USC announces Mayor Eric Garcetti as baccalaureate speaker

Under Mayor Garcetti’s leadership, the city has re-invested in the people who make it great.

Media RSVP: Ron Mackovich, rmackovi@usc.edu or (213) 810-8583

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti will deliver the 2019 baccalaureate ceremony keynote for USC degree candidates and families.

The nondenominational interfaith celebration will be held at 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 9 at Bovard Auditorium. The baccalaureate dinner will follow at 6:30 p.m. on Pardee Way.

A fourth-generation Angeleno, Mayor Garcetti is the son of public servants and the descendant of immigrants from Mexico and Eastern Europe. He is known for his deep commitment to justice, dignity, and equality for all.

To improve college access, Mayor Garcetti launched the L.A. College Promise, an ambitious program serving more than 9,000 students. Many of those students are the first in their families to pursue higher education.

Mayor Garcetti is confronting homelessness with an unprecedented regional alliance committed to creating housing and shelter for those living on the streets.

Under Mayor Garcetti’s leadership, unemployment has been halved and Los Angeles raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Additionally, Mayor Garcetti successfully led the bid to bring the 2028 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games to Los Angeles.

Mayor Garcetti was named Person of the Year by the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP in 2014. His determined approach to public challenges earned him the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award in 2006.

Congressmember Karen Bass will deliver the commencement address on May 10.

More than 19,104 degrees will be conferred during USC’s commencement this year, either at the main ceremony in Alumni Park or at one of the satellite ceremonies across the University Park and Health Sciences campuses.

Degree candidates, Half Century Trojans, faculty and distinguished guests will form a processional leaving Bovard Auditorium at 8:30 a.m. USC interim President Wanda M. Austin will preside over the main ceremony at 9 a.m. in Alumni Park.

For more information about USC commencement, visit commencement.usc.edu.

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