The ceremony will conclude with a student-written trumpet fanfare and a fireworks display.

Saturday’s plenary ceremony will start at 8:30 a.m. in the Academic Quad unless the weather warrants an indoor ceremony at Tudor Fieldhouse. All graduates and all faculty members are expected to attend. The ceremony will feature an academic procession and recession, conferral of degrees, presentation of several awards, brief remarks by Leebron and other officials, and the commencement address by Bloomberg, who is the CEO and president of Bloomberg LP, a global information and technology company that includes Bloomberg News. Michael Bloomberg served as New York City’s mayor for three consecutive terms, the first of which began less than two months after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

After Saturday’s commencement, a reception for undergraduate degree recipients and their guests will be held in their residential colleges. A brunch for doctoral degree recipients and their guests will be served in Rice Memorial Center’s Grand Hall from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Marcie O’Malley, chief marshal for commencement, said that if outdoor ceremonies need to be moved indoors, a notice will be posted on rice.edu and an email will be sent to students, faculty and staff. To receive commencement updates by cellphone, text RUGRAD2018 to 888777.

For details about other events during commencement week, visit commencement.rice.edu and click on the “Schedule of Events” tab.