FAU Celebrates Spring 2025 Graduates

Florida Atlantic University conferred more than 3,700 degrees over the course of seven in-person commencement ceremonies in the Carole and Barry Kaye Performing Arts Auditorium. (Photo by Alex Dolce)

Florida Atlantic University conferred more than 3,700 degrees over the course of seven in-person commencement ceremonies in the Carole and Barry Kaye Performing Arts Auditorium, Student Union, Boca Raton campus. The spring graduates join more than 214,000 alumni who have graduated from FAU since the university opened its doors in 1964.

"We are proud to celebrate this record-setting class of graduates and all they have accomplished," said FAU President Adam Hasner, who presided over his first commencement. "The spring class of 2025 reflects the incredible momentum of Florida Atlantic, and their achievements are a powerful reminder of the impact our students and alumni are making throughout our state and across the nation."

Highlights of the 2025 spring commencement include:

• There are 82 degree recipients over the age of 50, and 10 are over the age of 60.
• The oldest graduate is 68 and the youngest is 17.
• Of the 3,720 graduates, 460 are first-generation students, 137 graduated with a 4.0 GPA, and 84 countries were represented.

This commencement's Presidential Medalion recipients were:

• George Elmore - He and his wife, Wilma, are founders of Hardrives of Delray, Inc., a company that built most of Interstate 95 from Boca Raton to West Palm Beach, as well as many of the major thoroughfares in between. Elmore served as chairman of the board or director for numerous local organizations and was influential in early efforts that resulted in the Palm Beach Film Festival, the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, and the Palm Beach County Convention Center.
• Marilyn Wallach - She and her late husband, Kurt, bestowed FAU with a transformational legacy gift to construct the Kurt and Marilyn Wallach Holocaust and Jewish Studies Building, and through an estate gift will soon establish the Wallach Institute for Holocaust and Jewish Studies. The two were founding supporters of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and she currently serves on the FAU Foundation Board of Directors.
• Eleanor R. Baldwin - She is co-trustee for the Baldwin Family Foundation Trust and Director Emerita of the FAU Foundation Board of Directors. Her name is widely known at the university, as it graces the Eleanor R. Baldwin House, the on-campus residence for the university president. FAU athletics also is home to the Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena, the Eleanor R. Baldwin History and Tradition Hall inside the Schmidt Family Complex for Academic & Athletic Excellence, and the Eleanor R. Baldwin President's Suite at FAU Stadium.

Speakers during the 2025 commencement ceremonies were Abdol Moabery, founder, president and CEO of GA Telesis, FAU alumnus and former chairman of its Board of Trustees; Daniel Mica, an FAU alumnus who served as the university's first-ever Student Government president before becoming a five-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives; Clarence Anthony, CEO and executive director of the National League of Cities and former mayor of South Bay; Thomas Kodadek, Ph.D., professor of chemistry at the Scripps Research Institute and chair of the Scientific Advisory Board, and co-founder of Deluge Biotechnologies and Triana Biotechnologies; and Alexcia Cox, state attorney for Florida's 15th Judicial Court, serving Palm Beach County.

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