Northern Arizona University will be recognizing its Class of 2025 in four separate commencement ceremonies across Friday and Saturday as more than 5,700 students will be graduating from the university.
The ceremonies will take place in the Walkup Skydome, with the clear-bag policy in effect. NAU will also livestream the ceremonies at for those unable to attend in person.
The Friday ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. and recognize graduates in the Steve Sanghi College of Engineering and the College of the Environment, Forestry and Natural Sciences. The afternoon ceremony for May 9 will begin at 4 p.m., recognizing graduates in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
Saturday ceremonies will begin at 10 a.m., including graduates in the College of Health and Human Services, the College of Nursing and the W.A. Franke College of Business. Graduation will conclude with a 3 p.m. ceremony on May 10, recognizing graduates from the College of Arts and Letters, the College of Education and NAU Yuma.
NAU’s commencement website says students in online or personalized learning programs will attend the ceremony for the college most closely aligned with their major.
A map of parking options for graduation is also available online, with the only designated Uber and Lyft drop-off and pickup locations in the San Francisco parking garage. A shuttle will take guests to and from the Skydome and this parking garage throughout both days.
The website notes that commencement booklets will now be available digitally as an effort toward the university’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030.
More about NAU’s spring 2025 graduations, including copies of the commencement program, can be found at . Information is also available on the NAUgo app or by texting “Hi� to (833) 511-0151 to ask questions of the university’s AI chatbot, Cappy.
Details of NAU’s clear-bag policy are at .
Commencement speakers
The university announced last week that it will be recognizing Lyndel Manson, Deborah Harris, Emmett Burnton and Miguel Vasquez with honorary doctorates during the ceremonies. They will also be this year’s commencement speakers, with Vasquez’s son -- NAU alumnus and Coconino County Supervisor Jeronimo Vasquez -- speaking on behalf of his father, who died in October 2024.
Manson is a former chair of the Arizona Board of Regents whose experience with education also includes time as president of the Northland Preparatory Academy board of directors, the president of the board of the Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation and a high school volleyball coach. She is currently the managing member of Buckeye-based fastener manufacturer Parker Fasteners.
Harris served on the Flagstaff City Council from 2022 to 2024, after a career at NAU. She started working at the university in 1993 and eventually became associate dean of students, retiring from that role in 2017. Harris has also served on the Flagstaff Unified School District Governing Board and has been involved in United Way, the Coconino County African Diaspora Advisory Council, the Flagstaff Police Department Citizen Liaison Committee, the Flagstaff Symphony and the Southside Community Association.
Burnton is the 2025 Arizona Teacher of the Year and is in his ninth year of teaching at Boulder Creek High School in Anthem.
He earned his undergraduate degree from NAU and his master’s at Arizona State and is also the founder of Duel of Fates, a gamified history company.
The elder Vasquez spent over 35 years working as a professor of anthropology at NAU, earning the institution's President’s Distinguished Teaching award and the Community Luminary award from the State of Black Arizona. He was also a founding member of the Coconino County Hispanic Advisory Council (and was chair from 2006 to 2011) and served on the boards for Friends of Flagstaff’s Future, the Museum of Northern Arizona, the International Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture and FUSD.
“NAU’s honorary doctorate recipients are all Arizonans whose careers are exemplary and who have demonstrated a tireless commitment to the public good, especially in advancing educational access, excellence and attainment for the people of our state,� NAU President José Luis Cruz Rivera said in the announcement. "They truly reflect NAU’s values, and I look forward to honoring their achievements and celebrating the accomplishments of [NAU's Class of 2025]."