Campus Life

Texas A&M Galveston Conducts Spring Commencement

Texas A&M University at Galveston will hold the institution’s Spring 2018 Commencement at 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 12th at the Galveston Island Convention Center, 5600 Seawall Blvd. The commencement ceremony will be led by Texas A&M Galveston’s Chief Operating Officer, Colonel Michael E. Fossum, former astronaut and a 1980 Texas A&M University graduate.

There are 268 degrees slated to be granted for this year’s commencement that will include 249 Bachelor’s degrees, 20 Master’s degrees and 1 Doctoral degree. Majors in Marine Biology and Marine Fisheries will have the most graduates which total 63.

Oaths will be administered to cadets of the Texas A&M Maritime Academy receiving their licenses as Third Mates. Attending the Galveston ceremony will be Kevin Tokarski, Associate Administrator for the Strategic Sealift of the U.S. Maritime Administration. Eleven cadets, commissioned as officers, will be headed for military service after commencement.

To complete the ceremony, the student with the highest-grade point average in the class will be observing a Texas A&M Galveston commencement tradition by striking a ship’s bell eight times. This observance is a reflection of the time-honored sea tradition of striking a bell eight times on a ship to acknowledge a change of watch. In this instance, it recognizes that the current graduating class has achieved their goals and the graduates are embarking on the next stage of their lives.

The Galveston ceremony is part of 15 commencements for almost 10,500 students at the Doctoral, Master’s and Bachelor’s levels at the main campus in College Station as well as the Galveston campus, the branch campus in Doha, Qatar, the School of Law, College of Medicine, College of Dentistry and Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy.