New College of Florida Graduates Largest Class in History

New College of Florida awarded diplomas to 229 graduates in a commencement ceremony, May 17 on the College’s bayfront. It was the 53rd graduating class in the College’s history and the largest class to ever graduate from New College.

The commencement speaker and recipient of an honorary degree was Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, president emerita of Spelman College and author of the 1997 best-selling book, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race.

The graduating class included two Fulbright award winners and the first New College recipient of a Freeman Foundation scholarship. The latter is awarded in the junior year for students to study abroad in China and Southeast Asia.    

The student speaker was Eleni Spanolios, a chemistry major from Palm Harbor, Fla., who served as editor of the student-run research journal Aeolus and as chief of staff for the New College Student Alliance.

Many of the 213 baccalaureate recipients are headed to leading master’s and doctoral programs at schools including Columbia University, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Illinois, University of South Florida, and Washington University in St. Louis. Others are going into jobs in fields like education, architecture, and research. Fifteen of the 16 graduates of the Master’s in Data Science program have secured post-graduation job opportunities.

While New College is known as a liberal arts institution, with nationally recognized programs in the humanities and social sciences, more than 30 percent of students majored in the sciences or mathematics, areas commonly known as STEM fields.