Normal
The University is currently operating under normal conditions
Congratulations, winter graduates!
A new chapter begins
UNC-Chapel Hill celebrated 1,444 graduates at 2025 Winter Commencement on Dec. 14 at the Dean E. Smith Center as they joined the ranks of more than 371,000 living Tar Heel alumni.
Chancellor Lee H. Roberts presided over the ceremony, which included words of advice from University leaders and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Dr. Kathleen Duval,, the keynote speaker.
Press the play button above to watch Winter Commencement highlights
My hope is that you will remember the people and the stories that the rest of the world tends to forget, or never knew… Above all, I hope you remember the people of North Carolina whose investment has made your degree possible.
Chancellor Lee H. Roberts
This campus is deeply alive with history, tradition, and a spirit of discovery that is unmistakably Tar Heel. You cannot walk around without sensing that you are in a place where excellence is expected. Each of you, through years of determination and sacrifice, has earned your place in that legacy.
Kathleen DuVal, keynote speaker and professor in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences’ history department
Winter Commencement coverage
Class of 2025 celebrates at Winter Commencement
“I am optimistic about our future in your wise, good and capable hands,” keynote speaker and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Kathleen DuVal told graduates at the Dec. 14 ceremony.
Class marshals have been leading Commencement since the 1800s
Over the decades, these special Tar Heels kept the event on schedule with “savoir faire,” sometimes sporting gold-headed canes.
Kathleen DuVal writes what she teaches
The Pulitzer Prize-winning “Native Nations” extends her vibrant undergraduate course on a millennium of Native American history.
In pictures
A legacy continues
Over 1,400 Tar Heels received their degrees Dec. 14 at the Dean E. Smith Center during the University’s Winter Commencement. See scenes from a day marking these students joining the legacy of Tar Heels, as friends and family cheered their accomplishments. (Photos by Jon Gardiner, University Communications)
