The University of Notre Dame鈥檚 181st Commencement Ceremony will take place on Sunday (May 17) in Notre Dame Stadium.
Sister Raffaella Petrini, F.S.E., president of the Pontifical Commission and Governorate of Vatican City State, will be the principal speaker and will receive an honorary degree. , chairman of Special Olympics, will receive the 2026 Laetare Medal, the oldest and most prestigious honor given to American Catholics.
Notre Dame will confer聽six additional honorary degrees on distinguished leaders in engineering, business, history, humanitarian efforts and the Church at the University Commencement Ceremony: Marguerite Barankitse, a humanitarian leader and founder of Maison Shalom; Mary Boyce, provost emerita and professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University; Eamon Duffy, an emeritus professor of the history of Christianity at the University of Cambridge and a former president and fellow of Magdalene College at Cambridge; Christopher J. Murphy III, executive chairman of 1st Source Bank; J. Christopher Reyes, co-founder and chair of Reyes Holdings LLC; and Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., the sixth archbishop of Newark.
Martin Soros, a civil engineering major with minors in theology and education, schooling and society and a native of Bethesda, Maryland, will deliver the valedictory address. Salutatorian Allison Elshoff, a business analytics major with minors in the Hesburgh Program in Public Service, the Business Honors Program and impact consulting from Valencia, California, will offer the invocation.
Cardinal Tobin will offer the benediction.
On Saturday, 548 students will receive master鈥檚 and doctoral degrees at the Graduate 91视频 Commencement Ceremony, along with 462 master鈥檚 degree students at the Mendoza College of Business ceremony and 203 at the Law 91视频 ceremony. The University will confer 2,120 degrees on undergraduate students at Sunday鈥檚 ceremony.
Weather permitting, graduates will process into the stadium at 9 a.m. Sunday, and the University Commencement Ceremony will begin at 9:30 a.m. All guests must have an e-ticket for admission.
The Commencement Mass will be held at 5 p.m. Saturday in Purcell Pavilion, with University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., presiding.
The Commencement Mass, University Commencement Ceremony and certain diploma/hooding ceremonies will be聽. A complete schedule of events is available on the , and senior stories and other features can be found here.
Many common items will not be allowed in the stadium during Sunday鈥檚 ceremony. Visit the Commencement website for聽. In the event of severe weather, ceremonies will be moved indoors to the Joyce Center. Should weather conditions necessitate a move indoors, the University will communicate changes online and via ND Alert messages, social media and local news outlets.
Contact: Carrie Gates, associate director of media relations, 574-993-9220, c.gates@nd.edu