As Brown celebrates Commencement and Reunion Weekend 2025, look no further for complete event details, news, photo, video and social media coverage of the festivities.
A spirited celebration: Sights, sounds and stories from Commencement and Reunion 2025
By
the News and Editorial Development team in Brown’s Office of University Communications
Brown’s big weekend offers graduation ceremonies, alumni reunions and a multitude of other opportunities for graduates, alumni, family and friends to honor accomplishments and reunite.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Brown University’s first Commencement was held in 1769 — and since 1928, the annual celebration of new graduates has been accompanied by the return of alumni from across many generations for class reunions hosted during the same weekend.
That all adds up to a busy celebratory weekend. In 2025, more than 15,000 people will participate in events ranging from Campus Dance and Bruno’s Block Party to forums, graduation ceremonies and the one-of-a-kind Commencement procession through the Van Wickle Gates.
Here, Brown’s communications team will do its best to keep up with the wealth of activities on campus and share a few sights, sounds and stories from throughout the weekend.
Senior Swap: A sustainable and stylish send-off for the Class of 2025
Ahead of Commencement and Reunion Weekend, Sayles Hall transformed into a vibrant marketplace for Brown’s graduating class. The Senior Swap — part of Senior Week events and festivities — invited students to donate, trade or sell gently used items in an eco-friendly send-off on Thursday, May 22.
Organized by 2025 Class Coordinating Board members Christine Wu and Natalie Villacres in collaboration with the Office of Sustainability’s Clean Break program, the swap helped seniors declutter as they prepare for life beyond Brown. Any remaining items will be donated to the Friends of the Mount Pleasant Library.
“We know that during every end-of-the-year season, students, especially graduating seniors, are looking to lighten their inventory, and many hope to give new life to items they have — rather than just throw them away,” said Wu, who concentrated in social analysis and research and behavioral decision sciences.
For senior Jesse Rusche, one of dozens of students who set up vendor booths, the event wasn’t her first clothing swap — “but this one is definitely going to be the most fashionable,” she said.
“My high school did a bunch of clothing swaps, so when I saw that this was happening, I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s exactly my vibe,’” said Rusche, a theatre arts and performance studies concentrator. “They’re such a fun and awesome way to keep things sustainable and avoid fast fashion.”
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As part of Senior Week festivities, students were invited to sell, swap or donate gently used clothing and household goods as they prepare to bid farewell to their time at Brown. Photos by Nick Dentamaro/Brown University
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This isn’t the first clothing swap that Jesse Rusche, who will earn her bachelor’s degree in theatre arts and performance studies, has participated in — but it is the most fashionable, she said.
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Clothing racks and accessory displays lined Sayles Hall during the Senior Swap, organized by two members of the 2025 Class Coordinating Board in collaboration with the Office of Sustainability’s Clean Break program.
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The Senior Swap offered an opportunity for students to connect — and clear out extra items — before all attention turns to Commencement and Reunion Weekend.
A new look to complement traditional Commencement regalia
Like many graduates, Katarina Chen spent time thinking about what to wear on Commencement day. But unlike most of her peers, Chen’s look will be a one-of-kind custom creation she fashioned herself when she takes part in weekend events: a white, 1960s-inspired shift dress with pockets to store the stole that’s part of Brown’s Commencement regalia tradition.
Chen designed the pattern and sewed the dress as a final assignment for a class called Concept to Clothing, which she took through Brown's cross-registration agreement with Rhode Island School of Design. Her concept? A dress that ticked key boxes (white, comfortable, semi-formal) and also offered a clever innovation: tabs to keep the stole in place and integrate it into the dress when she’s not also donning her Commencement gown.
Chen, a computer science concentrator and a Fashion@Brown member who designed eight looks for the student organization’s spring runway show, has been already been trying on the dress for photos.
“It’s a conversation starter,” Chen said. “I get to tell people about my Brown experience and how I got to do many different things, like making this dress. I’m super excited for Commencement, and being able to wear this will add to the specialness of the day.”
After graduation, Chen plans to move to New York to work full-time in consulting and part-time at a clothing manufacturing company. She said that fashion design, which is part of her long-term career plan, complemented her interest in computer science.
“I learned that there’s a lot of math, engineering and precision involved in constructing a 3D clothing item,” Chen said. “I think my CS background fit into it nicely. I find I’m using all parts of my brain when I’m coding as well as when I’m making clothes.”
Graduating Brown senior Katarina Chen designed and sewed her Commencement dress as part of a class assignment.
Bringing the weekend to life, with local support
Turning the Brown campus into a celebration space for thousands of graduates, alumni, family and friends doesn’t happen overnight.
Planning for Commencement and Reunion Weekend begins months in advance and involves a coordinated campus-wide effort supported by nearly 50 Rhode Island businesses. Local vendors provide everything from staging and audio-visual production to printing, catering, photography, security and transportation.
Newport Tent Company, now a division of PEAK Event Services, is one of Brown’s longtime local vendors. Based in nearby Portsmouth, the company has supported Commencement, among hundreds of other Brown events, since 1974.
To help bring the weekend to life, Newport Tent is installing nearly 60 tents — ranging from 9x10 to 100x200 feet — across more than 30 sites for graduation ceremonies, alumni reunions and other gatherings. Work began in mid-May and runs through Sunday, May 25, with installation crews of up to 25 people putting in hundreds of hours across campus. More than 50 drivers and crew members also deliver and set up 12,000 chairs and 1,000 tables, with some of the most intense work happening overnight as spaces are transformed with stages and dance floors for the next day’s events.
For Jon White, a tent sales consultant for PEAK Event Services, it’s the atmosphere on campus during the weekend that stands out most.
“There’s something special about being part of a Commencement weekend at Brown — it’s the energy, and you can feel the excitement, pride and anticipation in the air,” White said. “We may be behind the scenes, but we know we’re helping create the backdrop for one of life’s biggest milestones. Seeing it all come together, and knowing families will walk into that space to celebrate something unforgettable, makes the long hours and hard work incredibly rewarding.”
Workers from Newport Tent Company position one of dozens of tents going up across campus, part of a multi-week setup to prepare campus for Commencement and Reunion Weekend. Photo by Nick Dentamaro.
Scholar of antiquity, guardian of tradition
Laurel Bestock, a Brown faculty member and Class of 1999 graduate, wields a special power during Commencement. As the mace bearer, she leads the procession and carries the ceremonial mace — the only person who processes in front of Brown’s president and other senior leaders.
Laurel Bestock led the Commencement procession in 2024, holding the ceremonial mace.
“I am symbolically protecting the president as she’s walking and taking part in these incredibly important ceremonies,” Bestock said. “The mace is always carried by a member of the Brown faculty who was also a Brown student.”
An associate professor of archaeology and the ancient world and Egyptology and Assyriology, Bestock sees special significance in the mace, which was a type of weapon held by ancient Egyptian rulers during ceremonies to smite enemies, she said.
“I don’t actually smite anyone with Brown’s mace,” Bestock quipped. “But it does connect me to a much more ancient past, as well as Brown’s own traditions.”
The mace is over 3 feet long, weighs more than 20 pounds and has been a part of Brown’s ceremonial traditions at Opening Convocation and Commencement for about a century, she said.
“The mace is really big and really heavy, and I carry it for hours at a time,” Bestock said. “I’m always sore the next day.”
While the mace plays the same ceremonial role each May, its magic springs anew at each Commencement.
“While it’s repeated every year… it’s also always unique for every individual who walks through those gates,” said Bestock, referring to Brown’s Van Wickle Gates. “It’s the beginning — or the end — of a journey, and to be part of that for Brown students is something that just delights me. I did it myself as a Brown student, [and] I know how much it means.”
The meaning behind the ceremonial mace
The mace bearer leads the Commencement procession and carries the ceremonial mace — the only person who processes in front of Brown’s president and other senior leaders.
At the campus center, an early sign of Commencement and Reunion Weekend
By the time Brown’s facilities team maneuvered a lift into place to install ceremonial two-story banners on the façade of the Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center, other campus prep projects had started to signify that Commencement and Reunion Weekend is near. Outdoor lights had already been rigged on the College Green, encircling what will be the dance floor for Campus Dance, and (electric) mowers were out grooming the grass.
But for many members of the Brown community, the tall brown-and-red banners marked with the University’s traditional Coat of Arms are one of the first outwardly visible signs that Commencement is imminent. Installing the banners, each of which measures about 26 feet tall by 2 feet wide, requires a boom lift manned by two workers on the elevated platform as well as supervision from the ground.
“If you’re a senior taking pictures and you see this happening, you know we’re going to transform the Main Green,” said Andrew Avery, a manager of structural trades in Brown’s Facilities and Campus Operations unit who was overseeing the banner installation. “This is your spot.”
By 10 a.m. on Monday, May 19, the banners had been hung, secured and majestically unfurled, just in time to serve as a photo backdrop for a group of Brown seniors in white dresses who had wandered to the College Green with cameras in hand.
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The Brown University facilities management team installed ceremonial banners to herald the start of Commencement and Reunion Weekend. Photos by Nick Dentamaro.
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The banners measure about 26 feet tall by 2 feet wide and feature the University's traditional Coat of Arms.
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The banners hang from the campus center on the College Green, where there University Ceremony takes place.
In the heart of campus, a new admission welcome center in Brown’s historic Manning Hall will serve as an inviting, dedicated hub for prospective students and families when it opens in the fall.
J. Michael Kosterlitz, a professor of physics, and Terrie Fox Wetle, a professor emerita of health services, policy and practice, will receive the Rosenberger Medal of Honor during Commencement and Reunion Weekend.
As Brown celebrates Commencement and Reunion Weekend 2025, look no further for complete event details, news, photo, video and social media coverage of the festivities.
