UConn graduation ceremony is long-standing tradition

The May commencement ceremony has been an annual UConn tradition since 1882, when the Storrs campus, then an agricultural school, celebrated the close of its first academic year, according to the commencement website. The next year, UConn recognized its first two-year degree graduating class in a ceremony with speaker J.M. Hubbard, a member of the Board of Trustees.

A lot has changed since that first ceremony 127 years ago, but Commencement is still an exciting and memorable event in the lives of UConn graduates.

Bruce Hoffman, a member of the UConn class of 1972, remembers his graduation day as "sunny and warm." Hoffman, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English, donned his cap and gown for a ceremony held outside on the grass in front of the old Student Union, located near the engineering and education buildings.

"My parents came up and we took pictures outside after graduation. I still have some of them," Hoffman said. "I have the commencement booklet somewhere, too," he added.

Former UConn President Homer D. Babbidge delivered the commencement speech that year. "It was his last year at UConn," said Hoffman.

This year, Bruce Hoffman will return to the Storrs campus for another graduation ceremony. This time, it will be his daughter Stephanie wearing the cap and gown. Hoffman, an 8th-semester sociology major, will be receiving her diploma at a slightly larger ceremony, in a slightly larger facility, at Gampel Pavilion on May 10.

"I think it's really cool that my grandma gets to come back and see me graduate after her son did so many years ago," Hoffman said. "My whole family went here, so UConn is kind of in my blood."

Perhaps someday the Hoffman family will return to Storrs on another warm, sunny May day to see a third graduation, continuing the tradition and reliving their own experience as a UConn Husky.