The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law celebrated its spring 2021 graduates through virtual and smaller in-person gatherings with highlights including remarks from Van Jones, CNN host and Dream Corps founder, and Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, an ASU master’s degree alumna.
In a virtual ceremony, Jones and Hobbs joined ASU Law Dean Douglas Sylvester and student convocation speakers in video remarks honoring the more than 500 ASU Law graduates earning a Juris Doctor (JD), Master of Legal Studies (MLS), Master of Sports Law and Business (MSLB), or Master of Law (LLM) degree. ASU Law graduates receiving the highest honor in their respective degree programs also served as the student speakers for the spring 2021 event. These students included Sally Young, MLS; Tanner Benjamin Lipson and Erin Riggs Oliphant, MSLB; and Emiley F. Pagrabs, JD. The virtual ceremony also featured congratulatory messages from faculty, staff and fellow grads, and remarks from the current president of the ASU Law Alumni Association, K Royal.
The university-wide presentation of degree candidates and conferral of degrees premiered on Monday, May 3. Graduates may watch the ceremony at any time. For additional details, visit the ASU Spring 2021 Commencement page.
Graduation Viewing Celebration
ASU Law hosted an in-person Graduation Viewing Celebration on Wednesday, May 12 at 4 p.m. at the Beus Center for Law and Society building on the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus. Only graduates* – no family or other guests – were able to participate in-person. Rooms were hosted by faculty members with physical distancing requirements and group limits followed.
*For health and safety reasons all in-person events remain student-only events. Please bring your Sun Card for verification purposes. Masks are required and physical distancing will be maintained.
The Graduation Viewing Celebration was live-streamed and included a welcome from Dean Sylvester, reading of the Graduation Awards and a showing of the graduation video. To view a recording of the live-stream, please click here. (Link will be live in the coming days.)
Virtual graduation toolkit can be found here. Be sure to follow us and tag #ASULaw and #ASUGrad on your social posts
Students who are eligible to graduate need to apply for graduation. There is a graduation tab on the left side of your my.asu.edu homepage. The deadline to apply is February 15. After this date, there will be a late fee of $35. Once you have applied for graduation, you will receive additional communications regarding commencement and convocation ceremonies. Please contact the Academic Services Office for assistance or questions about filling out your application for graduation.
If all university academic requirements are met, students will receive their diplomas in the mail six to eight weeks after the degree conferral date. Graduates will receive an email notification via their ASU email account when their diploma has been mailed. Diplomas are mailed to the student's diploma mailing address, which can be viewed and updated from My ASU. For more information, visit this website.
Information will be sent separately to graduates earning one of the certificates listed below:
We know that many of our graduates would like to borrow regalia for graduation photos or family events. ASU Law has a limited amount of regalia – about 75 sets of JD/LLM and about 20 sets of MLS/MSLB regalia – donated by alumni that will be available to our graduates starting April 9. Given the number of sets, we should be able to accommodate all ASU Law graduates with time to clean the regalia in between photo sessions. However, since we cannot guarantee sizing options you are welcome to purchase your own regalia through the ASU Bookstore or visit the Herff Jones website. To borrow regalia, please complete the request form here. If you are out-of-state and would like to borrow regalia please fill out the form and email Carolyn Landry with your address and to discuss return logistics. 2020 graduates are welcome to borrow regalia as well.
Under the current guidelines, only current students may attend a viewing party. However as soon as we are able to have an in-person ceremony with no attendance restrictions, our intention is to invite all students who did not have an in-person ceremony, an opportunity to participate at that time.
ASU Law featured in "Preparing for Virtual Graduations" segment on Good Morning Arizona (3TV KTVK). Featured in the segment are ASU Law Assistant Dean Thomas Williams, and 3L Caroline Federici and other ASU Law 2021 JD candidates as they participate in hooding.
Read about a few of our notable spring 2021 graduates below:
Jada Allender, JD and MSLB Candidate
Vanessa A. Kubota, JD Candidate
George H. McCaskey, LLM Candidate
Alejandra Curiel Molina, JD Candidate
Nicolo G. Muniz, MLS Candidate
Heather Udowitch, MSLB Candidate
Van Jones, Katie Hobbs to speak to ASU Law class of 2021.
