UCLA Ed&IS Class of 2024 Celebrates Commencement

The UCLA School of Education & Information Studies held its commencement exercises on June 15 in the Los Angeles Tennis Center on the UCLA campus. Wasserman Dean Christina Christie led the celebration of the Class of 2024, acknowledging its numerous members who are the first in their families to earn a college degree and greeted their guests, who may have been visiting the University for the first time. The Mariachi Band of the Academy of Music and Performing Arts at Alexander Hamilton High School entertained the audience preceding the ceremony. Cicely Latasha Harlins Bingener, a candidate for the Ph.D. in Urban Schooling, and Taylor Meeks, a candidate for the B.A. in Education and Social Transformation, represented the graduating class with their remarks.

The presentation of candidates and hooding ceremony were presided over by Professor Cecilia Rios-Aguilar, chair, UCLA Department of Education, and Professor Todd Franke, interim chair, UCLA Department of Information Studies. Jasmin Platon, a candidate for the master’s degree in library and information studies, concluded the ceremony with a performance of the UCLA alma mater, “Hail to the Hills of Westwood.”

“It is a profound honor to welcome you here today,” said Dean Christie. “As an Ed&IS alum, once lecturer, faculty member and now dean, I know well our deep commitment to social activism. We are intentional in our actions to bring about social, political, economic, and environmental change through various forms of advocacy, including research, teaching, community engagement, and protest, to address issues of inequality and justice and oppression, working toward a more equitable and just world.”

Forty-six PhDs were recognized from the Departments of Education and Information Studies, and 212 master’s candidates represented UCLA’s Teacher Education Program, Principal Leadership Institute, Transformative Coaching and Leadership, Student Affairs, and Education programs. Seventy-two MLIS degrees were awarded to graduates in the Department of Information Studies, and 115 UCLA undergrads from a variety of disciplines were honored for their work in the Education Studies Minor program. In addition, 90 undergraduates were awarded their bachelor of arts degree in the Education and Social Transformation Major program, and six were recognized for their work in the Information and Media Literacy Minor program.

Christie acknowledged the absence of students and faculty who were not in attendance.

“As an act of protest, some of our community have chosen not to attend today, and some have not been permitted to be here,” she said. “But all of our distinguished students and faculty - inside and outside of our stadium - are honored in this ceremony for their remarkable work as scholars and practitioners in subjects that serve as the foundation of our democracy: education and information studies.”

Dean Christie underscored the importance of not only the skills and knowledge gained by the graduates, but of the personal experiences and connections that benefitted their time in SEIS.

“Graduates, as we celebrate your extraordinary achievements, I ask that you take a moment to reflect on your journey as progressive scholars and practitioners, not just in your development of knowledge and expertise but also in the deep, meaningful relationships you cultivated while pursuing your degree at UCLA,” she said. “In education and information studies, we are entrusted with significant responsibility to promote democracy, justice, access, and equity; to teach and learn; bridge gaps; connect ideas; and unite people.

“This work requires a creativity that is deeply rooted in your ability to understand, empathize, and collaborate with others,” Christie said. “It is through our relationships that we discover the context of the information we manage. Through our interactions, we learn the educational experiences to meet the diverse needs of each learner. Every data point analyzed or lesson developed is a human element, an opportunity to impact a life, a community, and dare I say, the world.”

Christie noted the complexities of the world that the graduates are entering, and emphasized that, “In such times, the art of listening – truly listening – to diverse voices is not just valuable, it’s vital. It is easy to stay comfortable within the confines of familiarity, to engage with those who share our views. Why is this important? Because in the stridency of an increasingly divided world, engaging the conflicting viewpoints with empathy and openness is revolutionary.

“Listening to others does not mean you must agree with everything that you hear,” she said. “Rather, it means understanding the underlying emotions and experiences that shape differing perspectives. Let us consider compassion and kindness not just as virtues but as practical approaches to dialogue. Imagine the power of embracing these practices in your future endeavors. Whether in a library, classroom, boardroom, community meeting, or online forum, challenge yourself to listen actively. In doing so you will likely find that more often than not, everyone has something of value to contribute. It is the basis for inclusive dialogue and decision making [and] allows us to navigate the complexities of today’s world with a balanced, informed approach.”

Dean Christie pointed out how the graduates, “… are uniquely positioned to influence how societies, communities, and individuals learn, interact, and evolve.”

“Let your legacy be defined not just by what you achieve, but by how you understand, how you relate, and how you enrich the conversations in which you are engaged,” she told the Class of 2024. “As you move forward, remember that each of you has the power to influence the discourse in your fields and in our communities. Use that power wisely. Your role as agents of change is not just to partake in conversations, but to change their nature, making them kinder, more compassionate, and more inclusive.

“This is how you will lead with strength and heart,” said Christie. “You stand on the precipice of a new chapter, with well-developed tools to influence and innovate. I am excited to see the paths you will pave and the changes you will facilitate and inspire. Congratulations on reaching this milestone. Here is to your journey ahead – may it be brave, may it be bold, and above all, may it be humane.”

Meeks addressed her fellow graduates, encouraging them to look back at the beginning of their time at UCLA SEIS, and to recognize how far they have come.

“For me, I’ll always think about how I was a shy and extremely quiet girl, who was literally crying to her parents, begging them not to leave her in this new place when I first got to Los Angeles,” recalled Meeks. “And now, I want you to think about yourself and how you are now. I want you to celebrate the great achievements, both academic and non-academic, you’ve accomplished to get to where you are today.

“As we say goodbye to our time in the School of Education and Information Studies, it is important for us to recognize the invaluable skills the school has given us. From learning how to use our education… for action in our community, to being able to help others achieve their dream, one overarching theme reigns supreme: generosity. The School of Education and Information Studies has allowed us to be generous with our time, our knowledge, and our resources to help the world around us gain access to a better life.”

Meeks described explaining her major to others, and her realization that her degree stands for more than preparation for a teaching career.

“The first thing[s] I get asked when I tell people that I’m majoring in Education and Social Transformation at UCLA is, how do you define the term social transformation; if I want to work with children or if I feel prepared to be a teacher,” she said. “My answer to that is simple. The coursework and life experiences in the past few years have prepared me to be far more than just an educator. By no means am I saying that being an educator is a simple feat, but our growth as individuals starting with our time at UCLA is something that I feel we should celebrate today.

“Although we persevered through the countless readings, discussion, and wide variety of educational issues that have brought us to where we are today, it is important to remember the “why” that brought us here in the first place,” Meeks said. “Some of us may have realized how much our ideas have changed or been refined into what we think about concerning our world today. Many of us have expanded on this initial feeling that we want to be changemakers for a better future within our communities, while others may have felt the call to serve elsewhere from where they initially intended, whether that be geographically or changing careers to best pursue how they want to foster social transformation. I feel prepared to set foot into the world, with confidence and power that came along with the growth [and] hard work that I’ve endured to get to where I am today. Each one of us has got an individualized story of how we got to where we are, and I’m so happy to see it celebrated through this graduation today.”

Bingener is a double Bruin (’97, M.Ed.) with her teaching credential from the UCLA Teacher Education Program (TEP). The Inglewood kindergarten teacher shared her experiences, including marriage to a fellow Bruin and raising four children - one of whom now attends UCLA – and of earning her Ph.D. as a non-traditional grad student at the age of 50, the first in her family to achieve an advanced degree.

“I’m a little grayer, a little less tech savvy, a lot more hot flashy,” Bingener quipped.

In her remarks, Bingener recounted the lessons she learns regularly from her young students, and exhorted her fellow graduates to realize that they are “extra.”

“If you have ever spent time with a four or five-year-old, you know that extra is just who they are,” she said. “Their natural passions, their enthusiasms have not been corked by the weight of time and experience. When they’re happy, they’re extra happy! And when they are sad, they are extra sad. They are extra honest, too. They are extra loving, and pretty often, they’re extra loud. But their unapologetic boldness reminds me daily that none of us was born to play small, nor mute our thoughts or words or our actions as if we do not matter.

“They are also some of the best teachers,” said Bingener. “My careful observation is that young ones move on purpose and [with] purpose. They are unencumbered by doubting themselves and they have unwavering faith in others. They’re not paralyzed by their need for perfection. They collaborate, they create, they innovate in a climate of impressive mutual trust, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.”

Bingener highlighted the graduates’ aims in coming to UCLA, “…to do something extra: to learn more, research more, transform more, support more, explain more, grow more, lead more, be more. Our pursuits have taken us through pandemics, protests, and no doubt, a host of personal triumphs and maybe even some tragedies to bring us to this exact time and place. And that sounds pretty extra to me.

“Today, we are embracing the joy of one phase of completion and anticipating the wonders that yet lie ahead,” she said. “Don’t give in to fear. Wonder what is possible when we enjoin our imaginations in inquiry and action; when we insist that impossible is only a temporary condition. When you arrive at the next destination, I invite you to tap into your four- or five-year-old self and embrace your extra. Ditch the doubt. Trade up for trust. Put on your purpose and then, partner with others. Lean into and lead with love. Declare to yourself and everyone, ‘I’m educated and I’m extra!’ Congratulations, Class of ’24. Extra is who we are.”

For more of the SEIS Class of 2024, visit Instagram.