COMMENCEMENT SCHEDULE
CEREMONY
Date: Friday, May 9, 2025
Time: 12:00pm. Doors open at 11:45am
Tickets will be required
Live Stream: Follow the ceremony live via the school's Facebook page.
Location:
Hill Auditorium
825 N. University Ave
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
SPEAKER

Janet H. Southerland, DDS, MPH, PhD
Immediate Past Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans.
For the last two and a half years, Dr. Janet Southerland served as Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. As the Chief Academic Officer at the center, she oversaw the operations of three major areas – Academic Affairs, Research, and Student Affairs. She led program and curriculum changes and ensured the center’s compliance with state, federal and university regulations.
Dr. Southerland recently left the Vice Chancellor position to return to School of Dentistry at the Health Sciences Center, where she is a tenured professor in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.
Dr. Southerland is an experienced clinician, educator, administrator, researcher, and interprofessional and collaborative trailblazer. She has led efforts at multiple institutions to transform the academic health sciences enterprise through active engagement with faculty, students and staff.
Dr. Southerland holds a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree, an MPH in Health Policy and Administration, and a PhD in Oral Biology, all from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the federal Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She has led transdisciplinary research and clinical teams, and has served with numerous national, regional and state professional, accreditation, editorial and advisory organizations. She has authored and contributed numerous book chapters related to inclusivity, belonging and mentoring in dentistry, education and other areas of healthcare.
Prior to joining the LSU Health Sciences Center, Dr. Southerland was Vice President for Interprofessional Education, Institutional Effectiveness and Health Education at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas.
From 2011-17, Dr. Southerland was a professor in the Department Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the Meharry School of Dentistry in Nashville, Tennessee. From 2011-13, she was Dean of the school.
TICKETS
Per updated University guidelines, tickets will be required for the ceremony.
To attend the commencement ceremony, guests should contact their graduate to obtain tickets. Tickets are free and available to all graduates.
Please note the list of prohibited items for the commencement ceremony.
ACCESSIBILITY
Handicapped Access: East and West side entrances of the auditorium are appropriate for guests using wheelchairs. Please refer to the Hill Auditorium Seating Chart to locate designated handicapped seating areas (boxes A-G on the main floor).
Assistive Listening Devices: Hill Auditorium is equipped with assistive listening devices. Earphones may be obtained upon arrival. Please ask an usher for assistance.
RECEPTION
Time: Immediately following ceremony
Location:
Michigan League Ballroom, Concourse, Hussey Room and Vandenberg Room
Michigan League
911 N University Ave,
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Accessibility: The reception in the Ballroom is on the second floor in the Michigan League. There is one elevator available at the Michigan League.
HOTELS & DINING
For information on area hotels and restaurants, visit the Ann Arbor Convention and Visitors Bureau or call 800-888-9487.
Guests who are unable to reserve hotel rooms in the Ann Arbor area may wish to look for hotel rooms in Brighton, Jackson, Plymouth, Ypsilanti, or the vicinity of Detroit Metropolitan Airport. These communities are less than one hour's drive from Ann Arbor.
PARKING
The gates to all the parking structures on Central Campus will open on Friday (see detail below) and remain open throughout the weekend. Parking enforcement in these structures will be suspended until the end of enforcement hours on Sunday.
- Palmer-Blue Area, Fletcher, Thayer: gates open Friday 9:00 a.m. through Sunday
- Thompson, Hill, Church: gates open: Friday 9:30 a.m. through Sunday
Note: The Fletcher Street Parking Structure is normally reserved for patient and employee parking. Parking is available in employee parking only. Please use the entrance off Palmer Drive. If you enter the structure via the UP Ramp at the Fletcher Street entrance (patient parking) you will be charged $25.00 when you exit the structure.
Go to Directions and Parking for more information.