Northeastern celebrates the Class of 2013

Friday marks the end of one journey and the beginning of a new one for the Class of 2013, which will take part in Northeastern University’s 111th Commencement.

The morning ceremony for undergraduate students begins at 10:30 a.m. at TD Garden in Boston. President Joseph E. Aoun will lead the university in celebrating an accomplished group of 3,200 graduating seniors.

Jim Yong Kim, World Bank Group president, will deliver the Commencement address. At the undergraduate ceremony, Northeastern will also present honorary degrees to a group of influential leaders. The recipients are: Barbara Lynch, an award-winning and nationally recognized chef who grew up in South Boston; and Jack D. Bryant, an innovator in the engineering industry, a Congressional Gold Medal recipient, and a member of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, who earned his master’s degree in engineering management from Northeastern in 1976.

Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis will also accept an honorary degree on behalf of all the first responders and law enforcement at the Boston Marathon bombings who selflessly sprung into action to provide care and support to those in need following the tragic events of April 15. First responders include public safety officials, emergency medical personnel, students, marathon runners, and countless others.

Miguel de Corral, a senior international affairs major who has studied and conducted research in more than a dozen countries across the world, will deliver the student Commencement address.

The ceremony for graduate students begins at 3:30 p.m. at Matthews Arena. Nikesh Arora, senior vice president and chief business officer at Google, will deliver the graduate ceremony address and receive an honorary degree.

Friday’s Commencement exercises will be streamed live. For full news coverage of Northeastern’s 2013 Commencement exercises, visit the news@Northeastern Commencement page. For play-by-play event coverage, follow @Northeastern on Twitter and use the official Northeastern Commencement hashtag, #NU2013.

This year’s Commencement celebrations kicked off on Thursday afternoon at Northeastern’s second-annual hooding ceremony in the Cabot Physical Education Center for more than 175 graduates receiving their doctor of philosophy degrees.

Doctoral candidates process into Cabot Cage for Thursday's hooding ceremony. Photo by Brooks Canaday.

Doctoral candidates process into Cabot Cage for Thursday’s hooding ceremony. Photo by Brooks Canaday.

In his welcoming remarks, Stephen W. Director, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, congratulated the students for their tremendous accomplishment.

“Relatively few people have the opportunity to discover something new and create new knowledge,” Director said. “Our graduates have not only had that opportunity, but they’ve succeeded in doing so.”

Director noted that the hooding ceremony also marks the culmination of an “ambitious intellectual journey traveled by the students and their faculty advisers.” During this time, he said, students gain expertise in their fields, receive support and guidance from their advisers, and form strong bonds with faculty that last a lifetime. One day, Director added, graduates will become mentors to their own crop of students.

After the all graduates were presented with their doctoral hoods, President Joseph E. Aoun offered closing remarks. He said students today are graduating at a time when knowledge is rapidly growing, noting that Northeastern’s doctoral candidates are “shaping the next breakthroughs.”

A doctoral candidate is hooded at Thursday's ceremony.

A doctoral candidate is hooded at Thursday’s ceremony. Photo by Brooks Canaday.

With the growth and availability of online education resources, he added, some are questioning the traditional university teaching model. In response to that idea, he said, “Online education can’t exist unless you have teacher scholars who are generating new fields, and you are the ones who are going to generate those new fields.”