Central Connecticut State University celebrated the Class of 2026 with two outdoor commencement ceremonies at Arute Field in New Britain, marking a major spring milestone for more than 2,200 participating students and their families.

The ceremonies were held Saturday, May 16, as part of the university’s Spring 2026 commencement program. The campus schedule split the day into two events, allowing CCSU to recognize graduates by college and school while accommodating families, faculty and guests at the university’s athletic venue.

The morning ceremony began at 9 a.m. and honored students from the Carol A. Ammon College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences and the School of Business. The afternoon ceremony began at 2:30 p.m. and recognized graduates from the School of Education, the School of Engineering, Science & Technology and the College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences.

CCSU’s commencement plan covered both undergraduate and graduate students, including students eligible to complete degrees across the university’s academic calendar. The university’s eligibility guidance for the ceremonies included undergraduate students who were awarded degrees in December 2025 and January 2026, as well as pending-degree candidates for May 2026 and August 2026 who met specified completion requirements. Graduate and doctoral candidates were also eligible under separate degree-completion criteria.

The event drew families, friends and faculty to Arute Field, where graduates processed across the stage, were congratulated by university leadership and took part in the formal conferral of degrees. CCSU’s order of events called for students to check in and line up by school, process from the soccer field to the football field, hear commencement speakers and the alma mater, cross the stage and receive diploma cases at the end of the ceremony.

The featured commencement speaker was Dr. Brian K. Fowler, a 2011 CCSU graduate who is a cardiology fellow at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Fowler earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication at Central and played football for the Blue Devils as a running back before pursuing medical training. According to a university media advisory issued ahead of commencement, he later received his medical degree from the Ohio State University College of Medicine and completed residency training at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Fowler’s selection gave the ceremony a visible alumni-throughline, connecting current graduates with a former CCSU student whose path moved from a regional public university campus to medical training and clinical work. The university also noted that Fowler and his wife co-founded The Brian & Hannah Fowler Organization, a nonprofit focused on supporting underprivileged high school students pursuing health professions.

CCSU President Zulma R. Toro also addressed the Class of 2026. The university’s commencement materials said the president would take part in the formal program and congratulate students as they crossed the stage. In the morning ceremony, CT Insider reported that the program included remarks from Toro alongside Fowler’s commencement address.

For the university, the two-ceremony format underscored the scale and range of the graduating class. The morning program grouped liberal arts, social sciences and business graduates, reflecting disciplines tied to public service, communication, management, finance and community institutions. The afternoon program brought together education, engineering, science, technology, health and rehabilitation sciences, fields directly connected to workforce needs in schools, laboratories, hospitals, clinics and technical industries.

The education category was especially prominent because CCSU has long served as a teacher-preparation institution in Connecticut. Graduates from the School of Education entered the commencement stage at a time when school districts nationwide continue to focus on staffing, student support, learning recovery and classroom readiness. The ceremony also recognized future professionals in health and rehabilitation sciences, another area with direct community impact as states face demand for health workers and care access.

Campus logistics reflected the size of the event. CCSU told students and guests that ceremonies would last approximately two hours, with gates opening at 7:30 a.m. for the morning ceremony and 1 p.m. for the afternoon ceremony. Students were directed to line up before each ceremony, with the university telling morning participants to line up at 8:30 a.m. and afternoon participants at 2 p.m.

The university also provided parking instructions for students, families and guests. Students were directed to the Copernicus Parking Garage, while guest parking was available in designated campus areas, including the Student Center and Welte garage areas. CCSU also said shuttle buses would be available from the Welte lot and garage, and accessible parking would be provided in the Kaiser Lot at Arute Stadium.

For guests who could not attend in person, CCSU provided remote viewing options. The university said the ceremonies would be livestreamed through its commencement website, and its order-of-events page directed viewers to the Central website for the broadcast. Livestreaming has become a regular part of university commencement planning, expanding access for relatives, alumni and supporters who are unable to travel to campus.

The Class of 2026 ceremonies also landed during a busy week of recognition across the university. CCSU’s news pages in the days before commencement highlighted student academic awards, teaching honors and individual graduate profiles. Those announcements helped frame commencement not only as a single-day celebration but as the culmination of a broader academic year of student and faculty achievement.

Saturday’s ceremony was scheduled with an inclement-weather date of Sunday, May 17, according to CCSU’s commencement materials. The university’s academic calendar also listed May 17 as the spring commencement inclement weather date. The main ceremonies, however, proceeded on Saturday at Arute Field, according to CT Insider’s report and university materials.

For New Britain and the surrounding region, the ceremonies brought a large gathering of graduates and visitors to campus and highlighted the role of Connecticut’s public higher-education system in local mobility. CCSU is part of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system and serves a broad student population through undergraduate, graduate and professional programs.

As the graduates left Arute Field, the day carried the standard symbols of commencement: academic regalia, faculty processions, family photographs and the formal movement from candidate to graduate. But the broader story was also institutional. CCSU used the Class of 2026 ceremony to reaffirm its public university mission, celebrate degree completion across multiple fields and send a new group of graduates into Connecticut’s workforce, schools, health systems and civic life.