Nearly 2,000 graduates ‘commenced’ the next chapters of their careers in two UND commencement ceremonies on May 14
Smile.
Be nice.
Listen.
Have a good attitude.
Make a difference every day.
On beyond UND, those are the habits that will help graduates lead successful and fulfilling lives, said Dr. Casey Ryan, chair of the North Dakota State Board of Higher Education, at Spring Commencement to the more than 1,100 graduating seniors with the UND Class of 2022. In ceremonies earlier in the day and over the previous week, some 639 graduate and doctoral students, 63 law graduates and 69 graduating physicians also received their degrees.
“You’ve all been in a system of grades,” Ryan noted. “You had to do it in high school, you’ve done it in college, and your grades have been a component of who you are. But for those of you who are moving out of the educational system, you won’t be judged by the typical grading system.”
Photo by Shawna Schill/UND Today.
Instead, the judgement will measure “how you deal with people,” he added. But rest assured, UND has equipped its graduates to succeed in this area, too; “and the fact that you’re here today says you have the right stuff to move your life to another level.”
Also on May 14, honorary degrees were conferred on Food Network star and local resident Molly Yeh, business leader and philanthropist Henry Herr, and entrepreneur Delore Zimmerman during the afternoon ceremony. In the morning, the graduate degrees commencement included the presentation of two new Chester Fritz Distinguished Professors: Glenda Lindseth and Sean Valentine, both of whom earned UND’s highest academic honor.
Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond, chief of space operations for the U.S. Space Force, gave the main address at both commencement ceremonies on May 14.
Featured here are a selection of photos from Spring Commencement 2022. In addition, a video of the Undergraduate Degrees Ceremony is above, and a video of the Doctoral and Master’s Degree Ceremony also is available at UND’s YouTube.com page.
Henry Herr, an accountant, business leader, philanthropist and holder of two UND degrees, is presented at Spring Commencement 2022 with a UND honorary doctoral degree. Herr was selected for UND’s Accounting Hall of Fame in 2011 and for a UND Alumni Association & Foundation Sioux Award in 2015. Photo by Shawna Schill/UND Today.
Delore Zimmerman, a UND graduate and the founder and president of Praxis Strategy Group in Grand Forks, speaks to the audience at Spring Commencement 2022 after being awarded a UND honorary doctoral degree. Zimmerman is an economic strategist, researcher, activist and developer. His work with hundreds of entrepreneurs and dozens of communities has led him to advising technology, agriculture and economic development organizations in Wales, England, South Korea and Tanzania, in addition to his decades of work in the Greater Grand Forks region, Photo by Shawna Schill/UND Today.
Glenda Lindseth, professor of nursing at UND, is recognized as a Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor at Spring Commencement 2022. Only about 80 faculty members have earned the Chester Fritz Distinguished Professorship since the award’s inception. Photo by Shawna Schill/UND Today.
Sean Valentine, the Robert Page Endowed Professor of Leadership and Ethics in the Nistler College of Business & Public Administration, is named a Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor at UND’s Spring Commencement 2022. The Chester Fritz Distinguished Professorship is UND’s highest academic honor. Photo by Shawna Schill/UND Today.
“Among the graduates on Saturday was a student who had a long road to recovery — and graduation — after being involved in a serious car crash,” the Grand Forks Herald reported on May 15. “In 2015, when Shayna Monson was 21, the vehicle she was driving was struck by a drunk driver in Bismarck, shortly before she was set to graduate. The crash left her with a traumatic brain injury that took years for her to recover from. “In August 2021, she was able to return to UND to finish the remaining courses for a bachelor’s degree in biology.” Photo of Shayna Monson by Shawna Schill/UND Today.
Photo by Shawna Schill/UND Today.
Photo by Shawna Schill/UND Today.
Photo by Shawna Schill/UND Today.
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Tom Dennis
is the editor of UND Today and the associate director of communications for UND. A graduate of Williams College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Dennis served for 20 years as the Grand Forks Herald's editorial-page editor before coming to UND.
