CICS Celebrates Class of 2025 at Senior Celebration
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Cheers erupted all around the UMass Amherst Recreation Center as 556 Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences (CICS) graduates swapped their mortarboards for the traditional Manning CICS alumni cap, marking their transition into their next chapter of computing.
On Saturday, May 17, CICS celebrated the Class of 2025 at its annual Senior Celebration. The ceremony began with the faculty, in full regalia, processing to the stage led by 2025 College Outstanding Teaching Award recipient Ghazaleh Parvini, followed by a land acknowledgment read by Ramesh Sitaraman, Associate Dean for Educational Programs and Teaching and Distinguished Professor.
Dean Laura Haas welcomed the graduates and their families to the ceremony. She acknowledged relating to how the graduates may be feeling, reflecting on “graduation” herself after eight transformative years as dean: “I'll admit, I've been feeling many of the same things you might be feeling right now: pride, gratitude, uncertainty, and that tug of saying goodby to a place that has shaped who you are—and they you have helped shape," she said.
Teaching Faculty Siobhan Mei then introduced this year’s student speaker, Nikki LaPierre, a Commonwealth Honors student from Andover, Massachusetts, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Informatics. Her speech discussed recursion, a programming technique she learned in her first computer science class at UMass, Computer Science 121: Introduction to Problem Solving with Computers.
Recursion, or the process of solving a problem by breaking it into smaller versions of itself, mirrored LaPierre's four years at UMass. "[R]ecursion—and college—have taught us the most important lesson: you can always go back, rework the function, and try again,” she said. “So, as we step into the future, let’s remember: our growth is recursive. Each iteration makes us stronger, more complex, and more refined.”
Next, the graduates were invited to the stage, where each student’s name was announced before they were presented with a University of Massachusetts medal. After a closing speech by Chair of the Faculty and Professor Erik Learned-Miller, Dean Haas invited the to remove their mortarboards and replace them with their CICS alumni baseball caps—a beloved college tradition.
The Recreation Center buzzed with celebration and pride as graduates reunited with their families and friends, greeted by bouquets, hugs, and high-fives.
“Today is not an endpoint,” said LaPierre. "It’s just another recursive call. We will keep running this function: starting new jobs, moving to new cities, and solving problems we haven’t even imagined yet."
Congratulations to the Class of 2025! Recently graduated students, friends, and family are invited to view professionally taken photos from the ceremony.