Commencement Programs, University Records

The University of Nebraska held its first commencement ceremony on Wednesday, June 26, 1872, at University Hall. Although there were no graduates to participate in the exercises, an honorary Doctorate of Laws was presented to the Right Reverend Bishop Clarkson of Omaha. In 1873 William H. Shell and James Stuart Dales graduated from the University. The 1873 commencement is considered the first official one for the tabulation of annual ceremonies. The 1876 commencement included Alice M. Frost, the first woman to graduate from the University.

By the end of the 1870s, commencement activities grew from a one-day event into a week of social activities closely followed by local newspapers and widely attended by the public. Commencement week began with a Sunday baccalaureate ceremony followed by musical programs, theatrical productions, alumni activities, a military candidates review, and numerous receptions and balls. The week culminated with the commencement ceremony itself, which included a formal procession of faculty, students, and dignitaries, an address or speech, commissions of military officer candidates, the conferral of degrees, and presentation of awards and honors.

The Lincoln Opera House at 12th & "O" (1877-1892), the Lansing Theater (1893-1898), the Lincoln Auditorium (1900-1911), St. Paul's Methodist Church (1912-1926), the University Coliseum (1926-1963), Pershing Auditorium (1964-1975) and the Devaney Center (1976 to present) served as locations for commencement ceremonies.

The June 1917 commencement aligned with the 50th anniversary of Nebraska statehood. Theodore Roosevelt, Willa Cather, Roscoe Pound, John Neihardt, Edith Abbott, and John J. Pershing (in absentia) received honorary degrees. Due to the United States entry into World War I, Pershing began his command of the United States Expeditionary Forces and did not give the commencement speech as intended. Roscoe Pound gave the speech instead. Following the ceremony, university officials traveled by train to Fort Snelling, St. Paul, Minnesota, where they awarded 33 degrees to students enrolled in the Reserve Officer's Corps who were already leading the war effort.

Notable commencement speakers in the University's history include Booker T. Washington (1902), William Jennings Bryan (1905), Roscoe Pound (1917), John J. Pershing (1921), Phyllis Bentley (1934), Norman Cousins (1950), Trygve Halvdan (1952), Gerald Ford (1976), Harry A. Blackmun (1983), and Barbara Jordan (1995).