The whiff of spring is in the air, so cue up “Pomp and Circumstance.” It’s college commencement season once again in the region, a festive six-week celebration as freshly minted graduates head off into the world. Here is a rundown of the undergraduate ceremonies. Get the hankies ready.
Wentworth Institute of Technology
Saturday, 10 a.m., Tansey Gymnasium, on the campus
Speaker: Anil D. Jha, founder and chief executive officer of HydroNovation Inc.
Graduates: 221
UMass Amherst
May 8, 4:30 p.m., McGuirk Alumni Stadium
Speaker: Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson
Number of graduates: 5,500
Northeastern University
May 8, 10:30 a.m., TD Garden
Speaker: David Muir, ABC news anchor
Honorary degrees: Muir; Lawrence S. Bacow, president emeritus of Tufts University; Vanessa Kerry, co-founder and CEO of Seed Global Health; and Gabriel Jaramillo, former chairman, president, and CEO at Santander Holdings USA.
Becker College
May 9, 11 a.m., DCU Center in Worcester
Speaker: Karen S. Rohan, president of Aetna, Inc.
Number of grads: 429
Honorary Degree: Rohan; Martha P. Grace, former Chief Justice of Mass Juvenile Court
Bay Path University
May 9, 3:00 p.m., MassMutual Center, Springfield
Speaker: Jennifer Lesser Henley, Director of Security Operations at Facebook
Number of graduates: 800
Honorary degree recipients: Henley; York Mayo, community activist and retired executive at American Saw & Manufacturing Company
Emmanuel College
May 9, on campus
Speaker: Boston Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley
Number of graduates: 600
Honorary degrees: O’Malley and James T. Brett, president and CEO of The New England Council
Dean College
May 9, at 11 a.m. , on campus: 99 Main St., Franklin, outside of Dean Hall
Speaker: N/A
Graduates: 290
Honorary degrees: N/A
Regis College
May 9, 10 a.m., Great Lawn, Regis campus, Weston
Speaker: Sandra Fenwick, president and CEO of Boston Children’s Hospital
Graduates: 675
Honorary degrees: Fenwick; Marjorie Arons Barron, president of Barron Associates Worldwide; Karen Lafrazia, executive director of St. Francis House
Newbury College
May 10, 11 a.m., Brookline campus
Speaker: Former US Senator William “Mo” Cowan
Graduates: 180
Honorary degrees: Richard Moreau, executive vice president, chief operating officer of Strategic Hotels & Resorts; and Toni Elka, Executive director and founder of Future Chefs
Mount Ida
May 11 at 11 a.m., Newton campus
Speaker: Brian McGrory, editor in chief, The Boston Globe
Graduates: 200
Honorary degrees: Stephen Boswell, CEO and president of Fenway Health; Carolyn Rafaelian, CEO of Alex and Ani
MGH Institute of Health Professions
May 11, 2 p.m., Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center
Speaker: Lawrence O’Donnell, MSNBC host
Graduates: 550
Honorary degrees: None
Simmons College
May 15, 9:30 a.m., Blue Hills Bank Pavilion
Speaker: Abigail Disney, filmmaker, philanthripost, and activist
Honorary degree: Laurence Prusak ,ifounded and directed the Center for Business Innovation at Ernst and Young, and the IBM Institute for Knowledge Management; currently senior adviser on knowledge for NASA.
Wheelock College
May 15, 10 a.m., Temple Israel, 477 Longwood Ave., Boston
Speaker: Dr. Joyce Banda, former president, Republic of Malawi
Honorary degrees: Dr. Joyce Banda; Lawrence O’Donnell; Dr. Tiziana Filippini.
Lesley University
May 16, 2 p.m., Blue Hills Bank Pavilion
Speakers: Pedro Noguera, executive director of the Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools; and Chris Van Allsburg, children’s author known for “Polar Express” and other works.
UMass Lowell
May 16, 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., Tsongas Center
Speaker: LeVar Burton, actor and education advocate
Graduates: 2,700
Honorary degrees: Carole Cowan, former president of Middlesex Community College; John Sampas, literary executor of beat generation icon Jack Kerouac’s estate; (Second ceremony:) Barry Perry, former chairman and CEO, Engelhard Inc.
Hampshire College
May 16, 11 a.m., Harold F. Johnson Library Lawn
Speaker: Sonya Renee Taylor, poet, activist, and founder of The Body is Not an Apology movement.
Graduates: 300
Honorary degrees: None.
Fisher College
May 16, 11 a.m., Back Bay Events Center, 180 Berkeley St.
Speaker: Matthew Slater, New England Patriots
Graduates: 248
Honorary degrees: Slater
College of Our Lady of the Elms
May 16, MassMutual Center, Springfield
Speaker: US Representative. John Lewis, D-Ga.
Graduates: 508
Honorary degrees: None.
Assumption College
May 16, 10 a.m., Assumption’s H.L. Rocheleau Field
Speaker: Major General Robert Catalanotti (Ret.), an Iraq War commander
Graduates: 447
Honorary degrees: Terrence W Macy, PhD, former commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Developmental Services; Catalanotti.
Babson College
May 16, 10 a.m.
Speakers: Kevin Colleran, early executive at Facebook and current managing partner at Slow Ventures; Richard Saul Wurman, renowned American architect and author.
Graduates: 470
Honorary degrees: Colleran and Wurman.
Bentley University
May 16, 10 a.m., South Campus
Speaker: Scott A. Blackmun, chief executive officer of the US Olympic Committee
Graduates: 1,000
Honorary degrees: Blackmun and Laura Sen, president and chief executive officer of BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc.
Endicott College
May 16, 10:30 a.m., Endicott Stadium, Beverly
Speaker: Raymond J. Bourque, Boston Bruins great
Graduates: 510
Honorary degrees: Bourque and Nancy E Frates, mother of Pete Frates, the former Boston College baseball captain who has raised attention about ALS.
Wheaton College
May 16, 10 a.m., the Dimple (central quadrangle), Norton
Speaker: Lisa Szarkowski , vice president of humanitarian emergencies and executive communication for the US Fund for UNICEF.
Graduates: 371
Honorary degrees: Szarkowski; Steven Hawley, former astronaut and a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Kansas; David Wagner, founder and CEO of Evanston Capital Management and a member of the Wheaton Board of Trustees; Virginia Weil, retired senior managing director of the Business Council for International Understanding in Washington, D.C., and a former member of the Wheaton board.
Stonehill College
May 17 at 10 a.m., at college on quadrangle lawn (Easton)
Speaker: Kenneth Feinberg, guided the One Fund after the Marathon bombings
Graduates: 500
Honorary Degree: Feinberg; Rev. Elizabeth Walker, journalist and humanitarian; Robert Strecker, Harvard Medical School psychiatry professor; Arlene McNamee, Catholic Social Services executive director.
Brandeis University
May 17, 10:30 a.m., Gosman Sports and Convocation Center
Speaker: US Ambassador Thomas Pickering
Honorary degrees: Pickering; Suzanne Farrell, dancer and founder of The Suzanne Farrell Ballet at the Kennedy Center; Jamaica Kincaid, novelist, essayist and scholar; Yotam Ottolenghi, chef, restaurateur and author; Helen Vendler, poet, literary critic, scholar.
Mount Holyoke College:
May 17, 10:30 a.m., Gettell Amphitheater
Speaker: Carol Geary Schneider, alumna and president of American Association of Colleges and Universities, leading national advocate for undergraduate liberal education
Graduates: 580
Honorary degrees: Schneider; Robert Forrester, president and chief executive officer of Newman’s Own Foundation; Sheila Lirio Marcelo, founder and chief executive office of Care.com; Meredith K Monk, internationally acclaimed artist who explores boundaries between music and movement.
Boston University
May 17, 1 p.m., Nickerson Field,
Speaker: Meredith Vieira , Emmy Award-winning journalist and television host
Honorary degrees: Viera; Cornell William Brooks, president and CEO of the NAACP;
BU trustee Allen Questrom; philanthropist Kelli Questrom; Grammy–winning jazz musician and producer George Wein.
Tufts University
May 17, 9 a.m., College Green
Speaker: Madeleine Albright, former US secretary of state
Honorary degrees: Suzin Bartley, executive director of Children’s Trust Fund; Joichi “Joi” Ito, activist, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, director of MIT Media Lab; Joseph Neubauer, business and civic leader; Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, jurist and human rights advocate; Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, dancer, teacher, choreographer.
Suffolk University
May 17, Blue Hills Bank Pavilion
Speakers: Governor Charlie Baker; Carolyn Mugar, Farm Aid executive director; Michael Sheehan, Boston Globe CEO
Graduates: 1,094
Honorary degrees: US Rep. William R Keating; John F Barros, chief of economic development for Boston; Paul Guzzi, president and CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce; Anthony Pangaro, principal of Millennium Partners-Boston; Robert Brustein, director, actor, playwright; Gloria E White-Hammond, physician at the South End Community Center.
Clark University
May 17, Jefferson Academic Center Green
Speaker: Matthew R. Goldman, co-founder Blue Man Group
Graduates: 530
Honorary degrees: Goldman; Mark Bittman,New York Times columnist; Audrey Flack, visual artist; and Dr. Francis Lelo, vice chancellor of Laikapia University in Kenya.
Lasell College
May 17, Taylor Field
Speaker: Judy Smith, crisis management expert, inspiration of television show “Scandal”
Graduates: 284
Honorary degree: Smith
Olin College
May 17, 3 p.m., Great Lawn, Needham
Speaker: David Kelley, founder and chairman of the global design firm IDEO; founder of Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design
Graduates: 82
New England College of Optometry
May 17, 10 a.m., John Hancock Hall
Speaker: Jordan Kassalow, founder and co-chairman of VisionSpring
Graduates: 129
Honorary degrees: Kassalow; Irving Bennett, OD; Richard Wallingford, OD.
Emerson College
May 18, 10 a.m., Boston Convention and Exhibition Center
Speaker: Robin Roberts, co-anchor ABC’s “Good Morning America”
Graduates: 970
Honorary degrees: Roberts; Paralympic medalist, Marathon winner Cheri Blauwet; former US Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey; and art leader Anne Hawley.
Boston College
May 18, 10 a.m., Alumni Stadium
Speaker: Chicago Archbishop Blase J. Cupich
Graduates: 4,000
Honorary degrees: Sister Marie Chin, mainstay of the Sisters of Mercy in Jamaica; Michael Motyl, president of Guadalupe Regional Middle School in Texas; Steve Pemberton, writer and motivational speaker; Lee Woodruff, journalist and author.
Boston Architectural College
May 22, 1 p.m., Old South Church
Speaker: Gianfranco Zaccai, president and chief design officer of Continuum LLC
College of the Holy Cross
May 22, 10:30 a.m., Fitton Field
Speaker: Bryan A Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Ala.
Graduates: 720
Honorary degrees: Ella Baff, longtime director of Jacob’s Pillow international dance festival; Kevin Condron ’67, former Holy Cross board chair and community leader; and Worcester physician Richard Sacra, who contracted Ebola while caring for those stricken in Liberia.
Harvard University
May 28, Tercentenary Theatre
Speaker: Former Governor Deval Patrick
Graduates: 7,300
Honorary degrees: To be announced on Commencement Day.
UMass Boston
May 29, TD Garden
Speaker: Regina “Gina” McCarthy ‘76, administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency
Graduates: 4,000
Honorary degrees: McCarthy; Jack M Connors Jr, chairman and founding partner of Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos, Inc.; Hubie Jones, social justice advocate; Bernard Osher, started Bernard Osher Foundation to improve life through education and arts; Deval L Patrick; Zhang Haidi, chairperson of the China Disabled Persons’ Federation and president of Rehabilitation International.
Wellesley College
May 29, 10:30 a.m., Wellesley Campus
Speaker: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of “Americanah” and featured in Beyonce’s song “Flawless”
Graduates: 600
MIT
June 5, Killian Court
Speaker: Megan Smith, chief technology officer of the US and assistant to Obama
Williams College
June 7, West College Lawn
Speaker: Ursula M Burns, Xerox chairman and chief executive officer
Graduates: 500
Honorary degrees: Deval Patrick; Frank Deford, weekly commentator on NPR’s Morning Edition, senior correspondent on the HBO show “RealSports”; Gish Jen, author of four novels; Mario J Molina, developed the CFC-ozone depletion theory.
Cambridge College
June 7, Blue Hills Pavilion, 290 Northern Ave., Boston
Speaker: Andrea Jung, president and ceo of Grameen America, and former ceo of Avon
Graduates: 5,000
Honorary degrees: Jung
For updates, contact Rebecca Fiore at rebecca.fiore@globe.com