Commencement 2019

Enjoy this slideshow of nearly 1,400 photos from Commencement 2019, and feel free to download as many as you like from our Flickr page at no charge.

Wagner College’s 134th Commencement Exercise, in May 2019, included a multifaith baccalaureate service led by campus rabbi Abraham Unger, with music provided by the Wagner College Choir, conducted by Thomas Juneau. Readings were offered by six students: Mahina Taglies for the Buddhist students, Dominic Zmarlicki for the Catholic students, Ruth Kupperberg for the Jewish students, Siddharth Anand for the Hindu students, James Price for the Protestant students and Khadijah Jabber for the Muslim students. Wagner College President Richard Guarasci offered closing remarks.

Read the baccalaureate sermon delivered by Rabbi Dr. Abraham Unger.

SENIOR AWARDS BANQUET. On Thursday, May 9 — the night before commencement — Wagner College held its annual senior awards banquet. This year, 61 students were recognized for the academic and civic achievements they accomplished during their undergraduate careers on Grymes Hill.

See the entire list of senior award winners, including descriptions of the honors accorded them.

See photos from the senior awards banquet, available for purchase from Normandy Studio Inc.

At Wagner College's 2019 commencement exercise, Richard Guarasci was awarded a doctor of humane letters degree, honoris causa, as the college's longest-serving president (2002-2019). Last year, President Guarasci announced that he would retire at the end of June 2019, so this served as his farewell address to his beloved Wagner College community.

Read the citation for President Richard Guarasci.

Read the complete text of President Guarasci's 2019 commencement address.

Wagner College also honored Dr. Carin Guarasci with a doctor of humane letters degree, honoris causa, at the Commencement 2019 program.

Read the citation for Dr. Carin Guarasci.

Read the complete text of Dr. Carin Guarasci's 2019 commencement address.

As has become our custom in recent years, two students were chosen in an oratory contest as speakers for their graduating class: Kenya Z. Hyman of Ajax, Ontario, Canada, and Daniel S. Smith of Hauppauge, N.Y.

Read the introduction to Kenya Hyman, followed by her commencement address.

Read the introduction to Dan Smith, followed by his commencement address.

Wagner College posthumously awarded a master’s degree in business administration to the parents and daughter of the late Tyamonee Johnson ’18 M’19, who was slain at the end of 2018 while home on winter break.

The most complete reporting on the killing of Wagner student Tyamonee Johnson was on the local news broadcast by WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C. “Tyamonee Johnson was a young man with a hundred things going right: college football, an M.B.A., a beautiful 10-month-old daughter,” the story opened. “But just before New Year’s one thing went terribly wrong and now his Fort Washington family is preparing to bury him.” Read the WUSA story about Tyamonee Johnson here.

Wagner College awarded the doctor of nursing practice degree to 12 students.

Wagner College awarded master’s degrees to 179 students.

Wagner College awarded bachelor’s degrees to 439 students.

For a numeric breakdown, visit our commencement website.

To conclude Commencement 2019, the Wagner College Choir, under the direction of Thomas Juneau, sang our alma mater, “Beautiful Upon a Hill,” written in 1941 by Wagner College senior Frank Betancourt.