ORONO, Maine — The 214th commencement at the University of Maine will be held Saturday in the Harold Alfond Sports Arena on campus.
Nearly 1,800 undergraduates and graduate students will receive their degrees during two ceremonies, at 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
Watch the live stream of the event here.
Tips for attending the ceremonies have been provided by the UMaine Police Department.
The morning ceremony includes the College of Education and Human Development, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Division of Lifelong learning and the Maine Business School. The afternoon ceremony includes the College of Engineering and the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture.
Honorary doctorates will be awarded to two alumni: United States diplomat Pamela White, the former ambassador to Haiti and The Gambia, an Auburn native living on Orrs Island; and Leonard Minsky, community leader and retired president of Superior Paper Products Inc., who lives in Bangor and Sanibel Island, Florida.
White is the commencement speaker for both ceremonies.
The 2016 valedictorian is Nicholas Fried of Millerstown, Pennsylvania, an animal and veterinary sciences major, with a minor in chemistry. Connor Smart of Lincoln, the salutatorian, is a double major in accounting and finance, and he is the Outstanding Graduating Student in the Maine Business School. Both are Honors College students.
Also being honored are four faculty members, in anthropology, engineering technology, marine sciences and political science.
This year’s Distinguished Maine Professor is anthropologist Paul “Jim” Roscoe, a world-renowned leader in cultural anthropology who is a professor of anthropology and a cooperating professor in UMaine’s Climate Change Institute and the School of Policy and International Affairs.
Howard M. “Mac” Gray, professor of construction engineering technology, will receive the 2016 Presidential Outstanding Teaching Award; Neal R. Pettigrew, professor of oceanography, will receive the 2016 Presidential Research and Creative Achievement Award; and Amy Fried, professor of political science and a contributor to the Bangor Daily News, will receive the 2016 Presidential Public Service Achievement Award.