Commencement 2025
UCLA Linguistics Commencement 2025
Sunday, June 15, 2025
5:30 PM
Royce Hall
More information regarding the speakers and other updates will be available in the coming weeks. Refer to this page for the most up-to-date commencement news.
Questions? Please contact Undergraduate Student Affairs Officer Allie Westrup (allie@humnet.ucla.edu).
The UCLA Department of Linguistics formally invites you and your family and friends to the Class of 2025 Linguistics Graduation Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, June 15, 2025, at 5:30 PM in Royce Hall. Please note that this is a separate ceremony from the College of Letters and Sciences Commencement.
We look forward to celebrating our graduating seniors (majors and minors) at our department ceremony and making this day as special as it can be for those participating.
We hope you join us to honor the accomplishments of our graduating students at this celebratory event.
Congratulations to the Class of 2025!
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Larry M. Hyman
Distinguished Professor, UC Berkeley
Director, France-Berkeley Fund
BA, UCLA, PhD in Linguistics, UCLA
Professor Larry M. Hyman was both an undergraduate and graduate student at UCLA, receiving his PhD in Linguistics in 1972. Except for a two-year leave with a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science (UC Berkeley, 1973-1975), he taught at the University of Southern California from 1971 to 1988. He came to UC Berkeley’s Department of Linguistics in 1988, which he chaired from 1991 to 2002. Professor Hyman has worked extensively on phonological theory, especially tone, and other aspects of language structure – particularly as concerns the history, typology, and description of Bantu and other Niger-Congo languages of Africa. He has written and edited several books, grammars, and numerous theoretical articles in major journals and served as President of the Linguistic Society of America in 2017. Professor Hyman has been Director of the France-Berkeley Fund, since 2010, has held visiting positions in Paris, Lyon and Toulouse, and was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques in 2022. He currently holds the title of Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School in the Department of Linguistics at UC Berkeley.
A Message from Our Chair
Dear Linguists from the Class of 2025,
Congratulations on receiving your UCLA degree. You have succeeded despite the turmoil from the devastation of the fires, and the uncertainty, both on campus and beyond. With all your hard work, and your persistence, you have mastered our rigorous and challenging program. You are ready to take the world by storm!
We – all your faculty, TAs, and staff – are thrilled to host the fourth Royce Hall Commencement ceremony for you. I hope to see you, and everyone who contributed to your success, at the UCLA Linguistics Graduation event on Sunday, June 15, 2025.
We wish you every success in this world. And don’t be strangers. We want to know what you are doing with your degrees. So, please join us on the burgeoning UCLA Linguistics LinkedIn group. A fellow Bruin Linguist awaits, wherever life takes you.
With best wishes,
Megha Sundara
Department Chair and Professor
General Information
Eligibility to Participate
Undergraduate Students
To be eligible to participate, undergraduate students must have a declared degree expectancy term for Fall 2024 through Summer 2025 in one of our Linguistics majors or minors.
Fall 2025 undergraduate candidates interested in participating in 2024 commencement ceremonies must complete a Special Inclusion Petition with the College of Letters and Science. Please complete the petition on my.ucla.edu to participate in the 2025 Humanities commencement ceremonies. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that these requirements are met.
For details on the College of Letters and Sciences Ceremony, please visit the LS Commencement event website.
Undergraduate Students should contact Allie Westrup at allie@humnet.ucla.edu for any questions regarding the ceremony.
Graduate Students
Students filing or who have filed their doctoral dissertation in Summer 2024 through Spring 2025 may participate in the Class of 2025 Linguistics Graduation Commencement Ceremony.
In addition to the Class of 2025 Linguistics Graduation Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, June 15, the Department will also have our own Graduate Celebration Event for our PhD graduates and Departmental Scholars on Thursday, June 12, 2025 at 12:00 PM in the AAP Pavilion (1112B Campbell Hall). This will be another chance to recognize our graduating PhD students individually for those attending the UCLA Doctoral Hooding Ceremony on the same day. The Graduate Student Affairs Officer, Jennifer Banawa, will contact Summer 2024 through Winter 2025 doctoral graduates by early May regarding the Departmental Graduate Celebration Event. Doctoral candidates who will file their dissertation this Spring (by June 13, 2025, 5PM PT) should contact Jennifer Banawa at jennifer@humnet.ucla.edu.
More information on the UCLA Doctoral Hooding Ceremony for 2024-25 doctoral graduates can be found on the Division of Graduate Education’s (DGE) website. Doctoral graduates who filed in Summer 2025 through Winter 2025 will receive an invitation to the hooding ceremony in late April from DGE. Doctoral candidates who successfully file by June 2, 2025, 5PM PT will also receive an email invitation from DGE. Please note that the filing deadline to be eligible to participate in the Doctoral Hooding Ceremony is earlier than the Spring filing deadline.
Please note: Ticket ordering is required if wishing to participate in the Graduation Commencement Ceremony on June 15 (see “Ticketing”, below). Ticket ordering is not needed for the Department’s Graduate Celebration Event on June 12. Ticket order information for the UCLA Doctoral Hooding Ceremony is available on DGE’s website and will be sent by DGE through their invitation.
Graduate Students should contact Jennifer Banawa at jennifer@humnet.ucla.edu for any questions regarding the Commencement Ceremony or Graduate Celebration Event. Questions regarding eligibility for the UCLA Doctoral Hooding Ceremony should be directed to DGE at askgrad@grad.ucla.edu.
Student Regalia Ordering
Ticketing
Both undergraduate and graduate students
- The ticketing window for students for department events is scheduled for Friday of Spring Quarter’s Week 6, May 9, and ends on Friday of Week 8, May 23 @ 11:59PM PST via the Commencement Feature on ucla.edu. (Tickets to the College Commencement Ceremony can be requested starting Thursday of Spring Quarter’s Week 5, May 1. See the LS Commencement Website for College Commencement ticketing information).
- Participating students are eligible for 4 free guest tickets. Additionally, students have the option to purchase up to 4 additional tickets at $20/each (charged to your student BAR account).*
- Guest tickets will be distributed to your email address (as indicated in MyUCLA) between Tuesday of Week 9, May 27 through Thursday, June 12, 2025. It will be sent from the Central Ticket Office (tickets@cto.ucla.edu) and will contain a link for you to receive your electronic tickets. Keep in mind that department ceremony tickets will arrive in a separate set of email messages from the College Commencement tickets. Please be sure to check that your email account is accurate in MyUCLA, and also check your email account’s SPAM folder frequently, to be sure you do not overlook these important messages.
*NOTE: As a student you do not need your own graduate ticket for the department ceremony. Your regalia and online RSVP are all that is needed to check in at the department ceremony.
Accommodations
Parking
- Purchase in Advance: Students and guests attending the 2025 Commencement ceremonies can buy parking permits online through the Bruin ePermit Event Parking Portal starting May 1. To skip long lines at the self-service pay stations on campus, we recommend purchasing your parking permit ahead of attending the Commencement ceremonies.
For full details and instructions on Commencement Parking, please visit the UCLA Transportation website: https://www.transportation.ucla.edu/campus-parking/commencement-parking.
Call for Undergraduate Student Speaker, Linguistics Commencement 2025
DEADLINE: Sunday, May 18, 2025, 11:59 PM PT
The Department of Linguistics invites graduating Linguistics undergraduate students from the Class of 2025 to apply to be the student speaker at our department commencement ceremony on Sunday, June 15, at 5:30 PM in Royce Hall. The student speaker will have the distinguished honor of presenting a parting and celebratory message to their fellow graduates, encouraging and inspiring them through this next journey in life.
Eligibility
Graduating students interested in delivering the commencement address must satisfy the following requirements:
- Be a declared undergraduate major within the Linguistics department eligible for commencement (degree award term of Fall ‘24, Winter ‘25, Spring ‘25, or Summer ‘25)
- Be in good academic and disciplinary standing
- Commit to attend and participate fully in the commencement ceremony
Submission Process
Eligible and interested students should complete the Google Form application by Sunday, May 18, 11:59 PM PT. The application requires brief information on your experience at UCLA and a draft of your proposed speech (no more than 3-5 minutes).
Selection Process
Applicants will present their speech to a selection committee comprised of staff and student representatives from the Linguistics department during Weeks 8 and 9 (May 20 – May 30). This presentation will be recorded for selection committee review. The committee will then select one student speaker by June 2nd to represent the department at the commencement ceremony. The selected speaker will be expected to work with the Undergraduate Student Affairs Officer (UG SAO) and practice the speech in front of department staff in the weeks leading up to commencement to refine their speech and delivery.
The following criteria will be considered when selecting a student speaker:
- Clarity of message
- Quality of speech content
- Length of presentation
- Representation of UCLA Linguistics mission and values
- Appeal to both the diverse and common experiences of students
- Speaker’s preparation, delivery, and stage presence