CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Members of the news media may pick up stadium passes and parking passes for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign commencement at the Office of Strategic Communications and Marketing, 507 E. Green St., Room 319, Champaign, through Thursday, May 11, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Commencement takes place at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, May 13, at 9:30 a.m. Six-time Olympic medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee will serve as the commencement speaker.
Competing in four different Olympic games in track and field, Joyner-Kersee is the first woman to win back-to-back gold medals in the heptathlon and the first woman to break 7,000 points in the heptathlon – a world record still standing today. She also is the first African American woman to win an Olympic medal in the long jump. After her Olympic success, she founded the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation, which supports youth and families in her hometown of East St. Louis, Illinois, and across the U.S.
In addition to the university-wide commencement ceremony, a hooding ceremony for doctoral degree recipients will occur Friday, May 12, at 10 a.m. in State Farm Center.
More information about 2023 commencement and unit convocation ceremonies can be found on the commencement website.