SF STATE NEWS -- Speakers at San Francisco State University’s 117th Commencement urged the class of 2018 to put their passion into action and tackle the big issues facing the world today.
“I call on each of you to actively care about a cause, commit to a cure, devote your time, your talent and your treasure in good conscience and with courage,” the evening’s featured speaker, humanitarian, physician and alumna Ramona Tascoe, M.D., told a crowd of approximately 33,000 graduates and guests at AT&T Park. “Because our nation cannot survive on passive citizenship.”
San Francisco State conferred more than 8,400 undergraduate and graduate degrees to its latest graduating class, and around 4,700 new graduates were in attendance at the Commencement ceremony.
In addition to the undergraduate and graduate degrees conferred during the ceremony, honorary degrees were presented to two other SF State alumni: Grammy-winning conductor and music director Kent Nagano (M.A., ’76), who’s worked with orchestras around the world, and Randy Hayes (M.A., ’83), the Rainforest Action Network founder who’s been called “an environmental pit bull” by The Wall Street Journal.
Photo: Ramona Tascoe speaks at San Francisco State Commencement