MADISON, Wis. — Undergraduate and graduate students graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison this year will have separate commencement ceremonies due to the pandemic, and that means two commencement speakers.
The university announced the keynote speakers on Wednesday. Broadway star André De Shields will address the undergraduates at their ceremony, and psychologist John Gottman will address graduate students during theirs.
UW-Madison officials said both speakers will deliver their remarks virtually to follow travel guidelines amid the pandemic.
De Shields is an award winning performer who graduated from UW-Madison in 1970. He’s since gone on to appear in multiple Broadway and television shows including the 2019 Broadway production of “Hadestown” and “Law & Order,” among others.
Chancellor Rebecca Blank said De Shields is “a man of many talents and exactly the right person for this moment.”
Gottman, an alumnus of UW-Madison, is recognized worldwide for his work on marital stability and divorce prediction. He earned a master’s degree in clinical psychology-mathematics from UW-Madison in 1967 before earning a doctorate in clinical psychology from the university in 1971. In the years since, Gottman has held faculty positions at multiple universities and written more than 200 academic articles and 40 books.
Both the undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremonies will take place at Camp Randall on May 8. Undergraduates will have theirs at noon and graduate students will have theirs at 4 p.m.
More information about both commencement speakers is available on the university’s website.
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