University-wide commencement celebration
Sunday, May 15, 2022
10:30 am
Limit 6 guests

The University Commencement Ceremony on the Mall will begin with the academic procession at 10 am, and remarks will begin at 10:30 am. Each graduate will receive 6 electronic tickets for family and friends.

I am overjoyed to celebrate this momentous day with you. After two years of Commencement ceremonies on our computer screens, we are finally back together in person. I know that you and your loved ones have looked forward to this day for a long time. Your GW Law journey took place under the most extraordinary circumstances, and you weathered a global pandemic to emerge to this day triumphantly, inspiring us all with your hard work, dedication, and resilience.

As a group, you are academically gifted, passionate, articulate, and service oriented. It has been my great privilege to serve as your Dean. You are leaving here as professionals who are engaged, analytical, and thoughtful about the law. Now it’s time for you to craft your own pathway to practice -- the options are limitless. The world’s most pressing challenges need the problem-solving skills that your study of the law has equipped you to bring. You have shown by the impressive number of hours of pro bono work your class has contributed that you are dedicated to working for the greater good and building a better world for us all. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that you are going to do just that. 

Today, you join GW Law’s worldwide alumni community of 33,000 graduates, with whom you have shared a transformative experience. You will find among the GW Law alumni network a vast number of preeminent leaders in all sectors of the economy-- across the United States and around the globe. I encourage you to take advantage of this unique and powerful gift of belonging—make your fellow alumni a part of your journey for the rest of your professional lives.

Please keep in touch and come back and visit us often. Your time at GW Law has prepared you to impact the world, and we can’t wait to see your future achievements. Congratulations again on reaching this significant milestone and my very best wishes to each of you for good health, great happiness, and many successes.

Sincerely,

Dayna Bowen Matthew
Dean and Harold H. Greene Professor of Law

Congresswoman Susan Ellis Wild (D-PA), the U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania's 7^th Congressional District and a graduate of GW Law’s Class of 1982, will deliver the keynote address at the Law School Diploma Ceremony on Sunday, May 15, 2022.

Representative Wild, who was elected to Congress for the first time in November 2018, was a member of the largest class of freshman women (36) to enter the U.S. House of Representatives and is the first woman to go to Congress from her district in Pennsylvania. She also is the mother of recent GW Law grad Clay Wild, JD ’20. 

Learn More About the Diploma Ceremony Speaker