An estimated 2,100 Iowa State undergraduates, 390 graduates and 95 veterinary medicine students will graduate May 7 and 8.

The University Undergraduate Commencement, scheduled for 2 p.m., and the College of Veterinary Medicine Commencement, scheduled for noon, will be held Saturday. The Graduate College Commencement will be held Friday at 8 p.m.

Tickets are not required for graduation ceremonies.

Laura Doering, assistant commencement coordinator, said the office will try something new this year at the graduations.

“The platform party and stage guests will stay after the ceremony to greet students and congratulate the students,” she said. “We are trying to increase the collegiality this year.”

The University Undergraduate Commencement ceremony at Hilton Coliseum will feature Christina Hixson, trustee of Lied Foundation Trust and founder of the Hixson Opportunity Awards.

The Hixson Opportunity Awards were started in 1995 and are $10,000 scholarships awarded each year to Iowa students who have faced personal challenges and demonstrate financial need.

Thirty Hixson scholars will graduate this fall.

“The program seeks to identify students who are capable scholars, but those students who, without the scholarship, really probably would not be able to attend college,” said Leah Bruns, graduate student in higher education and assistant with the Hixson Opportunity Awards.

Hixson scholar Michael D. Read, graduating senior in agricultural systems technology, and ISU President Martin Jischke will respond to Hixson’s speech.

Max Rothschild, distinguished professor of agriculture, will give an “inspirational message about ways to succeed in the future” at the Graduate College Commencement at Stephens Auditorium.

Rothschild said he was honored to be chosen as a speaker.

“I hope I can adequately convey some of those ideas that have been useful to me professionally and personally to the graduates and their families,” he said.

The 95 College of Veterinary Medicine students receiving their doctorates Saturday at Stephens Auditorium will be addressed by Leonard Seda, ISU alumnus and future president of the American Veterinary Medicine Association.

The names of the individual graduates are read in the college convocations, and students are recognized by college in the university commencement ceremony.

Commencement ceremonies and convocations on Friday:

• College of Business, 5 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum.

• Graduate College, 8 p.m. at Stephens Auditorium. The College of Education also will have an individual reception for master’s and doctorate graduates Friday after the ceremony in the Scheman Building.

Commencement ceremonies and convocations on Saturday:

• University undergraduate, 2 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum. An all-colleges luncheon put on by the Student Alumni Association is from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Scheman Building. Tickets may be purchased in Room 158 of the Memorial Union.

• College of Agriculture, 9 a.m. at Stephens Auditorium.

• College of Design, 9:30 a.m. reception and 10 a.m. ceremony in the Atrium of the College of Design building.

• College of Education, 9:30 a.m. ceremony and 10:30 a.m. reception at the Lied Recreation Center.

• College of Engineering, 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. commencement reception at the Iowa State Center.

• College of Family and Consumer Sciences, 8:30 a.m. reception and 9:30 a.m. ceremony in the Sun Room of the MU.

• College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, 9 a.m. ceremony at Hilton Coliseum and reception in Maple-Willow-Larch Commons following the ceremony. A college luncheon will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the M-W-L dining hall. Tickets may be purchased from the second floor reception desk in Catt Hall.

• College of Veterinary Medicine, noon at Stephens Auditorium.

Additional information can be obtained from www.iastate.edu /~registrar/graduation or by calling the graduation office at 294-2754.