On Saturday, May 9, nearly 9,000 University of Connecticut students – undergraduate, graduate, and professional – were awarded their degrees at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts – without any of them being in the building.

The necessities imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic meant that UConn would be conferring degrees without a traditional ceremony, but that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be a ceremony.

Streaming live on the University’s YouTube channel from Jorgensen starting at noon, a commencement celebration like no other in school history featured on-stage remarks from President Thomas Katsouleas and Board of Trustees Chairman Daniel Toscano ’87 (BUS), taped remarks from students, Gov. Ned Lamont, and women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma, and a scrolling roster of every graduate’s name.

In these images captured by University Photographer Peter Morenus, the improvisation and Husky pride of that day are chronicled: