John Pérez, speaker of the California Assembly until a leadership handoff yesterday (May 12), will launch graduation season at the University of California, Davis, on Friday with a commencement address at the School of Law.

Other speakers at 12 ceremonies through June 15 include:

Faith Fitzgerald, an internist and professor of internal medicine at UC Davis who is nationally recognized as a master educator and diagnostician (School of Medicine, May 29);

Dale Dougherty, who is a leader in the “maker movement," which encourages people to tinker, invent and make things (School of Education, June 11);

Helene Dillard, who earned advanced degrees at UC Davis and now serves as dean of its College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (Graduate Studies, June 12);

Charley Hess, who was for 14 years dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis and held three presidential appointments (College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, June 13);

Marguerite Pappaioanou, an alumna of UC Davis who serves as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s liaison to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for food safety and was formerly executive director of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (School of Veterinary Medicine, June 13); and

Sandy Weill, chairman emeritus and former CEO of Citigroup, who last month was named to CNBC’s list of the 25 people who have had the most profound impact on business and finance since 1989 (Graduate School of Management, June 14).

The university will recognize some 9,000 graduates with undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees in fields ranging from management and veterinary medicine to the humanities and agricultural sciences.

For the first time, degrees will also be awarded to eight doctoral students from the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at the Graduate Studies commencement on June 12.

Live and on-demand webcasts of each of the commencements will be available.

Law school commencement

Pérez, who as Assembly speaker was an ex-officio member of the UC Board of Regents and is now running for the statewide office of controller, will speak at the law school commencement at 4 p.m. at the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

The law school’s student speaker will be Irene Williams. She grew up in a Houston housing project the 10th of 13 children and — even though she was told she’d never escape the cycle of poverty — remained intent on making a difference in the world as a lawyer. While at UC Davis, she has served as vice chair of the Black Law Students Association and regional representative for the National Black Law Students Association. She has accepted a position with the Sacramento County district attorney's office. View her audition tape and read more about her.

Commencement calendar

Following is a complete list of commencement dates, times and locations:

• May 16 — School of Law at 4 p.m. at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts; 53 Master of Laws and 174 Juris Doctor degrees;
• May 29 — School of Medicine at 2 p.m. at the Mondavi Center;
• June 11 — School of Education at 4 p.m. at the Mondavi Center;
• June 12 — Graduate Studies at 4 p.m. in the Pavilion;
• June 13 — School of Veterinary Medicine at 10 a.m. at the Mondavi Center;
• June 13 — College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the Pavilion;
• June 14 — College of Letters and Science at 9 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the Pavilion;
• June 14 — Graduate School of Management at 10 a.m. at the Mondavi Center;
• June 15 — College of Biological Sciences at 9 a.m. in the Pavilion; and
• June 15 — College of Engineering at 3 p.m. in the Pavilion.

More information

Nine graduation celebrations for communities on campus will also be held through June 15. More information on these events and commencements is available at the commencement website.

Estimates of degrees awarded will be available in June. In 2012-13, UC Davis conferred 9,079 degrees.