UofL winter commencement will be Dec. 14

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville’s winter commencement will be 7 p.m. Dec.14 at the downtown KFC Yum! Center. Of the more than 1,300 students on track to graduate this semester, 875 plan to take part in the ceremony.

UofL President Neeli Bendapudi will preside at the event and Evan Gora will be the student speaker.

Gora, who is earning a doctoral degree in biology, has spent years studying tropical rainforests and the impact of lightning on forests. His accolades and awards include a $138,000 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship grant.      

“I plan to encourage the graduating students to be unafraid to fail and to take risks,” said Gora when asked what he planned to tell his fellow graduates. “I will urge students to apply that mentality both professionally and personally so that they can enact real change in their life and in their community.”

A Pennsylvania native, Gora chose UofL for his graduate work so he could study with Steve Yanoviak, a biology professor and the Tom Wallace Endowed Chair of Conservation.

Students and their guests should enter the center through the entrance on Main Street between Second and Third streets and allow extra time to go through security. All bags will be checked and should not be larger than 14x14 inches. Balloons are prohibited.

For a full schedule or to learn more, see louisville.edu/commencement or contact Stephanie Reibert at 502-807-6304.

In addition to commencement at KFC Yum! Center, the School of Interdisciplinary and Graduate Studies will host a Doctoral Hooding and Graduation Ceremony at 2 p.m. on the same day. That ceremony will be on the Belknap Campus, Student Activities Center Ballroom, Room W215.

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