Nearly 100 Division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement (DDEEA) program scholars graduated this December (see the full list below). Regardless of whether they needed a ninth semester to complete a challenging degree or other timing factors, graduates agree on two things: It’s important to savor the privilege of higher education and a full Badger experience, and timing is just detail in the triumph of completing a degree.
UW–Madison conferred 1,770 degrees Sunday to undergraduate, graduate and professional school students. About two-thirds of those students, or 1,200, took part in the ceremony at the Kohl Center. Many others will participate in spring commencement in May. The total crowd at the Kohl Center, including graduates, was 7,379.
Chancellor Rebecca Blank told graduates she’s been following closely the national debate over whether a college degree is worth the cost. As an economist who has spent much of her life studying the U.S. labor market, she said she finds the question mystifying.
“Simply put, you have just made the best investment you will ever make,” she said, to applause. “The monetary returns on a college degree are higher now than they have been in the past 50 years. College graduates earn far more than non-college graduates. It’s clear that university training gives you skills that this global economy values more and more each day.”
That proved true for Mitali Soni, a master’s degree graduate from Maharashtra, India. In an interview, she said she sought out UW–Madison specifically because of its top five ranking internationally in her field of study, computer architecture. In January, she’ll start work at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California.
“I didn’t get just a good education here, I got a great one,” she said.
Keynote speaker Jason Gay, the sports columnist for the Wall Street Journal and a 1992 UW–Madison graduate in political science, stressed the messiness of life. Eleven years ago, he got sacked from Rolling Stone magazine.
It was 2008, the height of the Great Recession.
“I was handed a sad cardboard box and told to pack up my stuff,” he said. “It was barely a week before Christmas.”
He wouldn’t necessarily want to relive that moment — it was humbling, he assured the crowd. But it also was strangely exciting, he said. The experience led to some of the insight he imparted to graduates Sunday: We are not always in control of our stories. No one has life all figured out, and there is joy to be found in the unpredictability, he said. Embrace the uncertainty.
“My friends, you’re about to step out into this beautiful chaos,” he told graduates. Read Jason Gay’s speech
A former finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor, Gay wove plenty of laugh lines into his speech. One of the biggest came when he dinged the University of Michigan, a favorite target.
“I actually thought, for a moment, we might have some folks from Ann Arbor show up to protest my speech,” he said. “I thought that would be kind of cool. Then I remembered: Michigan never shows up in Wisconsin.”
Student speaker Lisa Kamal, a highly accomplished geology major, began and ended her remarks by . . . singing.
Student speaker Lisa Kamal acknowledges a friend in the audience. PHOTO: BRYCE RICHTER
As a coping mechanism during tough stretches, she said she came to rely on the soundtrack to the Broadway musical “Hamilton.” She opened her talk Sunday with a slightly altered lyric from one of its songs, “The Story of Tonight:”
Raise a glass to freedom, raise a glass to all of us, telling the story of . . . today.
“There is everyday human experiences that give weight and substance to this certificate you are about to receive,” she told her fellow graduates. “Every sacrifice, every bit of energy you dragged out of you every morning — even if all you managed to do was scratch the bare minimum. You are graduating today. You did enough and I am proud of you. I am immensely proud of you.”
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Parts of this story were written by Doug Erickson
DDEEA Winter Graduates
Center for Educational Opportunity (CeO)
Congratulations to all of our winter 2019 graduates from the @uwceo program, including:
Renesha Carter — BS in Nutritional Sciences || Certificate in Global Health
Anheli De Leon — BA in Communication Arts || Certificate in Digital Studies
Iván Delgado (pictured) — BS in Personal Finance || Certificate in Chican@ and Latin@ Studies
Alana Fry — BA in History and History of Science, Medicine and Technology
Vanessa Guan — BS in Human Development and Family Studies || Certificate in Integrated Studies in Science, Engineering and Society
Clare Hartman — BA in Political Science || Certificate in Health and the Humanities || Certificate in Political Economy, Philosophy and Politics
Racheal Heller — BS in Afro-American Studies || Certificate in Education and Educational Services
Alegra Holt — BS in Animal Sciences
Paul Jackson II (pictured) — BA in Political Science || Certificate in Entrepreneurship
Victoria Millet (pictured) — BS in Human Development and Family Studies || BS in Afro-American Studies || Certificate in Criminal Justice
Laure (Yaye) Modjinou — BSN in Nursing
Umaima Mohammed Saed — BS in Human Development and Family Studies
Lucia Muyolema — BS in Computer Engineering || BS in Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies
Vianey A. Navarro (pictured) — BA in Psychology || Certificate in Chican@ and Latin@ Studies
Emily Olson — BS in Community and Nonprofit Leadership || Certificate in Environmental Studies || Certificate in Global Health
Kennedy Pipers — BS in Athletic Training
Marissa Ripp — BS in Rehabilitation Psychology || Certificate in Education and Educational Services
Esmeralda Tovar — BS in Mathematics || Certificate in Chican@ and Latin@ Studies || Certificate in Environmental Studies
Kelly Truong — BS in Human Development and Family Studies || BS in Neurobiology
Shiyue Xie — BS in Economics || BS in International Studies || BS in Political Science
Chancellors and Powers-Knapp Scholars
Congratulations to all of our winter 2019 graduates from the @mjlscholars program, including:
Gabriela Betancourt — BS in Biomedical Engineering || Certificate for Biology in Engineering for Engineering Majors
Jordan Daniel — BS in Civil Engineering || Certificate in Environmental Studies
Justin DeShaw — BS in Biomedical Engineering
Kailey Hubler — BA in History ||Certificate in Educational Policy Studies
Emilio Jacobo-Arill — BS in Biology || Certificate in Global Health
Brian Mays — BBA in Business: Real Estate and Urban Land Economics || BA in Economics
Erin Nguyen — BS in Rehabilitation Psychology
Nina Nguyen — BS in Computer Sciences
Lorenzo Ramirez — BS in Computer Engineering
Makayla Tuomi — BS in Kinesiology || Certificate in Introductory Studies in Dance/Movement Therapy
PEOPLE College Scholars
Congratulations to all of our winter 2019 graduates from the @peoplescholars program, including:
Renesha Carter — BS in Nutritional Sciences || Certificate in Global Health
Tenzin Kunsel — BS in Neurobiology
Allie Lamb — BS in Communication Arts
Iaong Lee — BS in Industrial Engineering || Certificate in International Engineering || Certificate in Manufacturing Engineering || Certificate in Technical Communication
Hayley Pendergast — BS in Interior Architecture
Maizah Tariq — BS in Human Development and Family Studies || Certificate in Health and the Humanities
Megan Xiong — BS in Neurobiology || BS in Psychology
Jim Yang — BS in Life Sciences Communication || Certificate in Digital Studies
Phia Yang — BS in Conservation Biology || BS in Zoology || Certificate in Environmental Studies
First Wave Hip Hop and Urban Arts Learning Community
Congratulations to all of our winter 2019 graduates from the @omaifirstwave
Shuang Hu (First Wave 9th cohort) — BS in Art
Posse Wisconsin
Congratulations to all of our winter 2019 graduates from the @uwposse programs, including:
Alina Benun (LA Posse 13) — BA in Communication Arts – Communication Sciences & Rhetorical Studies
Ruben Martin Jr. (pictured, Chicago Posse 14) — BS in Civil Engineering
Laura Miller (pictured, DC Posse 7) — BS in Environmental Studies || BS in Geography
Janiece Piolet (pictured, Chicago Posse 14) — BS in Psychology || BS in Sociology || Certificate in Educational Policy Studies
JC Siguenza (DC Posse 7) — BBA in Business: Accounting || BBA in Business: Management and Human Resources