By Coral Gables Gazette staff
A former NFL star, a rising Hollywood actor, a federal judge and a global public health leader will address more than 4,600 graduates as the University of Miami holds eight commencement ceremonies beginning Thursday.
The ceremonies will take place over four days, from May 7 through May 11, at the Watsco Center on the Coral Gables campus. The graduating class includes approximately 2,720 undergraduates, 409 law students, 218 medical students, and 1,313 master’s and doctoral candidates. All ceremonies will be livestreamed.
The speaker lineup spans professional football, Hollywood, the federal judiciary, global public health, and a half-century of academic leadership — a breadth that reflects the university’s institutional range.
A Canes legend returns to Coral Gables
Greg Olsen, the former University of Miami tight end and three-time NFL Pro Bowler, will address undergraduate degree candidates on Thursday, May 7, at two separate ceremonies — 10:00 a.m. for the College of Engineering, Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science, and School of Nursing and Health Studies, and 4:00 p.m. for the Patti and Allan Herbert Business School.
Olsen’s return to Coral Gables carries genuine resonance. He transferred to Miami from Notre Dame as a freshman and went on to catch 87 passes for 1,215 yards and six touchdowns before entering the NFL as a first-round draft pick of the Chicago Bears in 2007. His professional career, which included three consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons — an NFL first for a tight end — spanned 14 years and produced 8,683 receiving yards, seventh-most in league history at the position. He has since built an equally distinguished second career as a FOX Sports analyst, earning Sports Emmy Awards in 2022 and 2023. He called Super Bowl LVII alongside Kevin Burkhardt. Olsen has said his time at Miami was the best thing that ever happened to him, and he and his wife — whom he met at the university — remain active supporters of the institution.
A Miami native on the rise in Hollywood
Danny Ramírez, the Chicago-born, Miami-raised actor whose career has accelerated sharply in recent years, will speak at the Friday, May 8 undergraduate ceremonies — 10:00 a.m. for the School of Architecture, School of Communication, School of Education and Human Development, and Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music, and 4:00 p.m. for the College of Arts and Sciences.
Ramírez graduated from Miami Coral Park Senior High School before pursuing acting through New York University and ultimately the Tisch School of the Arts. He broke through to a global audience in “Top Gun: Maverick” and earned a defining Marvel role as Joaquin Torres in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” a character he reprised in the 2025 feature “Captain America: Brave New World.” He has since appeared in the second season of HBO’s “The Last of Us” and is set to make his feature directorial debut with “Baton,” a sports drama he also wrote and will star in, co-produced with David Beckham. The University will confer upon him a Doctor of Arts, honoris causa, recognizing his disciplined artistry and his role as a prominent voice for Hispanic communities in American film and television.
A federal judge shaped by family history and public duty
The Honorable Roy K. Altman will address the School of Law at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 9. Altman made history in 2019 as the youngest federal judge ever appointed to the Southern District of Florida, assuming the bench at age 36. His path to the judiciary ran through Columbia University, where he was a student-athlete, and Yale Law School, where he served on the Yale Law Journal. He later spent six years as an assistant U.S. attorney in Miami, earning the designation Federal Prosecutor of the Year in 2013.
The grandson of refugees — his paternal grandparents fled Europe for Venezuela, his maternal grandparents emigrated from Poland — Altman has spoken publicly about the lesson his grandfather instilled in him: that political instability is what happens when citizens remain on the sidelines. That conviction has shaped a career defined by public service and civic engagement. His recently published book applies courtroom standards of evidence to debates in international law, and he has led judicial education missions to Israel involving more than 50 federal judges.
A public health architect addresses medicine’s next generation
Dr. Julio Frenk, the current chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles and former president of the University of Miami, will speak at the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine ceremony at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 9. Frenk led the University of Miami from 2015 to 2024, a tenure that included the institution’s invitation to join the Association of American Universities and a fundraising campaign that raised more than $2 billion. He guided the University through the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing on a career that had previously included serving as Mexico’s federal secretary of health, where he helped create Seguro Popular, a program that extended health coverage to more than 55 million previously uninsured people. The University will award him a Doctor of Science, honoris causa.
Five decades of teaching closes the ceremonies
Steven G. Ullmann, professor and director of the Center for Health Management and Policy at the Herbert Business School, will deliver remarks at the Monday, May 11 graduate degree ceremonies — the final two of the week, at 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. — bringing the commencement season to a close with a distinctly institutional note. Ullmann joined the University of Miami faculty in 1979 and has since educated an estimated 15,000 students. He has served as vice provost, dean of the Graduate School, and department chair, while also shaping national health care policy, particularly in long-term and hospice care. He has received more than 25 teaching and service awards, including the President’s Medal.
His selection as the graduate ceremony speaker is a fitting choice: a man who has spent nearly five decades building the institution that is, this week, sending thousands of new graduates into the world.
All ceremonies are held at the Watsco Center, 1245 Dauer Drive, Coral Gables. Livestreams will be available for all eight ceremonies. Guests requiring tickets should contact the Hurricane Ticket Office at 1-800-GO-CANES.
