As uwchancellor Mnookin reminded tonight’s graduates: “The world needs you. It needs your expertise.” The Kohl Center filled with cheers (and perhaps a few tears of joy and relief) as hundreds of doctoral, master of fine arts and medical professional degree candidates celebrated the culmination of their persistence, discovery and growth at #UWMadison’s Spring 2026 Commencement ceremony. Thousands of family members, friends and supporters filled the arena to honor graduates whose paths to the ceremony reflected years of careful research, artistic practice, clinical training and scholarly work across disciplines ranging from engineering and medicine to music and the humanities. “You’ve rightly earned these prestigious titles,” uwchancellor said. “But they don’t fully capture you. They do not capture the habits of mind you have developed, the judgment that you have built, the patience that you have practiced, the creativity that you have summoned or the capacity that you now have to s...