December 5, 2022

Winter 2022 Commencement to celebrate giant leap milestone for nearly 3,000 graduating Boilermakers

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Years of persistence and thousands of small steps together will culminate for nearly 3,000 Boilermakers at Purdue University’s three Winter 2022 Commencement ceremonies Dec. 17-18 in Elliott Hall of Music.

Eligible to participate in Purdue’s winter commencement are 2,957 students, including 1,679 undergraduates and 946 master’s, 326 doctor of philosophy and six professional program candidates. And 67 Purdue alumni who were unable to participate in previous commencements — 18 baccalaureate, 25 master’s and 24 PhD alumni — plan to take part. 

From their first day at Purdue through these final months, these Boilermakers persisted in overcoming unexpected turns, difficult classes, brutal nights, a global pandemic. Big challenges and small victories. Again and again, they kept going, determined to reach this milestone in their academic journey.

wadsworth-s20 Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth Download image

Shelley M. MacDermid Wadsworth, Distinguished Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Purdue and director of both the Center for Families and the Military Family Research Institute, will deliver the Division III commencement address for Sunday’s ceremony.

The commencement ceremonies will take place as follows:

  • Division I — Saturday, Dec. 17, 9:30 a.m. (ET). Undergraduate, professional and master’s degrees for College of Health and Human Sciences, School of Management, College of Pharmacy, Polytechnic Institute, College of Science and College of Veterinary Medicine.
  • Division II — Saturday, Dec. 17, 2 p.m. (ET). Undergraduate and master’s degrees for the College of Agriculture, College of Education, College of Engineering and College of Liberal Arts.
  • Division III — Sunday, Dec. 18, 9:30 a.m. (ET). Graduate School (doctor of philosophy only).

Deepak, Boes to give student responses

Giving the student response at the Division I ceremony is Eesha Deepak of San Jose, California, who is receiving a Bachelor of Science in computer science and data science with a focus on machine intelligence. Deepak will begin her professional journey as an entry-level software engineer with Intel in Santa Clara, California.

Kevin Boes of Great Falls, Montana, who is receiving a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering, will be the student responder for the Division II ceremony. Boes, who worked as a Starship operations engineering intern at SpaceX in Texas, plans to continue his research in pursuit of a PhD through Purdue’s Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories.

About MacDermid Wadsworth

MacDermid Wadsworth directs Purdue’s Center for Families and the Military Family Research Institute, both of which she co-founded. With an MBA in management and a master’s and PhD in human development and family studies from Pennsylvania State University, she focuses her research primarily on the relationship between work conditions and family life, specifically for military families. She is an author of over 140 articles and chapters.

MacDermid Wadsworth has served on federal advisory committees for the National Academies of Science and the Department of Defense, and has testified before Congress regarding military and veteran families. She is a recipient of the Morrill Award, Purdue’s highest faculty honor, for outstanding career achievements that have had an impact on society, and in 2019 was named a “Top Ten Extraordinary Contributor” among work-family researchers worldwide. Purdue received the Kellogg Award from the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and the Higher Education Civic Engagement Award from the Washington Center in 2016 in recognition of the work of the MacDermid Wadsworth-led Military Family Research Institute. 

Admission tickets required

Tickets are required for admission into Elliott Hall. Doors open 90 minutes before each ceremony. Any bags attendees are carrying will be checked at the door before entry into the venue. All ceremonies will be livestreamed. For those who have tickets to attend in person, parking information is available online.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to today’s toughest challenges. Ranked in each of the last five years as one of the 10 Most Innovative universities in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at https://purdue.edu/.

Writer and media contact: Phillip Fiorini, pfiorini@purdue.edu, 765-430-6189

Source: Lesa Beals, senior associate registrar, lbeals@purdue.edu


Note to journalists: Journalists interested in covering the commencement ceremonies can contact Phillip Fiorini at pfiorini@purdue.edu to arrange for credentials.

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