By Vic Cox

Watching hundreds of excited, robed students walk down the neatly partitioned Faculty Club Green to the vacant blue and gold seats, waving to screaming friends and family, it is tempting to think that commencement has been done so often that the only the graduates and their supporters can find anything novel. But the reality of hosting the largest graduating class in UCSB history undercuts that notion.

For starters, a small shore bird, called a killdeer, decided to nest last month in exactly the place where the ceremonial platform was to be erected, causing UCSB Commencement organizer Gretchen Falvo, director of public events, an anxious few weeks. “It could’ve been really challenging,” she said. Fortunately, the eggs hatched and the ground preparation could take place on schedule.

Last weekend, an estimated 38,000 guests gathered to watch nearly 5,000 seniors and graduate students get their diplomas in six separate ceremonies, each with its own guest and student speakers. A small army of staff and students smoothly handled what Falvo said was the “best ever” of the 13 commencements she has supervised.

(Commencement the preceding week at other venues saluted the College of Creative Studies’ 83 departing seniors and the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management’s seven new doctorates and 58 new masters. Offering advice to CCS students was Marlene Zuk, ’77, UC Riverside associate vice provost, while Jerome Wingo, former chair of the National Wildlife Federation, spoke to the Bren graduates.)

On Saturday, with carillon music breaking through the overcast, the first contingent—more than 980 students from 26 majors in science and mathematics—strolled to their seats for the 9 a.m. ceremony. They heard from Dawn Wright, an Oregon State University professor of geosciences.

These were followed at 1 p.m. by nearly 500 undergraduates in five engineering and science majors. Their speaker was Adam Savage, a TV and movie special effects artist and co-host of the Discovery Channel series “MythBusters.”

At 4 p.m., around 1,000 students from five social science majors heard former farm worker, MEChA co-founder, and businessman Luis Nogales, managing partner of Nogales Investors of Los Angeles, speak about how “immigrant groups refresh American society.”

On Sunday, similarly sized groups convened for their ceremonies. First were the eight majors grouped under Social Sciences II. They listened to Natalie Kanem, president of ELMA Philanthropies Services. Then came the 29 majors from humanities and fine arts. These 950-plus undergraduates heard from Chris Abani, UC Riverside professor of creative writing.

Lastly, investment banker Fred Steck, a UCSB Foundation trustee, spoke to the Graduate Division’s new recipients of masters and doctorate degrees as well as those who had secured their teaching credentials. This group numbered 431, with 224 of them winning Ph.D.s, according to the Graduate Division.

Not all of the commencement audience was on campus. UCSB Bookstore’s annual live Web casts counted more than 6,000 viewers, primarily on the weekend. Some of the Web cast was lost when a graduating student decided to “use the camera as a punching bag,” said Will Wood, the bookstore technical manager. A quick patch job kept the production going until the unit was replaced.