Commencement 2020

Jonathan Dallas is many things: a graduating medical student, a promising neurosurgeon, a researcher, an advocate. He’s also an amputee. Read More

During his first year at Vanderbilt, Vineet Desai was majoring in biomedical engineering. However, an Alternative Spring Break trip to Nicaragua, where he volunteered at a rural elementary school, changed the course of his college experience. Read More

One weekend program convinced Nnamdi Okabuonye that Vanderbilt was where he wanted to be. A second initiative validated his choice early during his first year as an engineering student. Read More

When applying to colleges, Rachel Miles wanted to keep her options open. Vanderbilt proved to be the perfect fit for the Brunswick, Ohio, native, who majored in oboe performance through the Blair School and minored in chemistry and biological sciences through the College of Arts and Science. Read More

In seventh grade Eve Moll was an active dancer, but then a diagnosis of adolescent scoliosis in her spine threw her for a curve—literally. Read More

Abbey Carlson focused her time at Vanderbilt on two passions: athletics and engineering. In July the mechanical engineering graduate heads to Boeing to join its Advanced Design and Prototype Solutions team in Huntsville, Alabama. Read More

From Rosa Parks to the Freedom Riders, buses have been a potent symbol of change in Dara Johnson’s hometown, and she’s working to become the next person to deliver transformation through transportation—in the form of a mobile dental clinic. Read More

Vanderbilt’s Class of 2020 is being celebrated through a series of special videos and messages from across the campus community, including web stories and social media posts spotlighting graduates’ achievements. All content is being posted to the Commencement website and the university's social media channels, culminating in a special message from Interim Chancellor Susan R Wente on Friday, May 8. Read More

Interim Chancellor and Provost Susan R. Wente has appointed a new advisory group composed of students from the Class of 2020 to provide feedback and engage in planning their postponed Commencement ceremony and related events that will now take place in May 2021. Read More

Vanderbilt University has taken the extraordinary action—in order to protect the health and safety of the community—of postponing Commencement and all of its related festivities originally scheduled for May 6-8. The Class of 2020 will be formally celebrated next spring. Read More