LOWELL, Mass. – Go out and inspire the next generation of thinkers, leaders and doers — and know that you’ll always have a home in UMass Lowell.
That was the message to the members of Class of 2026 over the weekend, as the university awarded 4,252 degrees to the graduates in three ceremonies Friday and Saturday at the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell.
UMass Lowell graduates who received their master’s or doctoral degrees attended the university’s ceremony Friday; undergraduates in all colleges received their degrees in two ceremonies Saturday.
Diplomas representing 191 doctoral, 1,514 master’s, 2,530 bachelor’s and 17 associate degrees were awarded from the university’s College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Francis College of Engineering; Kennedy College of Sciences; Manning School of Business; and Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences.
Class of 2026 members hail from 47 states and 97 countries. Among the graduates, 243 achieved a cumulative academic grade-point average of 4.0 and 878 were the first in their families to attain a college degree. Many graduates who earned their degrees through UMass Lowell’s online program, now in its 30th year, were on campus for the first time to enjoy Commencement festivities.
Graduates keeping it all in the family include Maureen Whitcomb of Saugus, who earned her bachelor’s degree on Saturday, as did the last of her quadruplets, Bryce, joining his siblings Andrew ’24, ’25, Colette ’23 and Diana ’23. The Palma quadruplets of Methuen — Jaden, Jahir, Jerenny and Johan — each received bachelor’s degrees Saturday.
As their UMass Lowell education propels them forward in their professional and personal lives, the newest members of a worldwide family of more than 125,000 UMass Lowell alumni were challenged by UMass Lowell Chancellor Julie Chen.
“Remember to reach back and help the next generation of River Hawks,” she told the graduates. “That family includes leaders and innovators in every field — in business, health care, education, engineering, science, the arts, public service and, yes, even professional sports.”
Along with Chen, UMass Board of Trustees Vice Chair Mary Burns ’84, and UMass Board of Trustees Student Member Abigail Cooper ’26, of Dudley, spoke to graduates at each of the ceremonies. Cooper, who received her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice Saturday afternoon, is planning a career as a lawyer.
Still other accomplished graduates addressed their classmates as student speakers:
Yasie Nejad ’26, of Salem, N.H., a first-generation college graduate who received her master’s degree in public health in dietetics, addressed classmates during Friday’s ceremony.
Nejad shared her educational journey, first as a UMass Lowell undergraduate biology student who wasn’t quite sure she could be a physician and then as a graduate student who began to embrace the confidence of faculty mentors and others in the UMass Lowell community who believed in her.
Nejad is a recipient of a 2026 Chancellor’s Medal for Community Service, an honor that recognizes her leadership beyond campus. She was also named the 2026 Outstanding Dietetics Student award from the Massachusetts Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
“I think many of us have had moments like that here — moments where something finally clicked —where belief that at first looks like borrowed confidence eventually becomes our own. These are moments that changed the trajectories of our careers and of our lives,” she said.
A nationally ranked public university, UMass Lowell has been a leader in research, learning and teaching for more than 130 years.