News Article

For the fourth consecutive year, Gonzaga University will graduate its largest class ever, formally conferring a total of 1,655 degrees during the university’s 119th commencement exercises May 13-14, 50 more degrees than the previous record total of 1,605 degrees conferred in May 2005.
This year’s commencement includes an estimated 951 bachelor, 496 master, 17 doctoral and 191 juris doctor degrees to be conferred. By comparison, last May Gonzaga conferred 993 bachelor, 395 master, 17 doctoral and 200 juris doctor degrees.

THE ROTC COMMISSIONING will lead off the ceremonies at 4:30 p.m., Friday, May 12 in Cataldo Hall with a reception to immediately follow. (For more information call (509) 323-6512.)

THE SCHOOL OF LAW COMMENCEMENT begins with an academic procession at 9:15 a.m., Saturday, May 13 in the McCarthey Athletic Center on the Gonzaga campus. The keynote speaker for the ceremony, which begins at 9:30 a.m., will be Washington state Supreme Court Justice Mary Fairhurst. Fairhurst, a 1984 Gonzaga School of Law alumna, will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Gonzaga. Former Gonzaga Trustee and Regent William Burch, now Trustee Emeritus, also will be honored with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Burch, a 1951 GU Law School alumnus, supported both the financial and physical growth of Gonzaga. Premier Seattle-area trial attorney Paul Luvera, a 1959 alumnus of the GU Law School and University benefactor, will receive Gonzaga’s Law Medal, awarded to those individuals who have provided exemplary service to the law. A social follows the ceremony at approximately 11 a.m. at the Law School lawn.

THE GRADUATE COMMENCEMENT ceremony will begin with an academic procession at 4:45 p.m., Saturday, May 13, in the McCarthey Athletic Center; the ceremony begins at 5 p.m. William Tobin, longtime editor of the Anchorage Times, will be the keynote speaker and is scheduled to receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Gonzaga. Sister Paula Mary Turnbull, SNJM, a well-known Pacific Northwest sculptor who lives in Spokane, will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. A social will follow on the south lawn of the Martin Centre beginning at approximately 6:30 p.m.

THE UNDERGRADUATE COMMENCEMENT begins with an academic procession at 9:40 a.m., Sunday, May 14, Mother’s Day, in the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, with the ceremony beginning at 10 a.m. The keynote speaker will be Rev. Pat Twohy, S.J., superior of the Rocky Mountain Mission, who has served the Catholic Church and the people of Northwest tribal communities; Twohy also will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Kay Barbieri, of Spokane, a longtime supporter of Gonzaga University, the arts, health care and Catholic education in Spokane, will be honored with the DeSmet Medal, Gonzaga’s highest honor. The Most Rev. Alexander J. Brunett, archbishop of Seattle, will be honored at the ceremony with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Ed and Lynn Hogan, longtime Gonzaga Regents, now Regents Emereti, and generous Gonzaga donors, each will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Also scheduled to be honored with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree is Dave Sabey, former Gonzaga Regent and Trustee. Sabey, who served two terms as chair of the Gonzaga Board of Trustees, is now a Trustee Emeritus.

BACCALAUREATE MASSES will be held as follows: School of Law, 5:30 p.m., Friday, May 12, in St. Aloysius Church; Graduate/Undergraduate, 1:30 p.m., Saturday, May 13, in the McCarthey Athletic Center. Doors will open at 12:15 p.m., and guests will be admitted by ticket; this is the only Baccalaureate Mass for which tickets required. Most Rev. Bishop William S. Skylstad, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane, will preside. Gonzaga President Rev. Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., and Rev. Rick Ganz, S.J., director of University Ministry for Gonzaga, will concelebrate the Mass. John E. Byrne will be the deacon.

A schedule of important dates and a frequently asked questions section for graduates can be found at www.gonzaga.edu/graduation. For more information contact Susie Prusch via e-mail at prusch@gu.gonzaga.edu
at (509) 323-5571.