More than 1,200 Degrees Conferred in Florida Tech Spring Commencement

Students from 83 Countries Celebrate Milestone Moment

MELBOURNE, FLA. — With smiles and excitement, and beneath more than 80 flags forming a global tapestry, more than 1,000 students collected their diplomas Saturday as Florida Tech held is 2019 Spring Commencement.

For the first time, there will be three ceremonies as Florida Tech accommodated a larger graduating class and ensured plenty of seating for students’ families.

• The 9 a.m. ceremony included 380 undergraduate College of Engineering and Science students.
• The 1 p.m. ceremony had 351 College of Engineering and Science graduate students and undergraduate and graduate students from the College of Psychology and Liberal Arts.
• The 5 p.m. ceremony featured 313 undergraduate and graduate students from the College of Aeronautics students, Bisk College of Business and Extended Studies.

In total, the university bestowed 1,276 degrees.

All ceremonies were held at at the Charles and Ruth Clemente Center, 150 W. University Blvd.

At the 9 a.m. ceremony, Florida Tech President Dwayne McCay welcomed Lance Bush, president and CEO of the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, as keynote speaker. Jonathan Zung, a former member of the Florida Tech Board of Trustees, served as keynote speaker for the 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. ceremonies. Zung is an experienced pharmaceutical industry executive with more than 25 years of development experience.

The Spring Class of 2019 is one of the most internationally diverse of any class in recent years: there are students from 83 countries, from Albania to Zimbabwe (one student each). Other countries represented by a lone student include Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Iceland, Latvia, Romania and Saint Vincent & Grenadines. The countries with the largest contingent of graduates are China, India and Saudi Arabia.

There are 40 U.S. states represented in the Spring Class of 2019, including more than 330 from Florida alone. States with a lone representative include Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana and Oregon.

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