InfoSci Graduates Shine at Spring 2025 Convocation

On May 14, the College of Information Science held its Spring 2025 Convocation at Centennial Hall, the University of Arizona’s premier venue for performance and ceremony. The event honored 290 graduates from across all programs, including 245 who attended in person, joined by faculty, family and friends.

A Message of Gratitude and Momentum

Interim Dean Catherine Brooks opened the ceremony by recognizing the collective effort behind each student’s success. “Let’s truly take in the moment to consider just how far you have come to be here,” she said. “You have all exhibited great amounts of resilience, perseverance, adaptability, strength, concentration and courage to reach your goals.”

Design, Technology and the Power of Curiosity

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Keynote speaker Damon Leverett—an architect, digital artist and educator—shared a personal story shaped by a lifelong interest in both architecture and computing. "My life’s work is bookended by design and technology," Leverett said, detailing a journey that spanned architecture studios, computing classrooms and a personal computer museum. Whether reminiscing about programming in Fortran IV or challenging students to design interactive installations, his message resonated deeply: “Computing should be for all. Rather than practicing it, share it and nurture it. Help make it a part of everyone's life.”

Honoring Doctoral Achievement

To begin the presentation of InfoSci graduates, ceremony emcee and Associate Professor of Practice Diana Daly introduced the college’s two newly minted PhDs, who were hooded by their advisors:

Dr. Xin Su focused his research on structured information extraction for complex reasoning tasks. He will continue his work in artificial intelligence, with a focus on AI agents and multimodal data. Su was advised by Associate Professor Steven Bethard.

Dr. Ruoyao Wang completed a dissertation on text-based simulation for scientific discovery. With ten publications to date, he will take up a faculty position in China later this year. Learn how research led by Wang uncovers limitations in using language models as world simulators. Wang was advised by Associate Professor Peter Jansen.

Graduate Reflections: Persistence and Possibility

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Before the Master’s in Data Science, Information Science and Library and Information Science students crossed the stage to be hooded, MSIS student Ashwini Jannu, recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Student Award, represented fellow master’s students as class speaker and spoke of leaving a career in India to pursue a new path. “The comfort zone might be safe,” she said, “but nothing new is built there.” Her message to fellow graduates was clear: take the leap, and keep showing up.

Undergraduate Leadership and Responsibility

Undergraduate speaker Allegra Figueroa-Aguilera, a double major in Games and Behavior and Law and one of two Outstanding Seniors, emphasized the ethical responsibilities that come with technical expertise. “Technology is more powerful than ever,” she said. “And we are the ones who get to decide how it is used: intelligently… inclusively… ethically.”

As undergraduate student speaker, Figueroa-Aguilera represented not only Games and Behavior graduates but also those in Game Design and Development, Information Science, Information Science and Arts and Information Science and eSociety.

Students participating remotely were also recognized during the ceremony, a reminder of the college’s broad and flexible reach and a recognition that InfoSci students come from across the U.S. and around the world.
 

Looking Ahead

As graduates stepped out of Centennial Hall to rejoin their families and supporters, the day marked more than the conclusion of coursework. It celebrated a shared commitment to learning, community and innovation—and to the future each graduate will help shape.

The College of Information Science now counts more than 5,000 alumni around the world. As Interim Dean Brooks said, “We are a college of one, meaning we all share the same mission. Thank you for sharing your success with all of us.”

To the Class of 2025: the faculty and staff of the College of Information Science look forward to what comes next, and we’ll be cheering you on from Tucson and beyond.

Image Gallery

Enjoy select photos from the College of Information Science 2025 Convocation: