Commencement 2015: By the numbers

UC Irvine’s 2015 commencement season for undergraduates kicks off Friday morning, June 12, with The Henry Samueli School of Engineering holding court. Nine more ceremonies will follow over the weekend, all held in the Bren Events Center. This year’s commencement is UCI’s 50th. At the first, 14 diplomas were handed out. The campus has grown quite a bit since, and faculty, staff and volunteers are working feverishly to make sure the 2015 festivities go off without a hitch. Here are some of the logistical facts and figures:

• 50,000: Estimated guests attending
• 21,171: Estimated photos of graduates during ceremonies
• 18,000: Estimated cars parked over three days
• 8,000: Programs distributed
• 7,057: Students who will walk
• 5,000+: Hits expected on commencement website
• 1,880: Social sciences graduates
• 1,063: Social ecology graduates
• 770: Biological sciences graduates

Graduating biological sciences major Drake Dinh looks back on his UCI years:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUKibWnY92s

• 676: Engineering graduates
• 613: Humanities graduates
• 578: Public health graduates
• 406: Information & computer sciences graduates

Jed Brubaker, doctoral candidate in informatics, reflects on what his research portends:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIJJmYiUve0

• 362: Physical sciences graduates
• 244: Arts graduates
• 159: Pharmaceutical sciences graduates
• 150: Parking attendants
• 130: Volunteers
• 128: Business graduates
• 122: Education graduates

Angelique McGrue is graduating with psychology & social behavior and education sciences degrees:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPuPgYZjwcY

• 93: Future doctors graduating from the School of Medicine
• 42: Nursing science graduates
• 14: Graduates at UCI’s first commencement, in 1966
• 12: Peter the Anteater appearances at commencement ceremonies
• 10: Speakers at commencement ceremonies (including Henry Samueli, chief technical officer and chairman of the board at Broadcom Corp. and Anaheim Ducks owner; and Greg Louganis ’83, four-time Olympic diving champion)
• 6: Average number of seconds it takes to walk across a commencement stage
• 5: Countries in which the most friends and family members are expected to watch the live Web stream – U.S., India, Canada, United Kingdom and Japan
• 2.5: Length in feet of the UCI Mace carried in all graduation exercises and student convocations since the UCI Alumni Association presented it to the university in 2000
• 2.5: Years spent on reporting, writing, photography, layout and printing of the 50th anniversary book
• 1: Senior class gift of additional 3-D printers, a 3-D scanner and related tools for the Francisco J. Ayala Science Library