Each year, celebrating the achievements of our social work graduates is a joyful occasion—a tradition that is truly treasured each spring.

Our 2024 graduation will be held Thursday, June 6 at 7 p.m. at the Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. The program will include welcoming remarks from Dean Michael Spencer, recognition awards, student performances, conferral of student degrees, and an inspiring presentation from our keynote speaker, Yvonne Dupuis Peterson (Chehalis).

Can't make it to graduation? Good news - you can watch a live stream of the entire ceremony online on our YouTube page.

Overview:

  • The School of Social Work Graduation Celebration 2024 will be held on Thursday, June 6th, 2024 at 7pm at Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion on campus.

  • Eligible students include those who graduated in Autumn 2023 or Winter 2024, Spring 2024, or Summer 2024.  

  • Tickets are not required for guests to attend. 

  • Students can email mswadvising@uw.edu for any graduation celebration questions, but here are a few FAQs:

      • Students will have to arrive an hour prior to the event.

      • Thoroughly read all email communication you receive regarding the SSW Graduation Celebration event, including "day of" information that will be shared just before the event. If you feel you've missed a communication, you can look back into your canvas announcements or check out the links below:

      • We will ask in our RSVP how you'd like your first and last name to appear in our SSW graduation program. If we don't hear from you, we will use your preferred first name and legal last name as it is noted in STAR. Note: if you missed the deadline, you'll still be in the program.

      • If you or a guest of yours needs disability accommodations besides ASL interpretation please email mswadvising@uw.edu with that info.

      • Regalia (cap, gown, hood) is optional for those participating in the Graduation Celebration. The School of Social Work has a limited number of caps and gowns available to borrow on a first come-first served basis. You may request to borrow in the Graduation RSVP survey. 

 

2024 Keynote Speaker Highlights:

Yvonne Dupuis Peterson (Chehalis) invites us all to “sit beside” each other and learn – the way her mother showed her to live a caring life. Growing up rich in salmon, berries, and much natural bounty, Yvonne was taught to work hard for family, community and self in the prairie and river lands of her people. Her ancestors are woven into her consciousness and actions, she breathes their same breath and walks the paths they created for her generations ago. It is weaving, in fact, that founds the basis of her culture understandings. Weaving baskets connects her to the Chehalis’s cultured natural world, strands of plants and memories coming together in a beautiful, contained wholeness to carry into the next generation. Expressing her prayers as poems, Yvonne seeks to “transform the past into the future through a prism of caring.” Yvonne is a political scientist, educator, and intergenerational cultural awakener who weaves together traditional and academic methods at home and at The Evergreen State College. As Yvonne says, “You don’t teach everyone the same weave because then they won’t need each other.” Yvonne assures those around her to trust their own thinking, persevere, and show their faces to the ancestors.

 

 

Don't forget - you can watch a live stream of the entire ceremony online on our YouTube page. Happy graduation!