Advisory: Marquette Commencement ceremonies to be held May 22 at American Family Insurance Amphitheater

May 17, 2022

Commencement imageMILWAUKEE — Marquette University will recognize the 3,227 members of its 141st graduating class with Commencement ceremonies to be held Sunday, May 22, at American Family Insurance Amphitheater on the Summerfest grounds.

Undergraduates will be recognized in a ceremony at 9 a.m., and graduates of the Graduate School and Graduate School of Management will be recognized in an event at 2 p.m.

Photographers are welcome to capture b-roll and still images freely in an unobtrusive manner. Media interested in attending a Commencement ceremony should RSVP by contacting Kevin Conway, associate director of university communication, at kevin.m.conway@marquette.edu. The ceremonies will also be livestreamed on the 2022 Commencement website.

Below is information and facts for each Commencement ceremony, as well as graduates who are available this week for interviews leading up to Commencement.

Undergraduate ceremony

Dwyane Wade, a three-time NBA champion, Olympic gold medalist and one of the 75 greatest players in NBA history who led Marquette to the Final Four in 2003, will serve as Commencement speaker for the undergraduate ceremony. He will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree as part of the ceremony. NOTE: There will be no media availability for Dwyane Wade in conjunction with the Commencement ceremony.

Maxwell Dixon, a mechanical engineering major in the Opus College of Engineering, will be this year’s student speaker for the undergraduate Commencement ceremony.

Facts about the undergraduate Class of 2022:

  • 1,942 graduates
  • 19% of graduates are first-generation students
  • 27% of graduates are students of color
  • Graduates are representing 42 states, three U.S. territories and 12 other countries
  • 32% of the graduates are from Wisconsin and 41% are from Illinois
  • Most popular majors, by size of graduating class: biomedical sciences, nursing, finance, psychology, marketing, mechanical engineering

The following graduates are available for interviews this week. It may be easier to find time with them during the week instead of on Sunday. Contact Marquette's Office of Marketing and Communication to arrange a day and time:

  • Annie Bruce graduates from the College of Nursing in December but will participate in this weekend’s Commencement ceremony. The journey to Commencement has been difficult for Annie as she was paralyzed from the neck down after suffering a spinal cord injury less than 18 months ago. She has worked hard to walk again and recently completed a 5K. Read her amazing story in Marquette Nurse magazine.
  • Maddie Anderson is graduating with her bachelor’s degree in history with minors in anthropology and studio art. As an undergraduate, she assisted in research at the Milwaukee Public Museum to identify and repatriate Native American artifacts. After Commencement, she will head to Alaska to learn about sustainable agriculture and food security with an anthropologist in advance of graduate school for museum studies.

Graduate ceremony

[NOTE: Graduate recognition ceremonies for the law and dental schools are not on May 22 and are not open to media at this time.]

Thelma A. Sias, former vice president for local affairs at We Energies, will speak at the Graduate School and Graduate School of Management ceremony. She will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree as part of the ceremony.

Stephanie Boedecker, who is completing her master’s degree in student affairs in higher education in the College of Education, will address fellow graduates at the ceremony for the graduate school and professional studies programs.

Facts about the graduate and professional studies class:

  • 1,285 graduates
  • 837 master’s degrees
  • 76 Ph.D.s
  • 372 professional studies degrees (law, dental, physical therapy)

The following graduates are available for interviews this week:

  • Ellen Mathesonis graduating from Marquette University Law School. She received her B.S. from the United States Military Academy at West Point and then spent five years on active duty as an intelligence officer in the United States Army. As a law student, Ellen has stood out for her academic prowess, serving as an articles editor for the Marquette Law Review, among other accomplishments. Ellen and her husband, Oliver, have two young children: a son, four months old when she began law school, and a daughter, born this past year. Following Commencement, Ellen will serve as a law clerk to a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
  • Selorm Ansah is the first international student to graduate from the College of Nursing’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program. She left her family in Ghana to enroll in the program, focusing on pediatric primary care. Through her resolve and commitment to the program, she navigated the COVID pandemic in Wisconsin without her family, which was back home in Ghana, and passed NCLEX board exams during her master's program.
  • The first cohort of the Milwaukee Public Schools Extraordinary Leaders graduate program will be graduating from the College of Education. Marquette and MPS have partnered to prepare cohorts of up to 10 candidates in the educational leadership graduateprogram with administrative certification. Candidates may choose to pursue a principal or a director of instruction certification.

Parking Information

Parking in the Summerfest lots (A, G-East, G-West, H and P-East) is available for $10 and can be purchased in advance. A parking map is available online. Parking lots open at 7:30 a.m.

For assistance the morning of Commencement, please contact any of the following:

  • Kevin Conway, associate director of university communication
    • (414) 202-9329 – mobile
  • Lynn Griffith, assistant vice president of university communication
    • (414) 499-5157 – mobile
  • Jack Goods, communication specialist
    • (716) 725-3260 – mobile

About Kevin Conway

Kevin Conway

Kevin is the associate director for university communication in the Office of University Relations. Contact Kevin at (414) 288-4745 or kevin.m.conway@marquette.edu.