Preparedness, earned achievement, and academic excellence on parade
“Being a Spartan means we don’t just walk into rooms,” Jiyah McLaughlin said during her remarks at UNC Greensboro’s 2026 undergraduate commencement ceremony. “We transform them.”
As she spoke, the First Horizon Coliseum — one of the largest rooms in the nation — had already been transformed into a fellowship hall of Spartan goodwill and gratitude, a sanctuary for customs that stretch back more than 100 years, and a celebration of this year’s graduates, each of whom embodied the many facets of Spartan tradition.
UNCG graduated 2,813 students on May 7–8 to the Class of 2026, each with their own story that brought them here. And every one of them will leave with something lasting and transformative, their degrees like passports for entry into big places and bright futures.
Graduate Degree Recipients Stand Ready to Lead
The doctoral and master’s ceremony took place on Thursday morning, conferring 704 master’s degrees and 79 doctorates. In his remarks, UNCG Chancellor Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr. took the opportunity to go off script with a piece of timeless advice for the graduates: “Take a moment, at least today, and savor this,” he said. “You know why? Because you earned this. It is an earned achievement.”
Spartan Brian Hall ’12 MBA recounted his own UNCG experience in an address to the graduates. “My path to this point wasn’t a straight line,” he said, “and I want to share a bit of that with you because I think it matters.”
After growing up in Greensboro, Hall played soccer at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia. And while the lessons afforded there gave him a solid foundation, he said, “I also learned that I had more to learn.”
He began his career in construction, eventually landing with the Samet Corp., where he steered towards the Bryan School of Business and Economics for his MBA.
Now president of real estate for Samet, Hall illustrated how the values instilled in him at UNCG remained with him.
“I pulled those same late-night class sessions and study sessions,” he said. “I had those same moments of thinking, “’Will I ever actually use regression analysis?’
“The answer, by the way, is yes,” he continued, “though maybe not in the way you expect.”
He closed with three principles that he said guided him in his career and life:
- Lead with wisdom and humility.
- Serve others with excellence.
- Build on a foundation that lasts.
Honorary degrees were bestowed upon Randall Kaplan, who accepted a Doctor of Laws based upon his legal career and legacy of philanthropy and wellness at UNCG. Kaplan has served on the UNCG Board of Trustees, the Bryan School Advisory Board, the UNCG Foundation Executive Committee, the Students First Campaign Steering Committee, and the Investment Fund Committee.
His Light the Way co-chair Susan M. Safran ’77 was awarded a Doctor of Science due to her varied and impactful years in healthcare after earning her nursing degree at UNCG. Safran, who has also served on the UNCG Board of Trustees, spent decades working in critical care nursing and healthcare management. Her most enduring legacy may be the founding of CPR Consultants in 1988. One of the very first American Heart Association training centers,the company has trained hundreds of thousands in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, which has saved countless lives.
Undergraduates Claim Their Seat at the Table
On Friday morning, friends and family of the undergraduate Class of 2026 filled the First Horizon Coliseum as their loved ones cleared the first milestone of higher education. There were 2,030 baccalaureate degrees conferred on this day, labeled with 67 different majors. There were enough students in attendance to generate a palpable hum on the Coliseum floor.
“This is your day,” Chancellor Gilliam told them. “No matter where life takes you tomorrow, next year, or decades from now, you will carry this day with you.”
He acknowledged the plurality of the student body in terms of backgrounds, fields of study, skill and talents, and the various pathways that led them to UNCG.
“Whatever your journey looked like,” he said, “you found your spark. Your purpose. Your ‘why.”
“There’s a lesson in that,” he continued. “When you take a chance on yourself — when you lean into your potential — good things happen. When you persevere, work hard, and show initiative, you open doors you thought were closed.”
Class speaker Jihay McLaughlin peppered her remarks with paeans to the University and her classmates.
“UNCG doesn’t just give you a degree,” she said. “It gives you a community that stretches you. It challenges you. It dares you to show up fully.
“Spartan Spirit is a commitment,” she continued. “It’s the student who works a full shift and still shows up to a 9 a.m. class. It’s the first-generation student navigating systems no one explained. It’s the friends who check in when you go quiet. It’s the leader who makes space at the table, then pulls up another chair.”
During the ceremony, the UNC System Board of Governors Excellence in Teaching Award was awarded to Dr. Jeff Sarbaum, Sue W. Cole Distinguished Senior Lecturer of Economics at the Bryan School. The acclaimed textbook author is one of the University’s most decorated and accomplished educators.
The last word
As the ceremonies came to a close and the crowd filtered out of the First Horizon Coliseum on a gorgeous Friday afternoon, the words of McLaughlin still resonated.
“If there’s one thing this campus has shown me, it’s that every voice matters,” she told the room. “Class of 2026, we are creatives. We are scholars. We are entrepreneurs. We are advocates. We are future doctors, artists, educators, researchers, and community builders.”
And she closed with a directive for her peers: “Let’s keep showing up,” she said. “Let’s keep creating. Let’s keep leading, not because we need the spotlight, but because we understand the power of impact.
“Four years ago, we arrived here with potential. Today, we leave with purpose.”
Story by Brian Clarey, University Communications
Photos by Sean Norona, University Communications
CELEBRATE OUR GRADS!
Graduates and their families are encouraged to share their accomplishments on social media by tagging the University accounts and using the hashtag #UNCGGrad. Visit UNCG’s digital swag page for Commencement-themed graphics and templates.
Mention @UNCG in celebratory posts on Instagram and X and @uncgreensboro on TikTok.
