University graduates 5,000 Dec. 18

About 5,000 ASU students received a holiday present, as they took home their degrees from ASU’s commencement Dec. 18.

The ceremony took place beginning at 10 a.m. in Wells Fargo Arena.

On hand to receive their degrees was about 730 graduates from the Downtown Phoenix campus – including 267 nurses – and about 965 from the West campus, plus another 520 from the Polytechnic campus and 3,000 from Tempe.

Individual colleges and schools also had their own smaller convocation ceremonies, spread out over Dec. 17-19.

Among the graduates is David Paul, a determined young man who lost his eyesight and both of his legs 10 years ago in an automobile accident. After mastering Braille and learning to use a computer program that converts text into audio, he enrolled at ASU in 2000. Paul is graduating cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in economics from the W. P. Carey School of Business.

Bobby Ochoa, a political science major in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, received a Moeur Award from the ASU Alumni Association for graduating with 4.0 grade-point averages, with all his coursework taken at ASU. He is from Livermore, Calif.

Individual cultural groups also held smaller convocation ceremonies that week at each campus. For a convocation schedule and more information on fall commencement activities, go to www.asu.edu/graduation/fall/index.html.

The fall commencement ceremony was broadcast live on the Web at http://live.asu.edu.

Parking during fall commencement and convocation ceremonies is free in most permit lots, with the exception of reserved spaces and carpool stalls.

Visitor lots and meters will continue to require payment. A map of the Tempe campus with parking locations can be found online at www.asu.edu/map.