Auburn prepares to celebrate summer graduates during commencement weekend

Published: August 03, 2021
Julie Huff | Office of the Provost

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This weekend, Auburn University will celebrate summer 2021 graduates with two days of ceremonies inside Auburn Arena. Graduation weekend events will begin on Friday, Aug. 6, with the commencement address and Graduate School ceremony followed by the undergraduate ceremonies on Saturday, Aug. 7.  

Open to all graduates and guests, Friday’s traditional commencement address will include remarks by 1969 alumna and aerospace and aviation pioneer Nelda Lee. A Carrollton, Alabama, native, Lee was the second woman to earn an aerospace engineering degree from Auburn. Following her graduation, Lee began a 45-year career with Heritage McDonnell Douglas Co., now part of Boeing.

Recognized as a trailblazer in aerospace engineering and aviation, Lee holds the distinction of being the first civilian woman to fly the F-15 Eagle, logging more than an hour during testing. After a career that encompassed extensive work in mechanical and structural design, test and evaluation engineering and multi-skill engineering management, Lee retired from Boeing in 2014.

The commencement address will begin at 5:30 p.m. in Auburn Arena; doors open at 4 p.m. and all graduates are asked to arrive no later than 5 p.m. The address will also include the conferral of approximately 1,400 degrees, the group recognition of undergraduate students graduating with academic honors and an official welcome to the Auburn Alumni Association from President Regenia Sanders. All summer graduates attending Friday’s commencement address will receive a commemorative Auburn cord to wear with their regalia.

Undergraduate commencement exercises will be held in Auburn Arena from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 7. Immediately following each ceremony, graduates and their guests are invited to walk to Jordan-Hare Stadium for official photos with Aubie and on Pat Dye Field with graduates’ names displayed on the videoboard. Graduates must enter through the Harbert Family Recruiting Center and guests may enter the stadium through gates 1-4 and 5-8 (accessibility entrance is at gate 9).

All graduates and guests are required to comply with the university’s face covering policy when inside Auburn Arena and the Harbert Family Recruiting Center. All ceremonies will be livestreamed on the commencement website.

Auburn will award 1,406 degrees over the weekend, including 144 doctoral degrees, 344 master’s degrees, 13 education specialist degrees and 905 bachelor’s degrees. The bachelor’s degrees by college and school are Raymond J. Harbert College of Business, 178; Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, 145; College of Liberal Arts, 195; College of Education, 41; College of Sciences and Mathematics, 46; College of Human Sciences, 87; College of Architecture, Design and Construction, 58; College of Agriculture, 32; School of Nursing, 108; and School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, 15. 

Additional information is available on Auburn’s commencement website, and information will be posted on the university’s graduation Facebook and Instagram accounts. Graduates and their families are encouraged to visit the website regularly for updated information.

Auburn University is a nationally ranked land grant institution recognized for its commitment to world-class scholarship, interdisciplinary research with an elite, top-tier Carnegie R1 classification, life-changing outreach with Carnegie’s Community Engagement designation and an undergraduate education experience second to none. Auburn is home to more than 30,000 students, and its faculty and research partners collaborate to develop and deliver meaningful scholarship, science and technology-based advancements that meet pressing regional, national and global needs. Auburn’s commitment to active student engagement, professional success and public/private partnership drives a growing reputation for outreach and extension that delivers broad economic, health and societal impact.