UA Little Rock to Celebrate Spring Commencement May 17
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will celebrate its 2025 spring graduates with ceremonies at 9:30 a.m., 2 p.m., and 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 17, at the Jack Stephens Center.
About 1,420 UA Little Rock students are eligible to graduate and are invited to participate in the commencement ceremonies with their friends and loved ones. More information is available by visiting ualr.edu/commencement.
The 9:30 a.m. ceremony will honor undergraduate students from the Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics and the College of Business, Health, and Human Services. The Jack Stephens Center will open for guests at 8 a.m. for the morning ceremony, and graduating students should arrive by 8:30 a.m.
The 2 p.m. ceremony will honor undergraduate students from the College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education as well as all graduate students. The Jack Stephens Center will open for guests at 12:30 p.m. for the afternoon ceremony, and graduating students should arrive by 1 p.m.
Arkansas Artist Kevin Kresse, a 1984 graduate of UA Little Rock who was also honored as UA Little Rock’s 2025 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year in February, will serve as the guest speaker for both commencement ceremonies.
Kresse is a nationally and internationally acclaimed sculptor and painter. He had never taken an art class before attending UA Little Rock, but his talent led to recognition, including the Arkansas Governor’s Individual Artist of the Year Award in 2015 and acknowledgment by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2016. Over the past two decades, he has installed more than 20 public sculptures across Arkansas and beyond.
In 2022, Kresse was selected to sculpt a statue of Johnny Cash for the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall. He developed the concept and worked on the sculpture at UA Little Rock’s Windgate Center of Art + Design, where visitors could observe the creative process. The statue was installed in September 2024, making Kresse the first Arkansan to achieve this honor.
Paige Blair, the 2025 recipient of the Edward L. Whitbeck Memorial Award, the highest honor given to a graduating senior at UA Little Rock, will also speak during the 2 p.m. ceremony. A first-generation college student from Twin Groves, Arkansas, Blair is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and a Certificate of Proficiency in Applied Archaeology.
The UA Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law will hold a commencement ceremony for its graduates at 6:30 p.m. May 17 at the Jack Stephens Center for its 110 graduates. Judge Annabelle Imber Tuck will serve as the keynote speaker for the ceremony.
Tuck graduated from UA Little Rock’s William H. Bowen School of Law in 1977, where she continues to serve as a Public Service Fellow and Jurist-in-Residence. She became the first woman elected to the Arkansas Supreme Court in 1997.
The UA Little Rock commencement ceremonies at 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. will be livestreamed on the commencement website and the UA Little Rock YouTube Channel.