Baruch College to Graduate More Than 5,800 Students at 2022 Commencement Ceremony on May 26 at Barclays Center

May 18, 2022

Baruch College will hold its 2022 Commencement Ceremony on May 26 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, conferring degrees to 5,837 undergraduate and graduate students from the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, and the Zicklin School of Business. The event begins at 9:30 am.

Baruch College President S. David Wu, PhD, will preside over the exercises and Linda Essig, PhD, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, will serve as the master of ceremonies.

The Class of 2022 includes more than 4,100 undergraduates, over 1,600 graduate degree recipients, and 11 graduates receiving doctorate degrees.

Watch: A live stream of the event on the College’s homepage: www.baruch.cuny.edu.

Share: Follow and share on Baruch’s social media channels: Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Event Details: Updated information all graduating students should know about Commencement is available here.

Keynote Speaker

Shawn Dove, a prominent activist and social justice thought leader, will address the Class of 2022.

Dove has nearly four decades of cross-sector leadership in the fields of youth and leadership development, community-building, philanthropy, arts education, and media literacy.

His leadership mantra is: There is no cavalry coming to save the day in our communities. We are the iconic leaders that we have been waiting for; curators of the change we are seeking to see.

Read more about Dove’s leadership roles and his book, I Too Am America: On Loving and Leading Black Men & Boys, which draws from his own personal history as a young Black boy growing up in New York City to amplify and reframe the stories of Black people and their communities in a more humanizing way.

Honorary Degree Recipient

Baruch College will award the Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters to Cecilia Elena Rouse, PhD, the 30th Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers—the first African American to hold this position.

In this role, she serves as President Joe Biden’s chief economist and a member of the Cabinet. Dr. Rouse is the Katzman-Ernst Professor in the Economics of Education and Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University.

Previously, Dr. Rouse served two U.S Presidents: a member of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisories, and in the Clinton Administration as a special advisory to the President at the National Economic Council.

Valedictorian and Salutatorian

Ashley Mei Bo Torrenti, the valedictorian for the Class of 2022 and a Macaulay Honors student, will graduate with a Bachelor of Business Administration in International Marketing Management from the Zicklin School of Business and a minor in New York City Interdisciplinary Studies and Business Law.

Torrenti has held numerous leadership and service positions including a peer mentor, Baruch Ambassador, vice president of the Marketing Committee of the Macaulay Business Club, and notably acting as president and later coach of one of the largest clubs at Macaulay – The Marauders Quidditch Team.

She has dedicated more than 5,000 volunteer hours to various wildlife organizations and is learning American Sign Language through the Lexington School of Deaf.

Torrenti is currently applying for graduate school to pursue a career in veterinarian medicine. In the meantime, she is working on writing children’s books with her father.

Salutatorian Briana Staten is the first in her family to graduate from college. She is earning a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Advertising Marketing Communications from the Zicklin School of Business and completing a minor in Anthropology.

Staten was vice president of academic affairs at Undergraduate Student Government, and later became become executive vice president working with student senators to host diverse programming for the Bearcat community. She was a peer mentor with Success Network and served as a first-year seminar peer mentor to students navigate their first semesters and transition to the College. Staten plans to pursue a Master’s degree in digital marketing at Baruch.

Learn more about Torrenti’s and Staten’s academic accomplishments, extracurricular activities, and plans for the future.

Watch and Follow the 2022 Commencement

A livestream of the 2022 Commencement ceremony beginning at 9:30 a.m. will be available on the Baruch College website.

Follow and share Commencement news on Baruch’s social media channels: Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

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