The 2025 commencement ceremony for the School of Music, Theatre & Dance was held on Friday, May 2, at Hill Auditorium. For a full listing of the graduates, presenter bios, and other event information, see the 2025 SMTD Commencement Program.
A selection of photographs from commencement are available for viewing and download.
SMTD welcomed alum Andrew Lippa (BM ’87, voice, music education) – an acclaimed composer, lyricist, book writer, performer, and producer – as the commencement speaker. Watch Lippa’s video introduction and commencement address:
SMTD’s 2025 student speaker was Jason Zhang (graduating with a BM in composition). The exercises included beloved annual traditions, including the organ prelude, postlude, and processional music, performed by Professor Nicole Keller, and presentations by the graduation award recipients. This year’s award winners were:
- Earl V. Moore Award: Music
- Ariya Laothitipong (BM in piano)
- Sylvie Tran (PhD in music theory)
- Earl V. Moore Award: Dance
- Madison Rogers (BFA in dance & BA in biopsychology, neuroscience, and cognition)
- Earl V. Moore Award: Theatre & Drama
- Reese Leif (BTA in performing arts management)
- Earl V. Moore Award: Musical Theatre
- Alyssa Sunew (BFA in musical theatre)
- Willis Patterson Award
- Arin Francis (BFA in musical theatre)
- Albert A. Stanley Medal
- Ella Hursh (BM in instrumental music education and flute)
For more videos from the ceremony, see the SMTD Commencement 2025 Playlist on our YouTube channel.
2025 SMTD Graduates: Complete a questionnaire about your post-grad plans to provide helpful data regarding next steps for SMTD grads and improve EXCEL Lab programming to support those steps! Take the First Destination Survey.
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