Commencement, convocation: 800-plus to graduate

More than 800 students in nine programs receive diplomas from MIT Sloan this week. Commencement exercises take place Friday, June 5 at Killian Court on campus. U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith, SB ’86, SM ’88, will be the guest speaker.

On Thursday, June 4, an MBA convocation honors 350 who completed their studies this year (including students who graduated in February), as well as 47 graduates of MIT’s dual-degree Leaders for Global Operations program. Daryl Carter, SM ’81, MArch ’81, founder, chairman, and CEO of Avanath Capital Management, will speak.

A separate convocation Thursday, June 4 will celebrate the 115 graduates of the school’s Master of Finance program.

The MIT Executive MBA program graduates 113 students this year, while the MIT Sloan Fellows Program in Innovation and Global Leadership — a one-year MBA or Master of Science for mid-career professionals — will award degrees to 118 students.

Thirty-two students will receive degrees from the school’s Master of Science in Management Studies program, and 33 will graduate from its System Design and Management program, a joint degree with the MIT School of Engineering.

The school’s nine PhD graduates join doctoral candidates from across MIT Thursday, June 4 for the doctoral hooding ceremony. Astronaut Mike Massimino, SM ’88, PhD ’92, will be the first-ever guest speaker at the event.

Forty-four undergraduate students will graduate from Course XV, the MIT designation for its management major.

Class gift update

On May 20, students in the MIT Executive MBA program claimed a third year of full participation in the class gift to the MIT Sloan Annual Fund. Now the class is aiming to increase the size of its gift to $500,000. As of May 27, it had raised $458,661 in cash and pledges.

The MBA and Leaders for Global Operations class of 2015 had raised $74,000 in gifts and pledges to its class gift by May 27, with 77 percent participation. Students in the Master of Science in Management Studies program had reached 50 percent participation and $1,280 in gifts and pledges. Fifteen percent of students in the Master of Finance Program had contributed to its class gift, for a total of $2,156. And 37 percent of the MIT Sloan Fellows class had made a contribution, totaling $30,138 in cash and pledges.

Gifts to the MIT Sloan Annual Fund allow MIT Sloan’s leadership to direct funds where they will have the most impact, including faculty research, student fellowships, program development, and other initiatives.