Michael Bloomberg, internationally known business leader and former mayor of New York City, will deliver the Spring Commencement address for the Ann Arbor campus at 10 a.m. Saturday at Michigan Stadium.
Bloomberg will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
Also receiving honorary degrees are:
• Michael Brown, CEO and co-founder of City Year, a nonprofit organization dedicated to engaging young people in a year of national service, Doctor of Laws. His degree will be conferred at the UM-Dearborn ceremony at 2:30 p.m. May 1 at Crisler Center.
• Michele Oka Doner, artist and U-M alumna known for her pioneering and multidisciplinary contributions to visual culture, Doctor of Arts.
• Mary-Claire King, world leader in cancer genetics and the use of genomics to address social injustice, Doctor of Science. King also is delivering the commencement address for the Rackham Graduate Ceremony, at 10 a.m. Friday in Hill Auditorium.
• Beverly Daniel Tatum, Spelman College president emerita, psychologist and U-M alumna, Doctor of Laws.
There are 9,106 students applying to graduate following the winter 2016 term, from all schools and colleges.
Speaker
New York City mayor from 2002-13, Bloomberg now serves the United Nations as its Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change.
Bloomberg revolutionized information technology in 1981 when he founded Bloomberg L.P. and unveiled the Bloomberg Terminal, which organizes and analyzes financial and economic data. Today, Bloomberg L.P. has more than 16,000 employees in 192 locations worldwide, delivering business and financial information, news and insights to a global audience.
Born in Boston, Bloomberg grew up in nearby Medford, Massachusetts. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering in 1964 from Johns Hopkins University, where he was class president, and a Master of Business Administration degree in 1966 from Harvard Business School. Prior to launching Bloomberg L.P., he worked at the securities brokerage Salomon Brothers.
Bloomberg’s philanthropic commitment to the arts, education, the environment, government innovation and public health has grown along with his business. He has donated more than $4.3 billion, including $100 million to help eradicate polio, $250 million to improve road safety, and $600 million to reduce global tobacco use.
He has served on the boards of numerous charitable, cultural and educational institutions, including Johns Hopkins, where he chaired the board of the Bloomberg School of Public Health.
As New York’s mayor, he led the city back from the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, rebuilding Lower Manhattan and revitalizing long-neglected neighborhoods. He turned around the city’s public education system, raising high school graduation rates by more than 40 percent, while cutting crime by 32 percent and driving job growth to record highs.
He created hundreds of acres of new parks, revitalized the waterfront, and championed public art. He also enacted the city’s first smoking ban for all commercial establishments and ended the use of artificial trans fats in restaurants, policies that have since spread across the nation.
As the U.N.’s special envoy, Bloomberg helps cities set and reach more ambitious climate goals. He also is president of the board of the C40 Climate Leadership Group. His accolades include the Genesis Prize, and in 2014 Queen Elizabeth II named him an honorary knight. He also has received France’s top civilian honor, the Legion of Honor.
Venue
Michigan Stadium opens for Spring Commencement seating at 8 a.m. Security guidelines prohibit purses, umbrellas, bags, cases, water bottles and thermoses and other select items. Cell phones, small cameras and hand-held video cameras are permitted. See a list of prohibited and permitted items on the commencement website: ldrsnb.st/umichstadiumitems.
All family members and guests attending Spring Commencement, including children older than age 2, need a ticket to enter the stadium.
Transportation
Free parking is available in all U-M parking structures on Central Campus Friday through Sunday. Free parking begins at 9 a.m. Friday at the Palmer-Blue area, Fletcher and Thayer lots, and at 9:30 a.m. at all other U-M lots.
In addition, all university parking areas and surface lots on Central, North and South campuses will have suspended parking enforcement Friday through Sunday. Commencement guests are welcome to park in any available unrestricted parking space (blue, orange, yellow).
On Saturday, guests and graduates are encouraged to use the complimentary shuttle bus service for travel to and from Michigan Stadium. Shuttle services are available beginning at 7:45 a.m. to and from select hotels, central downtown locations, and select university parking lots and structures. All shuttle buses are wheelchair accessible.
Inclement weather plan
Spring Commencement is scheduled to take place in Michigan Stadium rain or shine. The ceremony may be shortened, suspended or concluded in the event of severe weather. If a schedule adjustment is required due to severe weather, instructions will be given to guests via public address announcements and video screen messages. Graduates and guests are asked to listen for announcements and remain seated until instructed otherwise.
Rackham Graduate Exercises
The Rackham Graduate Exercises ceremony is at 10 a.m. Friday at Hill Auditorium, with a commencement address by Mary-Claire King, world leader in cancer genetics and the use of genomics to address social injustice. This is the commencement ceremony for all master’s and doctoral graduates and candidates who receive their degrees through the Rackham Graduate School. For more information, email rackhamgraduateexercises@umich.edu or call 734-647-7900.
Dearborn and Flint graduation ceremonies
UM-Dearborn will host one ceremony for all graduates at 2:30 p.m. May 1 at Crisler Center. The move from the UM-Dearborn campus to Ann Arbor was made to better accommodate a growing number of graduates and their families. Richard Haddrill, executive vice chairman of Scientific Games, will serve as keynote speaker. Additional commencement information is available on UM-Dearborn’s website.
UM-Flint ceremonies are at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. May 1 at the Dort Federal Credit Union Event Center. Astronaut Story Musgrave will be the keynote speaker at both of the commencement ceremonies. Musgrave was a NASA astronaut for more than 30 years, flying on six spaceflights. He performed the first shuttle spacewalk on Challenger’s first flight in 1983.
More graduation ceremonies
Thursday
School of Public Health, 12:30 p.m., Hill Auditorium, with Shamsia Ramadhan, peace practitioner from Kenya, jsteppe@umich.edu or 734-214-6430.
School of Kinesiology, 4:30 p.m., Hill Auditorium, with Howard Zelaznik, professor of health and kinesiology and associate vice president for research at Purdue University, kinossgroup@umich.edu or 734-615-2583.
Friday
Stephen M. Ross School of Business, 2 p.m. (BBA/MM/MAcc), and 5 p.m. (MBA/Ph.D.), both at Hill Auditorium, with Mark Fields, president and chief executive officer, Ford Motor Co., liannace@umich.edu or 734-647-0342.
School of Music, Theatre & Dance, 2 p.m., Power Center, with Jane Chu, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, dianals@umich.edu or 734-764-0592.
School of Information, 4 p.m., Rackham Auditorium, with Wael Ghonim, Egyptian Revolution of 2011 social activist who founded the Facebook account We Are All Khaled Said, wachtera@umich.edu or 734-647-3110.
La Celebracion Latina, 6 p.m., Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, sgarciaz@umich.edu or 734-936-1753.
Native Student Graduation Celebration, 5 p.m., Matthaei Bontanical Gardens, hgalvan@umich.edu or 734-936-1055.
Saturday
School of Nursing, 1 p.m., Hill Auditorium, umsn-studentevents@med.umich.edu or 734-763-5985.
School of Social Work, 1 p.m., Power Center for the Performing Arts, mtgorton@umich.edu or 734-936-0961.
School of Natural Resources and Environment, 1 p.m., Rackham Auditorium, sshowen@umich.edu or 734-763-9925.
Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, 2 p.m., North Campus Research Complex, with Joel Jacobs, Microsoft design studio, bbscott@umich.edu or 734-647-9886.
College of Engineering, 3 p.m., Crisler Center, lrolech@umich.edu or 734-647-7046.
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, 4:30 p.m., Rackham Auditorium, with Hardy Vieux, legal director, Human Rights First, cliftonm@umich.edu or 734-615-3893.
School of Education, 5 p.m., Hill Auditorium, with Beverly Daniel Tatum, president emerita of Spelman College, jsteppe@umich.edu or 734-214-6430.
Black Celebratory, 6 p.m., Power Center for the Performing Arts, courts@umich.edu or gtz@umich.edu.
May 1
A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, 2 p.m., Hill Auditorium, with Robert Fishman, interim dean and professor of architecture and urban planning, kateej@umich.edu or 734-763-6518.
May 6
School of Dentistry, noon, Hill Auditorium, with Martin Philbert, dean of the School of Public Health, vorobiev@umich.edu or 647-4026.
Law School Senior Day, 4 p.m., Hill Auditorium, ljgray@umich.edu or rickardja@umich.edu or 734-615-4501.
May 13
Medical School, 3 p.m., Hill Auditorium, with Dr. James O. Woolliscroft, Medical School dean from 2007-15, bdensen@umich.edu or 734-615-4856.
