Media Releases

More than 18,000 New Top Minds Set to Graduate this Year from U of T

May 26, 2016

3 Rhodes scholars, 10 honorary degree recipients among #UofTGrad16 Spring convocation ceremonies run May 31 to June 16 in downtown Toronto

Toron­to, ON – More than 18,000 of the world’s newest great minds are set to grad­u­ate from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to, Canada’s top inter­na­tion­al­ly-ranked uni­ver­si­ty, this year — 13,500 alone dur­ing spring con­vo­ca­tion, run­ning May 31 to June 16.

Among those expect­ed to cross the stage at Con­vo­ca­tion Hall are: three Rhodes schol­ars, den­tal sur­geons, archi­tects, musi­cians and opera singers, phar­ma­cists, philoso­phers, med­ical doc­tors, lawyers and engi­neers.

They will be joined by 10 hon­orary degree recip­i­ents rep­re­sent­ing the best in their fields, such as Dick Pound, found­ing pres­i­dent of the World Anti-Dop­ing Agency (WADA); inter­na­tion­al math­e­mat­i­cal super­star Pro­fes­sor Man­jul Bhar­ga­va and Toron­to Inter­na­tion­al Film Fes­ti­val CEO Piers Han­dling.

As they cross the stage to receive their diplo­mas at the his­toric Con­vo­ca­tion Hall, they will be cheered on by more than 28,000 fam­i­ly and friends who have come to Toron­to from all cor­ners of the globe to cel­e­brate their accom­plish­ments.

For the full sched­ule of #UofTGrad16 con­vo­ca­tion cer­e­monies, vis­it convocation.utoronto.ca/events.

“The Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to is incred­i­bly proud of our newest grad­u­ates — the class of 2016! They are more than 18,000 strong from 161 coun­tries, count­less com­mu­ni­ties across Ontario and Cana­da. They are ready to take on the world’s biggest chal­lenges,” said U of T pres­i­dent Mer­ic Gertler.

“We’d also like to rec­og­nize and thank the com­mu­ni­ties of the GTA for embrac­ing our grad­u­ates while pro­vid­ing them with a dynam­ic, diverse and friend­ly home dur­ing their stud­ies at U of T.  You’ve helped build their expe­ri­ences and shape their world view. Now, they’ll have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to build up our com­mu­ni­ties and cities around the world with what they’ve learned here.”

In total, 25 cer­e­monies will be held over 13 days at Con­vo­ca­tion Hall — where all U of T con­vo­ca­tions have tak­en place for more than a hun­dred years — for stu­dents grad­u­at­ing from the university’s three cam­pus­es in down­town Toron­to, Scar­bor­ough and Mis­sis­sauga.

The largest cer­e­mo­ny will be in the after­noon on June 13 when more than 610 attend­ing stu­dents will receive their bach­e­lor degrees in the arts and sci­ences.

Three cer­e­monies will be held on June 2 for 1,647 stu­dents from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to Scar­bor­ough cam­pus, fol­lowed by three cer­e­monies on June 6 for 1,855 stu­dents from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to Mis­sis­sauga cam­pus.

Quick Facts on U of T Con­vo­ca­tion 2016:

  • 8 parade mar­shals dressed in scar­let gowns to help stu­dents line up prop­er­ly for cer­e­mo­ny
  • 10 hon­orary degree recip­i­ents: Dick Pound (June 2); Ger­ry Schwartz (June 3); Pro­fes­sor Robert Put­nam (June 7); M.G. Venkatesh Man­nar and Pro­fes­sor Cyn­thia Barn­hart (June 8); Pro­fes­sor Man­jul Bhar­ga­va (June 9); the Hon. James Bartle­man (June 10); Piers Han­dling (June 13); Lin­da Schuyler (June 14); and Pro­fes­sor David Schindler (June 16)
  • 12 weeks spent prepar­ing the 13,500 parch­ments (diplo­mas) for spring con­vo­ca­tion, from labelling and stuff­ing envelopes to triple-check­ing names and degrees are cor­rect
  • 12 weeks since any­one was allowed to walk across the Con­vo­ca­tion Plaza lawn, which is being read­ied for its time in the spot­light
  • 25 indi­vid­ual cer­e­monies held over 13 days for spring con­vo­ca­tion
  • 40 trained vol­un­teer read­ers read­ing out the names of more than 10,500 attend­ing grad­u­ates at spring con­vo­ca­tion
  • 59+ age range between old­est grad­u­ate (79) and youngest grad­u­ates (20) at spring con­vo­ca­tion
  • 75+ dif­fer­ent types of hoods sym­bol­iz­ing dif­fer­ent degrees worn by grad­u­ates and aca­d­e­m­ic offi­cials
  • 340 doc­tor­al degrees award­ed at spring con­vo­ca­tion
  • 1,086 pro­fes­sion­al degrees, such as phar­ma­cists, med­ical doc­tors and lawyers
  • 2,539 master’s degrees award­ed at spring con­vo­ca­tion
  • 9,804 bach­e­lor degrees award­ed at spring con­vo­ca­tion
  • 13,500 expect­ed grad­u­ates, with more than 10,500 in atten­dance at spring con­vo­ca­tion
  • 14,000+ rental aca­d­e­m­ic gowns worn by stu­dents, fac­ul­ty and staff
  • 28,385 guest tick­ets snapped up for spring con­vo­ca­tion
  • 500,000-plus U of T alum­ni world­wide

The fall con­vo­ca­tion for the Class of 2016 will be held Novem­ber 7–11.

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For more infor­ma­tion:

U of T Media Rela­tions
416–978-0100
media.relations@utoronto.ca