By Jennifer Jopson
UCI’s 2015 commencement season for undergraduates concluded Monday, June 15, with The Paul Merage School of Business undergraduate ceremony. Nine other events were held over the weekend in the Bren Events Center. This year’s commencement is UCI’s 50th. At the first, 14 diplomas were handed out. The campus has grown quite a bit since, and faculty, staff and volunteers worked feverishly to make sure the 2015 festivities went off without a hitch. Here are some of the logistical facts and figures:
50,000: Estimated guests attending
21,171: Estimated photos of graduates during ceremonies
18,000: Estimated cars parked over three days
8,000: Programs distributed
7,057: Students who will walk
5,000+: Hits expected on commencement website
1,880: Social sciences graduates
1,063: Social ecology graduates
770: Biological sciences graduates
676: Engineering graduates
613: Humanities graduates
578: Public health graduates
406: Information & computer sciences graduates
362: Physical sciences graduates
244: Arts graduates
159: Pharmaceutical sciences graduates
150: Parking attendants
130: Volunteers
128: Business graduates
122: Education graduates
93: Future doctors graduating from the School of Medicine
42: Nursing science graduates
14: Graduates at UCI’s first commencement, in 1966
12: Peter the Anteater appearances at commencement ceremonies
10: Speakers at commencement ceremonies (including Henry Samueli, chief technical officer and chairman of the board at Broadcom Corp. and Anaheim Ducks owner; and Greg Louganis ’83, four-time Olympic diving champion and UCI alumnus)
6: Average number of seconds it takes to walk across a commencement stage
5: Countries in which the most friends and family members are expected to watch the live Web stream – U.S., India, Canada, United Kingdom and Japan
5: Length in feet of the UCI Mace carried in all graduation exercises and student convocations since the UCI Alumni Association presented it to the university in 2000
5: Years spent on reporting, writing, photography, layout and printing of the 50th anniversary book
1: Senior class gift of additional 3-D printers, a 3-D scanner and related tools for the Francisco J. Ayala Science Library
*Photo: Steve Zylius / UC Irvine