Bucknell prepares for 176th commencement, nearly 1,000 degrees expected

Lewisburg was bracing for one of its busiest Sundays of the year as nearly 1,000 Bucknell graduates and their families were set to pour into town for the university’s 176th Commencement. With the ceremony scheduled for 10 a.m. on Malesardi Quadrangle, downtown parking, side streets off Market Street, Cherry Alley and the more than 300 metered spaces in the borough all stood to feel the strain of the influx.

Bucknell said guests could enter Malesardi Quad at 7:30 a.m., and urged them to arrive at least 30 minutes early for security screening and seating. The university also said the ceremony would be held outdoors rain or shine, tickets would not be required if it remained outside, and the proceedings would be livestreamed for those unable to get onto the quad. Bucknell Public Safety was to be present throughout the day.

The scale of the 2026 class helped explain why the weekend carried such weight for the borough. Bucknell projected 995 degrees for the Class of 2026, including 978 bachelor’s degrees and 17 master’s degrees. The graduating class represented 41 states and 25 countries, with 637 undergraduate degrees in the College of Arts & Sciences, 173 in the College of Engineering and 168 in the Freeman College of Management.

The university named Ken Freeman ’72 as this year’s commencement speaker. Freeman is the namesake of the Kenneth W. Freeman College of Management, a first-generation college graduate and former chair of the Bucknell Board of Trustees, with prior service as dean emeritus at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. Bucknell also named Jawaad “KJ” Benson ’25, a Bucknell Community College Scholar and first-generation student from Philadelphia, as the student speaker. Sinclair Stevens ’26 was scheduled to perform the national anthem, and Katie Fitzgerald ’26 was slated to serve as ASL interpreter.

The 2026 ceremony also marked a larger graduation season than the university had seen in recent years. Bucknell’s 175th Commencement in 2025 honored 939 degree candidates, including 917 bachelor’s degrees and 22 master’s degrees, while the 174th Commencement in 2024 awarded 874 degrees, including 862 bachelor’s degrees and 12 master’s degrees. For Lewisburg, that growth meant more people converging on the borough at once, more activity downtown and a reminder of how deeply Bucknell’s biggest public ritual reaches into Union County life.