LSU Shatters Record for Largest Spring Graduating Class, Awards 4,949 Degrees During Spring Commencement Ceremonies

LSU awarded 4,949 degrees during the university’s 313^th commencement exercises Friday, May 17, and Saturday, May 18. These new LSU alumni and their hometowns can be viewed on the LSU Graduates List on the LSU Commencement Website. The previous record was 4,563 in Spring 2022.

3,700 students earned undergraduate degrees or certificates and 1,249 received graduate degrees or certificates. Thirty-nine LSU employees were among the graduates. 

The spring graduating class represents 57 Louisiana parishes, all 50 states and 57 total countries. The oldest graduate was 62 years old and the youngest was 19. 

Among the graduates, 912 graduated with honors, receiving the designation of summa cum laude, magna cum laude or cum laude and 83 students received the University Medal for graduating with the highest undergraduate grade-point averages in the class. 

The LSU Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College recognized 93 students who earned College Honors for participating in a specific honors program and successfully completing and defending an undergraduate thesis.

The Center for Community Engagement, Learning and Leadership, or CCELL, in conjunction with LSU Campus Life, announced that 26 seniors will graduate with the Engaged Citizen Distinction for Spring 2024. Students were recognized and awarded medals in a ceremony on May 14. Collectively, the Spring 2024 graduates have earned 309 service-learning credit hours and have volunteered approximately 3,254 hours across their local communities during their academic tenure at LSU.

This semester, 61 graduates across eight colleges were awarded the LSU Distinguished Communicator Award. Recipients of this honor are outstanding writers and speakers, with a strong command of visual literacy and technological communication. They have earned high GPAs in their communication-intensive courses throughout their baccalaureate years, sought one-on-one mentorships with faculty and have built websites that display their communication competencies and professional talents, both in and beyond the classroom. 

Nineteen graduates who participated in LSU’s ROTC programs were recognized at a commissioning ceremony Thursday, May 17.

Every graduate who attended commencement was called onstage individually at separate ceremonies for each college.

Siblings Giselle and Jean-Luc Doucet, who were killed in a plane crash this week, will both be honored at their commencement ceremonies. Giselle, a fourth-year Veterinary Medicine student, will be honored with a moment of silence and her hood will be draped over her seat. Jean-Luc, a chemical engineering graduate, will be honored with a moment of silence near the beginning of the College of Engineering ceremony. His will be the first name called when the chemical engineering graduates are announced.

Media Note: Visit the LSU Commencement website to view lists of graduates, honor graduates, online graduates, Dean’s List and President’s Honor Roll students. The lists include graduates who have authorized the release of their names.