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View 2012 Commencement-related news releases, background on honorary degree recipients and a gallery of feature stories on some of our most interesting graduates. Commencement day coverage includes a celebratory slide show and a story on the speech by cartoonist Mike Peters.

Spontaneous bursts of joy broke out all day long on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis as the university held its 151st Commencement May 18 in Brookings Quadrangle. From the memorable speech made by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Mike Peters to the conferring of honorary degrees and singing of the “Alma Mater,” it was a day of smiles. A slideshow commemorates it all.

The transcript of Mike Peters’ 2012 Commencement address to the Washington University in St. Louis Class of 2012. Peters delivered the address to a crowd of more than 15,000 May 18 in Brookings Quadrangle on the Danforth Campus.

Do what you love, and you will find success, said Mike Peters, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, during the 151st Commencement ceremony at WUSTL. “Last night, all of the people who are getting honorary degrees, the thing that we all have together is we love what we do,” he told the crowd of approximately 15,000 gathered at Brookings Quadrangle May 18. Includes a video of Peters’ speech to the Class of 2012.

Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will confer degrees at the 151st Commencement ceremony, which begins at 8:30 a.m. Friday, May 18, in Brookings Quadrangle on the Danforth Campus. The 2,760 candidates will receive 2,878 degrees, of which 1,450 are undergraduate and 1,428 are graduate and professional.

Senior class president Alex Cooper views his time at Washington University in St. Louis as truly “transformative.” When he takes the podium during the 151st Commencement ceremony May 18, he will urge fellow graduating seniors to reflect back on their time at the university, paying special attention to the key relationships that have fostered growth.

Washington University’s 151st Commencement will begin at 8:30 a.m. Friday, May, 18, in Brooking Quadrangle. Mike Peters, the 1981 Pulitzer Prize winner for editorial cartooning and creator of the award-winning cartoon strip Mother Goose & Grimm, will deliver the 2012 Commencement address. The university will bestow academic degrees on more than 2,700 undergraduate, graduate and professional students and six individuals, including Peters and Gloria Steinem, will receive honorary degrees.

Commuters who normally drive near Washington University in the morning may want to consider an alternative route or take Metro  on Friday, May 18. Traffic around the university will be very heavy Friday morning due to the university’s annual Commencement ceremony, which begins at 8:30 a.m. Traffic backups should be anticipated on streets near the university, especially Forsyth, Big Bend, Forest Park Parkway and Skinker.

Due to the closure of Forsyth Boulevard and Throop Drive this summer for construction, the WUSTL Campus Circulator will follow a revised route on the Danforth Campus beginning Tuesday, May 22. 

A section of Throop Drive that runs in front of Eliot Hall on the north side of the Danforth Campus will close beginning Monday, May 28, for the construction of Knight and Bauer halls for the Olin Business School. Throop will remain closed to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic until construction is completed in early March 2014.