On Saturday, May 9th, 163 master’s students in our environmental management, forestry, science and Duke Environmental Leadership programs and 21 PhDs received their diplomas and joined the proud ranks of our Nicholas School alumni. Fifty-two Duke University undergraduates also celebrated earning their bachelor’s degrees in environmental majors.
Family and friends joined Nicholas School faculty and staff at ceremonies to recognize the hard work and dedication of our newest graduates. Nicholas School Board of Visitors Chair Blake Sullivan, MF’89, president, Sullivan Forestry Consultants, Inc. and Beth Stevens T’81, senior vice president for environmental affairs at Disney, shared their insights and inspiration as our invited speakers. Shannon Switzer, CEM ’15 was selected by her classmates as their speaker. Shannon did an excellent job capturing their shared experiences and memories.
Special recognition was bestowed on Patrick Hunnicutt T’15 and Virginia Isava T’15 (Sara LaBoskey and Thomas V. Laska Awards, respectively), Luke Slivinski CEM’15 (Virlis Fischer Award), and Sarah Brody PhD’15 and Patrick Brown PhD’17 (Dean’s Award for PhD Student Manuscript). In addition to their diplomas, our newest alumni received a laptop sleeve made entirely of recycled materials to help keep Duke near and dear to their hearts…keyboards!
For photos and video of speeches from the 2015 graduation ceremony, visit nicholas.duke.edu/graduation/2015-nicholas-recognition-ceremonies
Congratulations to our graduates, and welcome to our awesome alumni community!