In a cascade of commencement ceremonies in the United States, Europe and Asia, University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) has conferred the largest number of degrees and certificates upon graduates in the history of the university.
The nearly 19,000 degrees and certificates were conferred in the last year turned a spotlight on UMGC’s commitment to adult learners, including military students and their families stationed around the world, civilians working for the military, professionals seeking new skills to make career changes and individuals who had deferred their academic aspirations, often for decades.
“I am excited not just with the sheer size of our graduating class of 2025 but with how we use face-to-face, online, livestreaming and other ways to create an immense global footprint," said UMGC President Gregory Fowler. "There is no place in the world where students can’t reach us, even if it’s remote deserts or active battle zones in the Middle East or the dark iciness of the South Pole.”
UMGC’s previous graduation record was 16,108 students in the Class of 2024.
The university traces its beginnings back more than 75 years when it was set up to provide degree programs for U.S. servicemembers stationed in Europe after World War II. It has dramatically expanded its reach since then and now is the largest provider of postsecondary education in Maryland with service locations worldwide. The ease with which students can transfer credits from other higher education institutions, receive credit for life experiences, study with flexible schedules and tap a long list of personalized resources is why adult learners in the military and the workforce pursue its more than 125 degrees and certificates.
The university’s wave of graduation ceremonies kicked off in Japan on April 12, with a commencement in Tokyo. Eight days later, a graduation was held in Okinawa, followed by ceremonies in Korea and Guam. More than 1,200 students graduated across UMGC’s Asia division.
At the May 10 commencement in Guam, Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Carolina Angulo said she planned to use her Master of Science in Transformational Leadership to advance in the military. She said she enrolled at UMGC because it was military friendly.
“The facility to be able to go to school wherever I needed was a game changer,” she explained.
During UMGC’s graduation ceremonies at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on May 3, Army Brig. Gen. Karen Monday-Gresham told nearly 300 new graduates that she understood the challenges many faced as they juggled jobs, school and family obligations.
“I see resilience. I see determination. I see a remarkable tapestry of life experience woven together with a shared accomplishment,” Monday-Gresham said in a keynote address. “I also recognize the other 1,000 graduates who could not be here with us in person today but are just as important to this celebration and commencement ceremony.”
The number of graduates in UMGC’s Europe division was up 29 percent from 2024. Gresham noted the wide age range among the graduates, from an 18-year-old who earned an associate degree to a 61-year-old graduating with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree. Sixty-one percent of the graduates in Europe were active-duty servicemembers and more than 130 graduated while forward deployed.
“You have been studying, taking tests, building presentations, completing those long-assigned readings and writing essays late into the night, all while excelling in your duties as soldiers, sailors, airmen, guardians and Marines,” Gresham told the graduates. “This is a complex world to navigate with the demands of military service and the dynamic operating environment in Europe.”
Cheryl Sampson and her husband are both active-duty servicemembers in Europe. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology, with a minor in sociology, while also raising three children, including 6-year-old twins.
“It’s been a very busy journey,” she said, adding that she wanted the degree to set an example for her children. She is the first college graduate in her family. Relatives in the United States watched the ceremony livestreamed.
Fowler—who took part in the commencement activities in Europe and Asia—noted that graduation numbers were up in every location.
The graduation season closed with the stateside Grad Walk, UMGC’s largest graduation event. From May 15-18 at the College Park Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, in the same complex that houses UMGC’s Adelphi, Maryland, administrative offices, more than 2,500 students crossed the stage to receive individual recognition, a significant jump from previous years. A virtual commencement ceremony was available at Grad Walk. In it, student speaker Tierra Sardine, who received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, said graduation was more than earning academic credentials. She said it was about every obstacle the students faced along the way.
Sardine herself navigated multiple challenges, including military service-related disabilities. The veteran, military spouse, mother of two and full-time student had started her degree at another university but found it did not understand students like her.
“I was an adult learner, a wife, a veteran who had already fought harder than anyone could imagine…” she said. “At UMGC I found what I had been missing all along: Respect, flexibility in a place that truly saw me.”
She talked of students who studied while rocking babies to sleep, logged in to class across time zones or read assignments during lunch breaks. She said students in the Class of 2025 all had one thing in common: “We refused to let obstacles stop us.”
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore videotaped a message of congratulations to the students, predicting that they will “build a better world for all of us.” Josiah Parker, student regent on the University System of Maryland Board of Regents, told students that they have made one of the smartest investments of their lives.
“You are graduating from one of the most dynamic and innovative institutions of higher education in the world, the largest university in Maryland, a world leader in online education and a global force making an impact in over 20 countries and territories around the world,” he said.
Isabell Pollard, ’18 and ’21, sang the national anthem and the school’s alma mater in the videotaped proceedings.
Grad Walk is a joyful—and at times raucous-event. Large family groups come to cheer their graduates, who may step up to receive their diplomas while carrying babies or wearing academic stoles that identify them as veterans, the first generation in their family to receive a degree or immigrants who are carving a new future for their families. Children are on hand, carrying noisemakers or balloons and sometimes wearing miniature mortarboards identifying them as a “Future UMGC Grad.”
Patricia Solano attended Grad Walk to see her son and husband accept their degrees together. Twenty-two-year-old Mark Solano received a Bachelor of Science in Marketing, with a minor in psychology, while his father, Irvin, earned a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice. The two coordinated their studies so they could graduate at the same time.
“I retired from the military last year after 37 years of service. I had put off my studies—having a family, being deployed—but once my son enrolled, he encouraged me,” said Irvin, who works for the Frederick, Maryland, police force. “I pursued this degree because I only have one life and I want to make the best of it. I want to raise the bar as an example so the next generation of the family can have it easier.”
This year’s Grad Walk carried additional significance for the UMGC graduates who are mothers. Grad Walk came just days after Mother’s Day, and women who had once shelved their dreams of a degree in order to raise children, support spouses, care for ailing family members or enter the workforce celebrated their degrees and certificates.
UMGC’s commitment to keep the cost of a degree low is one of the things that distinguishes it. There were students among the Class of 2025 who managed to avoid student debt because of scholarships and special initiatives.
Mary Gipson was one of those students. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Management thanks to a tuition-free Pillars of Strength Scholarship, which are reserved for individuals who care for an injured veteran. Gipson’s father, Reggie, was a servicemember who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). When his wife died, his condition worsened and Gipson, then 16, began even more engaged with his care.
UMGC “was a good fit for her,” her father said at Grad Walk. “I was elated when she received the scholarship.”
Tyree Qwamae, meanwhile, qualified for UMGC’s Completion Scholarship. By earning an associate degree at Prince George’s Community College in Maryland, his enrollment at UMGC was expedited and much of the cost of his education was covered. He said he grants covered the rest.
He earned a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems.
Qwamae works in the D.C. school system with special education students. He laughed when he said that the immediate result of the degree was that “it put me in a different tax bracket.”
He said that as soon as he informed his supervisors that he had completed the requirements for his degree, his annual salary went up by $40,000.
“This piece of paper paid off,” he said.
A group of 24 family members came to cheer on the 23-year-old as he accepted his diploma. His aunt held up a large photo of Qwamae’s grandmother, whom he had cared for when she was ill. She died before he completed the degree.
The new graduates joined UMGC’s global network of 307,000 alumni. Fowler said it is gratifying to see UMGC’s ever-extending reach because of what it means for the learners and their families.
“We are happy to see our enrollment rise, but being able to see students reach their goals, to complete those degrees, is what inspires us,” Fowler said. “Every one of our students has a story. Everyone one of our students will make an impact.”
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