MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State University’s Murphy Center will soon be buzzing with excitement and pride to celebrate 722 new graduates receiving their degrees during the 2025 summer commencement Saturday, Aug. 9, on campus.
The ceremony will begin at 9 a.m. Central Aug. 9 in Hale Arena inside Murphy Center at 2650 Middle Tennessee Blvd. and is open to the public. The event also will be livestreamed at https://mtsu.edu/live and on the university’s Facebook channel, https://facebook.com/mtsublueraiders, and will be broadcast on MTSU’s “True Blue TV” station on local cable channels and at https://mtsu.edu/TrueBlueTV.
Of the 722 students set to graduate, 490 are undergraduates and 232 are graduate students, including 205 master’s candidates, seven education-specialist recipients and 20 doctoral candidates. In addition, four graduate students will be receiving graduate certificates, according to the latest information from the Registrar’s Office. (Updated Aug. 4)
The newest Blue Raider alumni and their supporters will hear congratulatory remarks from MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee and keynote remarks from Suzanne Sutherland, a professor in the Department of History and immediate past president of the Faculty Senate.
Sutherland is fascinated by the late Renaissance and Baroque periods (roughly 1580 to 1700), including the Catholic Reformation in the Italian peninsula and Central Europe. Her teaching and research have focused on war, religion, the Scientific Revolution, the Republic of Letters, the growth of states and empires, and women’s experiences.
Sutherland views her most important role as helping students get to know and explore a wider world. For that reason, she organizes and leads a summer study abroad program in Vienna and Prague called “Heart of Europe” that explores Central European history and culture and provides MTSU students with an opportunity to experience what it is like to live abroad.
She served as president of MTSU’s Faculty Senate for the 2024-25 academic year where she led a body of senators elected from every department on campus who advocate for faculty and work to improve policies impacting them.
Students from all MTSU’s colleges — Graduate Studies, Basic and Applied Sciences, Behavioral and Health Sciences, the Jones College of Business, the College of Education, Liberal Arts and the University College — will receive their degrees during the ceremony.
With the summer 2025 commencement ceremony, MTSU will have awarded approximately 190,700 degrees to its students, including associate, bachelor’s, master’s, educational specialist and doctoral degrees, since its 1911 founding.
More ceremony details
MTSU will provide closed-captioning services for the live video streams as well as American Sign Language interpretation at the ceremony. The live coverage will begin about 15 minutes before commencement starts.
MTSU’s Aug. 9 summer commencement ceremony is expected to last about two hours. All graduating students must remain for the entire event.
Please note: The clear bag policy is in effect for Murphy Center for all visitors. Learn more on this page.
A campus map with parking details for guests is available at http://bit.ly/MTSUParking. A seating chart of Murphy Center, including access for guests with mobility issues, is available a https://www.mtsu.edu/murphycenter/facilities/.
Driving directions, along with complete graduation details for students and guests, are available anytime at https://mtsu.edu/graduation.
The university’s 2025-26 academic year begins Aug. 25, with the first official day of fall 2025 classes.
MTSU will formally welcome its new freshman class of 2029 and new transfer students at University Convocation in Murphy Center beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23.
That special event will feature Bob Welch, co-author of “Healing Wounds,” the MTSU summer reading selection . It also will air live at https://www.mtsu.edu/live, https://facebook.com/mtsublueraiders and https://mtsu.edu/TrueBlueTV.
— Jimmy Hart (Jimmy.Hart@mtsu.edu)
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