Winter Commencement to Celebrate 3,400 New Grads

A historically unusual semester at UMD will come to an end on Sunday in a traditional, albeit virtual, fashion with the December Commencement ceremony celebrating the newest Terp graduates.

The more than 3,400 students receiving bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees will be honored with a livestreamed university-wide ceremony at 1 p.m. followed by individual college and school ceremonies at 2 p.m.

This marks the second commencement to be held virtually due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and President Darryll J. Pines hopes that both Spring and Winter 2020 graduates will be able to come to an on-campus celebration once it is safe to gather in person.

“We thank all of our graduates and their families for understanding that the decision to celebrate virtually was made in accordance with state and county health guidelines,” Pines said. “We recognize the significance of an in-person event to celebrate our graduates’ proud achievements.”

The main commencement address will be delivered by Dominique Dawes ’02, a former Olympic gymnast who was a member of the gold medal-winning “Magnificent Seven” at the 1996 Atlanta Games, where she also became the first female African-American gymnast to win an individual medal with bronze in the floor exercise. Now the owner of the Dominique Dawes Gymnastics & Ninja Academy in Montgomery County, Md., Dawes is the only American gymnast to compete and win team medals in three Olympic Games and has earned a permanent place in the U.S. Olympic Committee Hall of Fame.

“Our alum’s dedication to reaching back to help others, coupled with her experiences with perseverance and success, make her a shining example of the impact Terps can have on the world and in our state,” Pines said.

The student speaker is Luke Teresi ’20, a psychology major from New Jersey who was adopted as an infant from South Korea and found at UMD a place to start grappling with questions of identity and the need to increase equality of opportunity in housing, education and community development.

The ceremony follows a semester when instruction was mostly online, residence halls were “dedensified” to offer single rooms, in-person gatherings were discouraged, and COVID-19 testing was a part of campus life, all to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Like in the spring, which also shifted to virtual learning, graduates were sent care packages including an official commencement poster and pin and event program. Undergraduate seniors also received a cap and tassel.