UHV graduates to celebrate achievements at fall commencement
About 515 University of Houston-Victoria graduates are expected to walk the stage Saturday in the UHV fall commencement ceremony and hear from a U.S. senator.
The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. Dec. 14 in the Leonard E. Merrell Center, 6301 S. Stadium Lane in Katy. A livestream of the ceremony will be available at www.uhv.edu/graduation.
“Commencement ceremonies are a joyous time for everyone involved,” UHV President Bob Glenn said. “All of our graduates have overcome challenges on their way to commencement, and we are all proud of their hard work and dedication.”
The keynote address will be given by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who first was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002 and is in his third term. He has served the people of Texas for more than three decades, first as a district judge and later as a member of the Texas Supreme Court and Texas Attorney General.
Cornyn helped bring billions of dollars in federal aid to the state after the area was devastated by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. He also helped secure $5.5 billion in targeted tax relief for Texans impacted by Harvey. Following the storm, Cornyn met with Victoria Independent School District officials to survey damage at Aloe Elementary School and learn more about how students were impacted. He has held countless meetings with local and state officials to monitor and offer his help with the ongoing recovery.
This is the second time Cornyn has been selected as a keynote speaker for the university’s fall commencement. He last spoke during the 2007 fall commencement ceremony.
New UHV-specific graduation regalia also will make its debut during the ceremony. The new graduation robes will feature a UHV logo and red stripes on both sleeves. The regalia was designed by members of the university’s Student Government Association. The new design will appear on both graduate and undergraduate robes.
Also new this year is the “Stole of Gratitude.” The stole, which students can purchase to wear over their robes, features a red border and an embroidered UHV logo on one side. Students will wear the stoles during the ceremony and afterward can give the stole to someone who supported them while they were working toward earning their degrees.
John D. Fields will bring greetings for the UH System Board of Regents, and Keith Akins, president of the UHV Faculty Senate, will speak on behalf of the faculty senate. Rosie McCusker, chair of the UHV Staff Council, will represent the council during the ceremony.
Glenn will give the official welcome and will introduce the honors recipients. The deans of each of UHV’s three schools will present the candidates for degrees from their respective schools, and Glenn will confer the degrees.
Christy Maeker, UHV Class of 1993 alumna with a Master of Education, will induct new graduates into UHV’s alumni, and Jeffrey Cass, past president of the faculty senate, will lead the singing of the university’s alma mater.
UHV holds graduation ceremonies in two different locations each year. Spring commencement is in Victoria, while the fall ceremony is held in Katy. For general information about UHV commencement, contact Nancy Gresham, UHV special events coordinator, at 361-570-4351 or greshamn@uhv.edu. Students who have graduation questions should contact Michael Wilkinson, senior director of UHV Student Services & Judicial Affairs, at 361-485-4408 or wilkinsonmr@uhv.edu.
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 80 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.
