PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — With in-person Commencement activities for the Class of 2020 postponed until May 2021 given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brown University will confer 2,657 degrees to its newest graduates at a series of Virtual Degree Conferral ceremonies on Sunday, May 24.

Degrees will be conferred at three concurrent virtual ceremonies, one for the College, another for the Graduate School, and a third for the Warren Alpert Medical School. All will be accessible via the web to graduates and viewers beginning at 1 p.m. EDT.

Brown President Christina H. Paxson, who traditionally confers bachelor’s degrees during Commencement and Reunion Weekend, will this year confer degrees to Class of 2020 master’s, doctoral and medical school graduates as well.

Each new graduate will receive a digital version of their diploma via email the week of June 1. The University will mail a printed diploma, as well as a program with the names of all members of the 2020 graduating class, to each graduate by mid-June.

The Corporation of Brown University’s Board of Fellows approved the awarding of the degrees at its annual spring meeting from May 20 to 22. The awarding of academic degrees is a responsibility reserved for the Board of Fellows, according to Brown’s 1764 charter.

* Note: In April 2020, the Warren Alpert Medical School awarded 48 M.D.s to early graduates, many of whom elected to graduate early to join the fight against COVID-19. Those have been formally conferred already so are not included in this data — the full Class of 2020 of M.D.s totals 137.