2025
Summer Commencement

Graduation With Honors
Honors are awarded to those students with an average of at least 3.500 to 3.699 on a 4.000 scale. Graduates who achieve Cum Laude have earned blue institutional honor cords.

Graduation With High Honors
High honors are awarded to those students with an average of at least 3.700 to 3.899 on a 4.000 scale. Graduates who achieve Magna Cum Laude have earned gold institutional honor cords.

Graduation With Highest Honors
Highest honors are awarded to those students with an average of at least 3.900 on a 4.000 scale. The asterisk (*) indicates those students who have maintained a 4.000 grade point average. Graduates who achieve Summa Cum Laude have earned blue and gold institutional honor cords.

Candidates for associate degrees who demonstrate high levels of scholarship through their coursework will graduate With Distinction. The designation With Distinction is awarded when students achieve a minimum 3.500 GPA for all undergraduate coursework at Kent State University. Graduates who achieve With Distinction have earned white Institutional honor cords.

Students in the Honors College, having completed a senior honors project or thesis in their major field, and having evidenced exceptional academic performance, have fulfilled requirements for graduation with University, General or Departmental Honors.

About Senior Honors Thesis/Projects

Honors students who have met grade and course requirements graduate as Honors College Scholars.

About Honors College Scholars

Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship
Paige Olivia Orahood
 

College of Aeronautics and Engineering
William Karl Cherry

Reilly Nicolas Ferrie

Jason M. Guggemos

Robert James Larsen

Luke Anthony Rohloff

Matthew Robert Sullivan

College of the Arts
Jaelyn Dawn Azevedo

Sophia Frances Cameron

Katherine Patricia Myers

Natalie Anne Otto

College of Arts and Sciences
Audrey Alexis Byrd

Ethan Jeffery Dayton

Emerson Meeh Egleston
Grace Ann Ellis

Stacia Angelica Fennell

Cathryn Christine Knapp

Joshua James Montoya
 

College of Communication and Information
Colten Bryan Kee

College of Education, Health and Human Services
Eric Tyree Brown

Shane William Murphy

College of Nursing
Catherine Mae Essinger

Jetta Nicole Fitch

Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s most prestigious honor society, was founded in 1776 by students at the College of William & Mary who recognized the importance of a liberal education as the foundation of participation in a democratic society. Phi Beta Kappa recognizes students who have achieved excellence in all aspects of their education, and who have a strong background in the liberal arts and sciences, mathematics and a foreign language. Fewer than 1% of students across the nation are elected to Phi Beta Kappa annually. The Kent State University chapter was established in 1976, and each year the Phi Beta Kappa faculty members elect juniors and seniors who have met the high standards of excellence of the society.

About Phi Beta Kappa

These students carry on the tradition of family members who are Kent State University alumni.

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