Computer science students in a course of building software systems will present their final team projects in the form of five multi-player, 3D networked videogames in front of a standing-room-only audience this Friday in the Qualcomm Institute’s auditorium.
Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, will be the keynote speaker at the University of California San Diego All Campus Commencement where he will share with a record 9,000 graduating students and more than 15,000 guests “The Value of Education, Ethics and Compassion for the Well-Being of Self and Others.”
Everyone has a story to tell. Struggles and triumphs, setbacks and sweeping successes. It is human experience that motivates this year’s UC San Diego All Campus Commencement student speaker, Richard “Ricky” Flahive, a peer mentor and aspiring community leader whose own narrative is one of happy persistence despite countless hurdles. As a first-generation, low-income student who wasn’t sure he would even graduate high school, Flahive had to restart multiple times to defy the odds.
The University of California San Diego takes the stage in many programs — its Department of Theatre and Dance easily commanding the spotlight. Ranked among the top five acting programs in the world by Hollywood Reporter, the department’s students graduate well-prepared for the theater profession. Cast with experience — due in part to a dynamic partnership with its acclaimed neighbor, La Jolla Playhouse — UC San Diego graduates consistently take the lead in television, film and stage careers. Proof positive are three recent Tony Award nominations earned by alumni Michael Greif (MFA directing, ’85), nominated for Best Direction of a Musical, “Dear Evan Hansen;” Jefferson Mays (MFA acting, ’91), nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play, “Oslo;” and Paloma Young (MFA, costume design, ’06), nominated for Best Costume Design of a Musical, “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812.”
The diversity and talent of graduating University of California San Diego artists is currently highlighted in “A Step Away: Artists from the M.F.A. Program at UC San Diego,” an exhibition showing through May 29 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (MCASD).
On May 22, the institute hosted 150 high school students and 50 UC San Diego undergraduates as part of a San Diego regional program to excite students about fast-growing job opportunities in the region.