UNL will grant degrees to more than 2,900 students in commencement ceremonies on May 9 and 10.

Pinnacle Bank Arena will be the site of the ceremonies for approximately 550 graduate and professional degree recipients at 3 p.m. May 9 and for approximately 2,300 baccalaureate degree recipients at 9:30 a.m. May 10. Approximately 100 students will receive degrees from the College of Law in a ceremony at 3 p.m. May 10 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts. All ceremonies are free and open to the public. Tickets are not required.

Outgoing University of Nebraska president James B. Milliken will give the address at the baccalaureate ceremony. Milliken has served for the last decade as university president and as a member of the faculty in the UNL College of Law. He announced in January that he would step down at the conclusion of the academic year and on June 1 assume the position of chancellor of the City University of New York.

Former Huskers football coach and athletic director Tom Osborne will receive the Nebraska Builder Award, given by the University of Nebraska since 1946 to individuals who have displayed exceptional service to Nebraska and the university.

Rick Bevins, Cather Professor and chair of the Department of Psychology, will give the address at the May 9 graduate degree ceremony. Bevins, who earned his doctorate in neuroscience and behavior at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, has been at UNL since 1996. He has an extensive track record investigating the underlying behavioral and neural causes of drug addiction, publishing more than 120 papers in the area, along with two edited books.

Terri Minatra, general counsel for National Public Radio in Washington, D.C., will give the address at the College of Law ceremony.

Immediately following the undergraduate commencement, the Nebraska Alumni Association will host a post-graduation party in the Railyard, across the street south of Pinnacle Bank Arena. The first “Congraduation Celebration” will feature live music, a family photo booth, prize drawings, food and drink specials for graduates and families, an official alumni toast and a hat toss.

Also, friends and family can send a message to graduates in the Pinnacle Bank Arena ceremonies by posting it at http://commencement.unl.edu/welcome. The messages may be used on the arena big screens and UNL social media.

Both Pinnacle Bank Arena ceremonies will be carried live on Lincoln TimeWarner Cable Education Access Channel 80 (with cable box) or Channel 71.16 (TWC subscribers without cable box).

For more information, go to http://commencement.unl.edu.

— Tom Simons, University Communications