A distinguished alumnus and a renowned art professor will be the featured speakers during Florida State University’s fall commencement ceremonies Friday, Dec. 15.
Ed Burr, former chair of the FSU Board of Trustees and the 2021 Bernard F. Sliger Award recipient, will address graduates at the 2 p.m. ceremony. Lilian Garcia-Roig, a renowned artist and recipient of the 2023-2024 Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor Award, will speak at the 7 p.m. ceremony.
The university will also hold a special ceremony at 9 a.m. Friday for the hooding and conferral of doctoral degrees for all disciplines. President Richard McCullough will preside over all three ceremonies, which will take place at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, 505 W. Pensacola St.
This fall, 3,047 students will graduate: 1,909 bachelor’s degrees, 885 master’s and specialist degrees, 127 doctoral degrees, 17 Juris doctor degrees, 101 Juris master’s degrees and 8 LLM degrees. Nearly 2,000 graduates are planning to attend the ceremonies.
Burr, who graduated from the FSU College of Business with a degree in accounting, is the founder, President and CEO of GreenPointe Holdings in Jacksonville, Florida. He served on the FSU Board of Trustees for 10 years, chairing the board from 2015 to 2021. During this time, investments in student success fueled FSU’s upward trajectory as one of the best public universities in the nation.
He also has dedicated his time to the FSU Foundation Board of Trustees, the Seminole Boosters Board, and the FSU Real Estate Center Executive Board in the College of Business.
Burr will speak to the graduates of the colleges of Applied Studies, Motion Picture Arts, Social Sciences & Public Policy, Business, Music, Education, Health, and Human Sciences, and the Dedman College of Hospitality, Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship, and FAMU-FSU College of Engineering.
Garcia-Roig, a Cuban-born artist and FSU Department of Art professor since 2001, will address students during the evening ceremony. Over the past three decades, she has built an expansive body of work that graces the collections of major museums worldwide.
During her 22-year tenure at FSU, she has earned highly competitive and prestigious awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship in Fine Arts in 2021 and the Joan Mitchell Award in Painting in 2006. This year, she became the first visual artist to receive the highest honor FSU faculty members can bestow upon one of their own – the Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professorship.
Garcia-Roig will speak to the graduates of the colleges of Medicine, Fine Arts, Communication & Information, Law, Nursing, Criminology & Criminal Justice, Social Work, and Arts and Sciences.
Every FSU graduate is automatically recognized as a member of the FSU Alumni Association; no dues are required. Alumni are encouraged to participate and get involved at alumni.fsu.edu.
For more information and live streaming links, visit commencement.fsu.edu.
