On Tuesday, May 9, nearly 1000 degrees will be conferred to Indiana University South Bend students at the 2023 Commencement Ceremony. The events get started with a 6 p.m. procession followed by the official ceremony beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Joyce Center on the campus of the University of Notre Dame.
Indiana University President Pamela Whitten and IU South Bend Chancellor Susan Elrod will preside over the event, and they will both address the graduates.
The student keynote speaker is Christian Martinez, a dual degree recipient. Martinez earned his Bachelor of Arts in political science, with minors in criminal justice and mathematics. Concurrently, he achieved a Bachelor of Science in economics with a minor in business administration. Martinez also was highly involved with American Democracy Project activities on campus, first as a student intern and later as event coordinator. He rose through the ranks of the Student Government Association, serving as senator, treasurer and finally student body president. He was also president of the Political Science Club and received the 2022 Centellas Student Leader of the Year award.
The group of graduating Titans is increasingly diverse, featuring many scholars who have taken a non-traditional path through higher education. This year?s walk list includes the mother and daughter team of Eve and Genevieve Mathews. Eve deferred her own collegiate career so that she could focus on raising her three children. Genevieve took an eight-year hiatus between high school and college. Once the youngest Mathews sibling had finished high school, Eve and Genevieve made a pact to be each other?s top cheerleader and counselor as they matriculated at IU South Bend together. After graduation, Eve intends to pursue a career as a teacher of English as a New Language and Genevieve is deciding on a PhD program that will put her on course to become a math professor.
In another family connection, twin sisters Diana and Karla Gonz�lez Mu�oz, who both earned bachelor’s degrees in psychology from IU South Bend in 2019, have now finished graduate school together and they will both be receiving their degrees of Master of Science in Education. In their rare moments of free time, Diana and Karla are avid boxers, and they hope to continue to find time to get in the ring. Even more importantly, they plan to put their new degrees to use serving their local community.
Participants in the ceremony include graduates from December 2022 as well as May and August 2023.
No tickets are required and admission is free, but a large crowd is expected. Due to the construction currently underway near the Joyce Center, attendees should allow for extra time spent finding parking and be prepared for a longer walk than usual. Parking is free and parking lot attendants will be on hand. To accommodate guests with limited mobility, guests can be dropped off at Joyce Drive and Moose Krause Circle, near the southwest corner of the Joyce Center. Additional parking is available at the Bulla and Fischer lots adjacent to Twyckenham Drive, with shuttle service to the Joyce Center provided.
Anyone who cannot attend the event in person can follow along with the livestream via a link from commencement.iu.edu beginning at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 9. Afterwards, the ceremony footage will be archived at broadcast.iu.edu for anyone who would like to view Commencement in retrospect. The ceremony will last approximately 90 minutes.
For more information, a schedule of events, and a checklist for graduates, visit the IU South Bend Alumni Relations page at iusb.edu/alumni-relations/commencement.
