May 25, 2023
Congratulations Class of 2023!
The campuswide spring ceremony took place on May 13, 2023, at the California Memorial Stadium. UC Berkeley alumnus and co-founder of Apple Inc. Steve Wozniak gave this year's keynote address.
Across the College of Letters & Science, many departments also held smaller, more personal graduations. Families and friends were able to attend in person or watch online, as many ceremonies were also livestreamed. The L&S community welcomed keynote speakers from all over to address its newest graduates, and many shared thoughtful words of wisdom along with congratulations:
- "I see you, and I know how good it is to be seen...Tell your story, and be mindful of which stories you tell yourself." - Ericka Huggins, educator, former Black Panther Party member, human rights activist (Black Graduation hosted by African American Studies)
- "Stay aware of everything going on so you can be opportunistic when interesting challenges present themselves." - Gunnar Carlsson, mathematics professor, Stanford University (Mathematics)
- "You are the future of a profession that has a profound effect on how we understand and shape our world...the type of data you seek, the way you formulate questions, and the shades of meaning you tease out from the results - these are drawn from your unique history, lived experience and perspective." - Lisa Cook, Member of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board of Governors (Economics)
- "Always ask yourself, 'Should you be solving this puzzle? Who will the solution benefit, and who might it harm? Is it a puzzle that the world needs solved?' Think about what really matters to you and the impact that you want to have on the world." - Natalie Wolchover, senior editor at Quanta Magazine and winner of 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting (Physics)
- "Act intentionally and in community...when you are sitting at the table, take a look around and see who is absent, and think about what you can do to bring them along." Yana Garcia, California Secretary for Environmental Protection (Chicanx/Latinx Graduation hosted by Chicano/a & Latino/a Studies program)
- Alumnus, former director of Intercollegiate Athletics, and board member H. Michael Williams spoke to graduates at the Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Studies ceremony and quoted writer Joan Didion: "Lost souls will not find themselves in those eucalyptus groves of academia, for Berkeley is a great place only for students capable of self-definition. It's a place of great riches but gives them up only to people of great expectations."
Congratulations to the Class of 2023! Enjoy highlights from L&S department ceremonies below.
