The University of Minnesota Crookston will celebrate its 58th graduating class with a commencement ceremony on May 3, 2025, at 11 a.m. in Lysaker Gymnasium. Commencement exercises will include a reception for graduating students and their families before the ceremony. To stream the 2025 ceremony, go to www.kaltura.com/tiny/klj4v. For 2025 Commencement information, visit crk.umn.edu/commencement.
The formal procession of faculty, candidates for degree, and platform guests will begin from Sargeant Student Center to Lysaker Gymnasium led by mace bearer, Sharon Stewart, Ph.D., who is an associate professor in the Math, Science, and Technology Department, and includes faculty marshal Kenneth Myers, M.S., associate professor in the Business Department.
University of Minnesota Regent Tadd Johnson of Duluth, Minn., will offer remarks on behalf of the U of M Board of Regents and assist with conferring the degrees. U of M Crookston Alumni Association (UMCAA) Board President Alisha (Aasness) Asleson, 2012, will bring greetings from UMCAA and welcome new graduates to the alumni association. Under the direction of TJ Chapman, M.M. and M.S., lecturer in the Math, Science, and Technology Department, the U of M Crookston Community Band will perform a number of selections, and the campus vocal ensemble will perform under the direction of Associate Professor George French, Ed.D. Crookston Student Association (CSA) President Madison Elijah, a senior majoring in animal science with a minor in ag business, will speak on behalf of the Class of 2025. Later in the ceremony, Elijah will pass the torch to 2025-2026 CSA President Evelyn Dupont, a sophomore majoring in exercise science and wellness with a minor in coaching.
This year marks the campus’ 117th graduation ceremony after its inception in 1906 as an agricultural high school, the Northwest School of Agriculture (NWSA). The NWSA held its first ceremony in 1909. In the fall of 1966, classes began for students at the new University of Minnesota Technical Institute, and the U of M “Tech” and NWSA shared the campus for two years. In the spring of 1968, a torch was passed from the 60th and final graduating class of the NWSA to the first graduating class of the U of M Technical Institute. The University of Minnesota Crookston earned its approval to offer baccalaureate degrees in the early 1990s and, by the end of the academic year in 1994, 20 students had completed bachelor’s degree requirements and were recognized at the 86th commencement ceremony.
