UM confers 416 degrees to graduates at 2025 spring commencement
Published 4:25 pm Friday, May 9, 2025
UM celebrated the graduating class of 2025 during its Spring commencement ceremony in the McChesney Student Activity Center on Saturday, May 3. (Contributed/University of Montevallo)
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By NOAH WORTHAM | Managing Editor
MONTEVALLO – Students proudly strode across the stage solidifying a momentous milestone in their lives as they accepted their degrees during the University of Montevallo’s Spring Commencement ceremony.
UM celebrated the graduating class of 2025 during its Spring commencement ceremony in the McChesney Student Activity Center on Saturday, May 3. Students, family members and department heads gathered together to honor the academic achievements of 317 candidates for bachelor’s degrees and 99 candidates for graduate degrees.
“An education equips us with a drive to acquire and learn,” said Colton Rodano, graduating member of the class of 2025 and Student Government Association president. “We, through our education, will be graduating with this appetite for knowledge. I am proud to be a part of the next generation of explorers that will question the reality of the circumstances before them, and I hope to learn enough to make the world a better place.”
UM President Dr. John Stewart III began commencement by expressing his gratitude to faculty, staff and visitors as well as the many community members who help make the ceremony possible. Following Stewart’s comments, student trustee Kendall Miller led the invocation and graduating senior Jordan Long led the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner.
“This institution has grown, succeeded, adapted and weathered many storms in our lifetime,” Stewart said. “We wanted to have an individual address you today to speak on the topic of ‘us.’ There’s no better individual than the guardian of UM history.”
Following Stewart’s comments, UM’s archivist and special collections librarian Carey Heatherly gave this year’s commencement address. Starting as a staff member at Carmichael Library in 2003, Heatherly has helped create and develop the Anna Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collection—a trove of papers, photographs, ephemera and realia curated to chronicle the university’s history. Heatherly also offcers classes through the honors program and serves as faculty advisor to Montage.
After sharing with the audience highlights of Montevallo’s rich legacy, Heatherly encouraged the graduating class of 2025 to carry those stories with them in hopes that they’ll recall meaningful pieces of UM’s history whenever they return to the bricks.
“Remember the things you learned and why you learned them here: civic engagement, creativity, sense of community and intellectual curiosity,” Heatherly said. “Remember that this isn’t just about buildings and dates. It’s about lives changed, about you and your role in that legacy.”
During the traditional conferring ceremony, Stewart, Professor of History Jim Day and Registrar Amanda Fox conferred the first four degrees of the day on behalf of Birmingham-Southern College to students who finished their education journey at Montevallo following the college’s closure in 2024.
This year’s commencement was also special since it marked the initial ceremony to include the first ever candidates for graduation from the new UM College of Health Professions. Students majoring in exercise and nutrition science became the first graduates for the college. The exercise and nutrition science major transitioned from the College of Education and Human Development to the College of Health Professions prior to the 2024-2025 academic year.
“UM looks forward to its first nursing candidates for graduation in the coming years as the initial cohort of students matriculate through the program,” said Wesley Hallman, UM’s director of communications.
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