CSU Chancellor Timothy White presents Robert Townsend with his honorary CSUN doctorate as President Dianne F. Harrison looks on, during the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media and Communication commencement ceremony, May 16, 2015. Photo by David Hawkins.
According to 2015 California State University, Northridge graduation speaker Robert Townsend, one out of every 20 college graduates in the United States is a product of the California State University system. CSUN added to that count over the May 16, 2015 weekend when it hosted six commencement ceremonies for over 10,658 students eligible to go from Matador students to alumni.
The graduation season got off to a rocky start at CSUN when the Honors Convocation was cancelled due to inclement weather, and a power outage later hit the campus. However, those speed bumps smoothed out and the procession continued to Friday night’s Graduate Student Ceremony Graduate students, where 2,423 Masters and 55 Doctoral candidates from all colleges and programs (except College of Social & Behavioral Sciences) were honored.
Saturday, May 16 saw both the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media and Communication and College of Health and Human Development fete their students and send them off to their next challenges in life. Mike Curb had 1,535 students eligible to cross the stage; Health and Human Development had 1,606.
Sunday, May 17 saw the graduation ceremonies of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, split in two, and Michael D. Eisner College of Education. The morning CSBS event involved 1,331 students from students from the departments of Africana Studies, anthropology, geography, history, psychology and Urban Studies & Planning, as well as Eisner and deaf studies students; the evening service had the other half of the CSBS department — 1,458 eligible students from the departments of political science (which includes public administration public sector management, public policy and programs), sociology, and social work.
Monday, May 18 finished the CSUN commencement rounds as the 1,459 eligible-to-graduate students from the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics crossed Oviatt Lawn and picked up their diplomas. The last graduation of the 2014-15 academic year involved the group of 1,607 eligible College of Engineering and Computer Science, College of Science and Mathematics, and College of Humanities students who crossed the stage and became Matadors for life.