St. Bonaventure University will hold its 159^th annual Commencement Exercises on Sunday, May 19, in Reilly Center Arena. Commencement begins with the procession at 10:15 a.m.

Commencement Exercises conclude a weekend of activities for St. Bonaventure graduates.

The annual Candlelight Induction Ceremony, when degree candidates are welcomed into the St. Bonaventure Alumni Association, will be held at 8:45 p.m. Friday on the steps of Plassmann Hall on campus. The rain site is the University Chapel, Doyle Hall. Also on Friday, University Ministries will recognize their graduating students during an Evening Prayer and Reception.

Saturday’s events include the commissioning of ROTC cadets as second lieutenants in the U.S. Army, which takes place at 10 a.m. in the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts; an Honors Award Ceremony at 11:30 a.m. in the Reilly Center Arena; a Multicultural Stole Ceremony at 1 p.m. in the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts; and the Baccalaureate Mass at 4:30 p.m., also in the Reilly Center Arena.

Anthony Ray Hinton, an author and prison reform advocate, will deliver the keynote Commencement address. Hinton was released from prison in April 2015 after spending 30 years on Alabama’s death row for a crime he did not commit. He was released with the help of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), led by attorney Bryan Stevenson. Hinton now serves as an EJI community educator, and travels nationally and internationally to speak about his experiences.

Hinton will receive an honorary doctorate during the ceremony. Also receiving honorary degrees will be Fr. Joseph Nangle, O.F.M., a 1954 graduate of St. Bonaventure and a Franciscan friar, and Dick Kearns, SBU Class of 1972, retired director and chief administrative officer for Zürich Insurance Group.

Offering the student address will be Flavia Pietrobattista, an international studies major from Magliano de’ Marsi, Italy. Pietrobattista is the great-great-great-great-niece of Fr. Pamphilo da Magliano, the university’s first president. She first visited campus in the fall of 2008, when her family was invited to the university’s 150^th anniversary celebration.

Sunday’s Commencement ceremony will be live-streamed via the university’s Ustream channel, http://www.ustream.tv/channel/st-bonaventure-university-live-stream, as well as on Facebook live (https://www.facebook.com/bonaventure/).

Additional details about Commencement can be found at www.sbu.edu/Commencement.

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, we believe in the goodness of every person and in the ability of every person to do extraordinary things. St. Bonaventure University cultivates graduates who are confident and creative communicators, collaborative leaders and team members, and innovative problem solvers who are respectful of themselves, others, and the diverse world around them. Named the #1 regional university value in New York and #2 in the North by U.S. News and World Report, we are establishing pathways to internships, graduate schools and careers in the context of our renowned liberal arts tradition.