LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY)-- The University of Louisiana at Lafayette presented 353 degrees during its Summer 2023 Commencement at the Cajundome on Friday.

This was the most degrees ever awarded during a summer commencement, according to UL Lafayette. Among them are 199 bachelor’s degrees, 123 master’s degrees, seven graduate certificates and 24 doctoral degrees.

UL Lafayette awarded 3,225 degrees to its fall, spring and summer graduating classes. That includes 732 master’s degrees and 98 doctoral degrees, the most given in an academic year, according to UL Lafayette.

In addition, 50 students earned undergraduate degrees while maintaining 4.0 GPAs, the most in an academic year, according to UL Lafayette. The university also cited more students of Asian and Hispanic descent and members of other underrepresented groups earned graduate degrees than other school year.

Dr. Joseph Savoie, UL Lafayette president, said Summer 2023 graduates earned their diplomas during the university’s 125th birthday.

“Graduates, in a century and a quarter, over 146,000 individuals have sat where you are seated today – at the finish line of one extraordinary journey and at the start of another,” Savoie said.
“What’s to come remains largely unknown. It’s unwritten, undefined and undetermined. But that’s where opportunity lies. It’s an open road, not a closed track, that enables you and your curiosity to take hold, your imagination to take flight, and your dreams to become real."

Aimee Barber, an assistant professor in the college’s Department of Educational Curriculum & Instruction, was the commencement speaker.

Barber encouraged graduates to “allow yourselves today to feel proud of who you are and what you have accomplished. You have completed an important chapter of your important story.”

View a list of Summer 2023 graduates.