FACTS ON SPRING 2013 COMMENCEMENT

The Ohio State University
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Ohio Stadium

NUMBER OF DEGREES AND CERTIFICATES
Doctoral 286
Master’s 1,743
Professional 893
Bachelor’s 6,919
Associate 297
Certificate 5
Total: 10,143

PRESIDING OFFICER: President E. Gordon Gee

WELCOMING REMARKS: Javaune Adams-Gaston, vice president for Student Life

COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER: Barack H. Obama, president of the United States

HONORARY DEGREES: Honorary doctorates were presented to President Obama, Annie Leibovitz, one of the most influential photographers of our time; Thomas D. Pollard, a professor of cell biology and molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University, and Reinhard Rummel, who has dedicated his career to determining the earth’s gravity field with the utmost accuracy.

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD: Distinguished Service Awards were presented to Carole A. Anderson, who has dedicated more than 25 years to The Ohio State University, both as a key administrator and a distinguished professor in the health sciences; George A. Skestos, who has three decades of leadership and philanthropy at the university and in the central Ohio community; and Justine “Tina” Skestos, a devoted public servant and Ohio State ambassador.

NATIONAL ANTHEM and CARMEN OHIO: Ms. Keyona Willis, School of Music doctoral student.

About the graduating class:
• 130 are veterans, including 15 women and 115 men. Across the country, this is the first class of Post-911 GI Bill recipients to graduate, after the program was implemented in 2009.

• 50 graduates are being commissioned as ROTC cadets, including 11 women and 39 men. All are earning bachelor degrees. Of the 50, 48 will be going to Active Duty and two to the National Guard.

• This is the second-largest graduating class in Ohio State University history. The largest was June, 2012, with 10,642 degrees awarded.