After Arizona held its student-athlete convocation Thursday, the schoolโs athletic ties will be well-represented in Fridayโs commencement at Arizona Stadium.
Not only is the commencement speaker Craig T. Nelson, the actor known for an Emmy-winning role in the 1990s TV series โCoach,โ but he and former UA basketball standout Steve Kerr will be among those in attendance to receive honorary graduate degrees.
So will Kerrโs mother, Ann-Zwicker Kerr-Adams, as well as UA athletics-and-all-around benefactor Humberto Lopez.
Now the coach of the Golden State Warriors and the USA Basketball senior team, Kerr is known for speaking out on social issues and his philanthropy, including a $1 million donation to UA for renovations at McKale Center, $250,000 to fund college scholarships for low-income students in Californiaโs East Bay and various donations toward disaster relief, mental health and childrenโs welfare.
Craig T. Nelson arrives at the world premiere of โIncredibles 2โ at the El Capitan Theatre on June 5, 2018, in Los Angeles.
Kerr will be given an honorary doctorate in Humanities while his mother will receive a doctor of Humane Letters. Kerr-Adams has worked in academia in Southern California and the Middle East with a mission to foster understanding between diverseย cultures, since her husband was assassinated in 1984 in Lebanon while serving as president of the American University of Beirut.
Humberto Lopez and his wife, Czarina, donated $9 million to help fund the establishment of the HSLopez School of Business Analytics.
Lopez, well known for his contributions to UA and Tucson organizations, will also receive a doctorate of Human Letters while Nelson will receive an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts.
UA is also giving an honorary doctorate of science to Bruce Taylor, CEO of Taylor Farms and a benefactor to UA and various Arizona based organizations, while Richardo Jasso, who has spent decades working to advance Hispanic causes, will receive a doctor of Humane Letters.
During Arizonaโs student-athlete convocation Thursday morning, valedictorians Maya Benita (womenโs golf) and Taylor Raskin (gymnastics) gave speeches. Arizona had a total of 108 student-athlete graduates, including three who picked up academic all-American honors: Kyle Ostendorp (football), Pelle Larsson (menโs basketball) and Delaney Schnell (womenโs swimming and diving).
Larsson, who is scheduled to participate in the NBA Combine next week in Chicago, attended the ceremony Thursday along with fellow former teammates Grant Weitman and Tautvilas Tubelis.
Former UA center Oumar Ballo, who is transferring to Indiana for a fifth season of college basketball, was not present at the convocation but earned a degree in general studies with a focus on sports and society.
Larsson and Weitman earned bachelorโs degrees in business administration, while Tubelis graduated with a degree in communications.
Three former UA athletes also earned their degrees through the โCats Foreverโ program, which offers financial and academic assistance for former athletes to return to school later in life: Colton Moore (baseball), Konnor Wade (baseball) and Antoine Singfield (football).
While Nelsonโs attachment to athletics may be fictional, his bond with UA and its theatre program is not. The decorated actor played a role in the renovations of UAโs Marroney Theatre, which now has a stage named after him.
โCraig T. Nelsonโs career embodies the determination and exploration that we hope to inspire in all our graduates,โ UA president Robert C. Robbins said in a statement. โSpeaking from his experience โ both in life and as a Wildcat โ Nelson will urge graduates to make bold decisions as they start their careers.
โMany of our 2024 graduates were unable to have a proper high school graduation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and I can think of no better person to give these graduates the outstanding send-off they deserve.โ
