Spring 2021 Commencement
In-Person: College of Engineering Undergraduate Ceremony
Friday, May 7, 2021
6:00 p.m.
Beaver Stadium
Additional event information
Livestream
In-Person: The Graduate School Master’s and Doctoral Ceremony
Friday, May 7, 2021
12:00 p.m.
Beaver Stadium
Additional event information
Livestream
Virtual: University-Wide Undergraduate, Master’s, and Doctoral Ceremony
Sunday, May 9, 2021
6:00 p.m.
Livestream
From the Dean
Dear students,
Congratulations! We are proud to now call you a Penn State engineer! We hope you are just as proud of your accomplishments.
Despite the uncertainty and complexity of a global pandemic, you have worked hard and achieved great things. By adapting to and persevering through Zoom classes, quarantine, and more, you are now more prepared than ever to engineer solutions to our society’s greatest challenges.
In the future, we will reflect on this time with a wide variety of perspectives and remembrances. I have no doubt that we will also reflect on the incredible innovations and inventions fueled by the lessons of this era.
Your graduation coincides with the 125th anniversary of the College of Engineering. You have an engineering lineage stretching back a century and a quarter supporting you as you embark on the next stage of your careers. You are excellent engineers. You build and solve with the ultimate goal: making things better. Regardless of our specific discipline or technology, we all work to equitably and sustainably improve the world — and beyond — around us.
And, as you know, you need collaboration to do this well. As Penn State graduates, you deeply understand the value of diverse viewpoints from various disciplines and experiences. You are the most diverse group of engineers to ever graduate from Penn State, with more experience and more interest in using non-engineering disciplines to solve engineering problems than ever before.
Although the celebration looks a little different than other years, through incredible feats of engineering and science, we are recovering. The world continues to change, and, as you have throughout your Penn State career, know you still have your community. The faculty, staff, and peers who have rooted for you since your first class — we are still here, we will always cheer for you, and we will continue to be here for you. You also have the might of the world’s largest alumni network continuing to support you.
Graduation is always a curious blend of happy and sad as one adventure comes to a close, making way for the next one. This year, these changes are against the backdrop of an evolving world. Social change, global warming, systematic disparities — a variety of realms converging and demanding action.
You have the power of change and the capacity for good. You have the knowledge and tools. You have the community. You are ready, and we cannot wait to see what you will do next.
For the Glory,
Justin Schwartz
