Commencement

2025 Spring Commencement

Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design
May 10, 2025 — 3 p.m.
Barnhill Arena

Graduates will be recognized in a ceremony led by the deans and department heads that will also be live-streamed on the university’s official YouTube channel. For more details, visit the Commencement website.

View a digital version of the 2025 Commencement Ceremony program here. Or scan the QR code below with your phone camera to view the program. 2025 Commencement Program QR Code

Commencement Speaker


David Fitts 

A Fort Smith, Arkansas, native, David Fitts began his studies at the University of Arkansas in electrical engineering. Four years later, he decided a career change was in order, and he enrolled in the university’s School of Architecture. Graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1980, Fitts worked as an independent designer in the region, mostly on historic restoration and renovation projects. 

Smitten with the fledgling personal computer revolution in 1981, Fitts learned home computing hardware and software. Given the promise of the Digital Revolution, he enrolled in an electrical engineering graduate program. Shortly after, however, an opportunity arose to apply as a support contractor to NASA’s Johnson Space Center. He was hired and two years later became a NASA civil servant in the Space Shuttle Program Office. A 27-year career at NASA ensued. 

Always walking a line between engineering and architecture, in 1994, Fitts decided to engage with a group at the Johnson Space Center that specialized in Habitability — the art and science of ensuring accommodations for extreme environments are not only safe and functional, but also provide for quality of life during long-duration missions. Other specialties in this team included Human Factors (the study of man-machine interfaces), bio-mechanical form and fit, volume management, and food provisioning. By 2003, Fitts became manager of the Johnson Space Center’s Habitability and Human Factors Office, a position he held for 10 years. 

In his final years at NASA, Fitts focused on promoting an agency-wide emphasis and approach to Human-Centered Design. Known as “Human Systems Integration,” he worked with the Department of Defense and other NASA centers. He was ultimately successful in integrating Human-Centered Design into NASA’s primary design instruction, the NASA Systems Engineering Handbook. In this way, his work in Human Systems Integration lives on. 

Having had the good fortune to have worked at the heart of the three major human spaceflight programs in his day — Space Shuttle, International Space Station, and Constellation — Fitts retired at the beginning of 2015. He has since focused on his many hobbies and traveled around the world with his husband, Bert Magh, who he met at NASA 37 years ago. 

Parking

Free parking is available in any unrestricted parking lot on campus. Download a map of all parking areas.

Pictures

A professional photographer will be taking pictures during the awarding of diplomas and will contact you later to arrange for prints.

2025 Candidates for Graduation


Bachelor of Architecture

Reagan Nora Allen
Pedro Arredondo
Bradley Baker
Jonathan Brett Banister
Emily Belin     Summa Cum Laude
Avery Boland     Magna Cum Laude
Jenna Bourgeois     Highest Distinction
Abigail Lauren Breathitt 
Jack Chennault
Gavin Clark     Distinction
Shelbe Bronwyn Clark
Jake Bowers Cocke
Sophia Crownover
Seth Cutlip     Magna Cum Laude
Julia Elaine David     High Distinction
David Nicolas Davis
Catherine Eshelbrenner
Carson Ewing
Andrea Gutierrez Flores
Jampiere Luna Flores
Gabriel John Halderman
Connor Halferty     Distinction
Casey Hanauer     Magna Cum Laude
Madison Harper     Summa Cum Laude
Madden Soren Isabella Herring
Artemis Hogue     Distinction
Alexander Thomas Hood     Distinction
Emma Elise Hopkins     Distinction 
Joseph Hull
Adrianna Leigh Jarrett
Carson Jenkins
Tao Jiang     Distinction
Lukas Johnson
Medy Nora Kepnga
Jacob Alan Key     Cum Laude
Emily Kloostra     Summa Cum Laude
Christopher Korff
Avery Lake     Summa Cum Laude
Glennon Langston     Distinction
Nikki Lin     Distinction
Campbell Lindsay Martin     Distinction
Rebecca McMaster
Gabriella Kristina Meith     Distinction
Kelsey Nicole Miller
Thomas Miskin     Distinction
Prudence Mok 
Daniel Montes
Maria Morales
Katie Greer Mulloy
Sarah Myane     Summa Cum Laude
Omar Ochoa 
Zairis Padilla     Magna Cum Laude
Thomas Rohrbach     Distinction
Eric M. Rosales Leal
Rodrigo Sanchez Tenorio     High Distinction
Keegan Schock 
Devin Charles Smith     Highest Distinction
Madison Margaret Smith     Distinction
Joseph Sundquist
Ethan Thomas     Distinction 
Lauren Paige Young
Israel Edgar Zamorano                    

Bachelor of Interior Architecture and Design

Lauren Elizabeth Acree     Distinction
Lydia Claire Alpert
Elizabeth Anderson     Cum Laude
Hannah Anderson 
Justin Allen Anderson
Alyssa Noelle Baker
Ann-Wesley Banks     High Distinction
Parisa Beladi
Alexandra Bowers
Laura Boylan
Allison Nicole Cain     Magna Cum Laude
Ashley Brooke Campbell
Sara Wallace Carpenter
Anne Marie Carter     Distinction
Emily Chastain
Carlee Cole     High Distinction
Julie Mei DePetris     High Distinction
Kendall Dedrick
Olivia Marlene Everett     Summa Cum Laude
Julianna Ferguson     Cum Laude
Devyn Ann Finkelstein 
Itzel Garcia Dominguez     Distinction
Drew Michelle Gobbi     Magna Cum Laude
Emily Hays Gibe
Kyndal Hazlewood     Distinction
Grace Heard     Distinction
Sofia Hickey
Adi Maya Ickowicz     Distinction
Karli Rae Johnson     Cum Laude
Jessica Marie Krueger     High Distinction
Madison Kyle
Katherine Loring Lallier     Distinction
Tobie Lowe
Emilie Luce     High Distinction
Ellie Mason
Lydia Meharg     Distinction
Eugenio Mendoza Jr     Magna Cum Laude
Amanda Jane Milnor
Adrienne Sheffield Ofria
Anna Ildiko Orosz     Distinction
Ella Grace Penney     Cum Laude
John Taylor Raabe     Distinction
Isabel Renee Ramirez     Distinction
Brooke Noel Rehfeld     High Distinction
Summer Reidy
Cassie Roberts
Lauren Rolfe     High Distinction
Peyton Ross
Juan Daniel Salas
Emily Belen Sanchez
Madelynn Rose Schmidt
Carson Simmons
Sydney Slaughter     High Distinction
Lauren Kate Smith     Distinction
Mikayla Breanne Spillman     Distinction
Mattingly Stiefvater     High Distinction
Zoe Savannah Stratman     High Distinction
Kennedy Marie Telles     Distinction
Haden Reid Vancil     Distinction
Martha MacNamara Wait     High Distinction
Lorelei Walker
Avery Brynne Walls     Distinction 

Bachelor of Landscape Architecture

Klayton Bowen
Chad Chamberlain
Elizabeth Ann Corbitt     Summa Cum Laude
Kaiden Couffer     Distinction
Catherine Forrest
Jay Michael Henning     Distinction
Sunny Jones
Matthew King
Ava Noel McMoran     Distinction
Oliver Right     Distinction
Fiorella Sibaja     Distinction
Kara Simmons     Distinction
Hannah Soechting
Kelsey Vogel
Elijah Willis     Distinction
Billy Isaiah Wright     

Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies

Brianna Castorena
Takoya Marks
Jennifer Martinez
Mica Schafer
Tristan Alexander Stringer
Eric Uffelman

Master of Design Studies

Matthew Pierce Findlay
Mengji Gai
Esta Hasa
Lori Ann Hart
Tania Salgueiro Ponce de Leon
Stephanie Selakovich
Jae Jang Young