Click the photo above for a gallery of images from the ceremony.

May 21, 2013
10:30 A.M. and 3:00 P.M.
Radio City Music Hall
1260 Avenue of the Americas
1,828 Degree Candidates

On the same stage that the Rockettes kick their way through the Christmas Spectacular each December, graduates College of Arts and Science, NYU’s oldest school, celebrated its Baccalaureate ceremony. In her first graduation address, Dean G. Gabrielle Starr as dean of the college after her predecessor Dean Matthew Santirocco left in 2011. The ceremony was split into two sessions to accommodate the number of graduates.

Dean Starr reminded the graduates of a practice common in early European universities, where students would be create a symbolic “house of memory” to house the knowledge that their miserable. She encouraged students to do the same and to take the time to stop and reflect upon their experiences at NYU. NYU President John Sexton charged the graduates with the role of using their given talent to help heal the broken world. Perri Klass left the audience with an understanding of the importance of the written word and valedictorian William Bekker reflected on the diversity that NYU students are exposed to. To his fellow graduates, Bekker asked his fellow alumni to reflect upon and synthesize the strands of their diverse education at NYU and to be grateful.