University of Arizona president Suresh Garimella conferred about 9,000 degrees at the university’s 161st commencement on May 16. The ceremony brought a record-breaking number of almost 40,000 guests to Arizona Stadium.
The 2025 commencement ceremony marked the end of Garimella’s first academic year after he took office in October of 2024.
“Over the past year, we’ve built a strong and unified leadership team to move us forward. We will have a balanced budget in the next fiscal year, deliver raises for faculty and staff and hold the line on resident tuition and fees,” Garimella wrote to the Daily Wildcat.
The UA president came to the university in the midst of a financial crisis before facing the threat of losing federal funding in January if the university did not comply with President Trump’s Executive Order, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity. University research departments are also navigating funding challenges following a federal funding freeze on certain grant programs from the National Institute of Health and the National Science Foundation.
In a letter last month to Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen, Garimella shared that all college deans were told about areas affected by the executive order and that all non-academic service units were implementing DEIA-related language changes.
Despite these changes, the University of Arizona did hold its annual graduation ceremonies for diverse communities this past week, including the Disability Cultural Center Celebration, the LGBTQ+ Affairs “Rainbow Graduation,” the Native American Student Affairs Graduation, the Asian Pacific American “Lotus Laureate Celebration,” the American Indian Studies Convocation, the African American Student Affairs Celebration, the Adalberto & Ana Guerrero Student Center Graduation and the Veterans Education and Transition Services Celebration.
“Reflecting on my short time at this extraordinary university, I’m proud of our faculty and staff, what we’ve started together, and the opportunities we will seize. As I told our graduates and more than 40,000 people who attended Commencement, the U of A must continue to be a Force for Good,” Garimella wrote, referencing an idea used in the university’s new strategic imperatives, Delivering on Our Promise.
The university president was joined on the commencement stage by many diverse voices who carried themes of challenging the norm in their speeches. Some of these speakers included Regent Fred DuVal, who spoke out about defending science and facts in a time full of misinformation, Graduate and Professional Student Council President Jeremy Bernick, who challenged the eight-hour work day and its limitations on maintaining a work-life balance and keynote speaker Erik Weihenmayer, who encouraged students to be climbers rather than campers.
Weihenmayer, a world-renowned adventurer, is best known for being the only blind climber to hike the Seven Summits. In his commencement speech, he told the stories of how he and several of his friends overcame adversity in dealing with their developed disabilities. He advocated for students to stay resilient after college when facing seemingly impossible challenges and encouraged them to reach for new heights.
“As a 56-year-old person, I can’t even pretend to understand the challenges that you all will face and that you will continue to face as a generation. I mean, isolation and disconnection and poverty and disease and food deserts that stretch across America and hateful, toxic messaging coming through social media and even through the federal government and environmental devastation,” Weihenmayer said. “Yes, to be blunt, these are the things that might crush us, or they might become the most potent fuel source we have for transformation.”
Weihenmayer was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the UA College of Education. He was one of four honorary degree recipients. The others included:
- Ginny L. Clements, Doctor of Science from the College of Medicine – Tucson Department of Pediatrics.
- William A. Franke, Doctor of Humane Letters from the W.A. Franke Honors College.
- Mark Smith, Doctor of Science from the College of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences.
Seven students also received awards during the commencement ceremony, including:
- Angela White, Provost Award
- Ryan Sadowsky and Siena Sevillano Shedd, Robert Logan Nugent Awards
- Patrick Tanori Quintero and Aaliyah Thompson-Mazzeo, Robie Gold Medal Awards
- Nathaniel Cross and Katie Nguyen, Merrill P. Freeman Medals
