It’s commencement at UCLA. Find out what’s cooking: Speakers, ceremonies and graduating Bruins

With a slate of graduate speakers featuring a legendary Olympian, a California senator and supreme court justice, top talent from Hollywood and the aerospace industry, and a renowned machine-intelligence artist - many of them alumni - UCLA's commencement season will soon be in full swing, with thousands of students set to receive their degrees.

Six-time Olympic medalist and UCLA alum Jackie Joyner Kersee will keynote the largest event - the UCLA College's three ceremonies at Pauley Pavilion on June 12 - where more than 6,500 graduating students and 25,000 family and friends are expected. She will be joined by UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk, who will also speak at the ceremony for the Fielding School of Public Health the same day and at the UCLA College Honors celebration the night before.

Some 70 commencement events for UCLA schools, departments and affinity groups will take place between now and June 15, with almost 60 happening the weekend of June 12-14. In all, approximately 15,500 UCLA undergraduate and graduate students are earning degrees this year as part of the class of 2026 - more than 10,000 are matriculating this spring. Nearly a third of UCLA's undergraduates will be the first in their families to graduate from a four-year institution, almost a third come from low-income families and close to half pay no tuition, thanks to financial aid.

With commencement ceremonies, the arts are well represented, sometimes even in the sciences: New doctors who graduated from the David Geffen School of Medicine in late May heard from physician Joe Sachs, executive director of "The Pitt," the award-winning TV medical drama. At the School of Theater, Film and Television, grads will listen to Jonas Rivera, executive vice president of Pixar anda producer of the movies "Up" and "Inside Out." And just in time for the opening of Los Angeles' Dataland - the world's first museum of AI arts - graduates of the School of the Arts and Architecture will hear from new media artist Refik Anadol, co-founder of the new downtown destination.

The Samueli School of Engineering will get a double dose of executive brainpower, with master's and Ph.D. students hearing from Durga Malladi, senior vice president and general manager at Qualcomm, Inc., while the engineering undergraduate ceremony features Joanne Maguire, Lockheed Martin Space Systems' former executive vice president. Future policymakers at the graduate ceremony for the Luskin School of Public Affairs will hear from California state Sen. Caroline Menjivar.

Like the medical school, the School of Law kicked off graduation season early, on May 15, with a keynote address from California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu, as did the School of Dentistry.

The full commencement schedule includes events honoring students who are parents, veterans, members of the LGBTQ+ community and more. Highlights of the upcoming ceremonies are below.

Thursday, June 11

3 p.m. Screenwriter Alexandra Seros will deliver the keynote at the doctoral hooding ceremony for the UCLA Division of Graduate Education in Royce Hall.

7:30 p.m. Adriana Galván, dean and vice provost of undergraduate education, and Chancellor Julio Frenk will speak at the UCLA College Honors ceremony in Royce Hall.

Friday, June 12

9 a.m.: California state Sen. Caroline Menjivar (Panorama City) will deliver the keynote at the Luskin School of Public Affairs graduate ceremony in Royce Hall.

11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Jackie Joyner Kersee will deliver the keynote at the three UCLA College graduation ceremonies in Pauley Pavilion.

2 p.m. Jonas Rivera, Pixar executive vice president, will deliver the keynote at the School of Theater, Film and Television ceremony in Royce Hall.

3 p.m. Affordable housing advocate Jacqueline Waggoner will deliver the keynote at the Luskin School of Public Affairs undergraduate ceremony in the Ackerman Grand Ballroom.

4 p.m. Martine Rothblatt, founder of United Therapeutics and Sirius XM, will deliver the keynote at the Anderson School of Management ceremony in Wilson Plaza.

4 p.m. Kiran Gandhi, a musician and producer, will deliver the keynote at the Herb Alpert School of Music ceremony in Dickson Court North.

5:30 p.m. UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk will deliver the keynote at the Fielding School of Public Health ceremony in Royce Hall.

Saturday, June 13

8:30 a.m. Jason Wolf, CEO of the Beryl Institute, will deliver the keynote at the School of Nursing ceremony in Royce Hall.

12:30 p.m. For the School of Education & Information Studies, the school's dean, Christina Christie, will deliver the keynote for the undergraduate ceremony in Wilson Plaza.

1 p.m. Joanne Maguire, Lockheed Martin Space Systems former executive vice president, will deliver the keynote at the Samueli School of Engineering undergraduate ceremony in Pauley Pavilion.

4 p.m. New media artist Refik Anadol will deliver the keynote at the School of the Arts and Architecture ceremony in Dickson Court North.

4:30 p.m. For the School of Education & Information Studies, the school's dean, Christina Christie, will keynote the graduate ceremony in Wilson Plaza.

6:30 p.m. Gala Porras-Kim, multimedia artist and MacArthur "genius" grant winner, will give the keynote for the UCLA International Institute commencement ceremony in Royce Hall.

Sunday, June 14

12:30 p.m. Durga Malladi, senior vice president and general manager of Qualcomm, Inc., will deliver the keynote at the Samueli School of Engineering graduate ceremony in Pauley Pavilion.

1 p.m. Ronni Sanlo, director emeritus of the UCLA LGBTQ Campus Resource Center and creator of the Lavender Graduation, will deliver the video keynote at the Lavender Extravaganza at UCLA Anderson's Korn Convocation Hall.

Monday, June 15

2 p.m. Entrepreneur, author and former U.S. presidential candidate Andrew Yang will deliver the keynote address for the UCLA Extension certificate graduation ceremony at Pauley Pavilion.