Graduation is more than a milestone—it’s a moment where the past converges with the future. At Iowa State University, the faces crossing the stage at graduation are slowly, steadily changing.

According to data from the Office of Institutional Research, multicultural students made up 13.5% of all degrees awarded in 2023-24, a number that reflects years of incremental growth.

In 2018-19, that number stood at 11.2%. Since then, despite fluctuations, the trend has moved upward. The largest represented group continues to be white students, who earned 71.3% of all degrees in the most recent year. International students made up 7.2%, while 6.5% of students chose not to disclose their race or ethnicity.

Among undergraduates, Hispanic or Latino students represented 3.3% of bachelor’s degree recipients, down from a peak of 6.3% in 2022-23. Students identifying as two or more races made up 4.4%, the highest proportion in the six-year period reported. Black or African American students earned 2.1% of bachelor’s degrees, maintaining a similar share to recent years.

At the graduate level, 12.6% of master’s degrees and 10.1% of doctorates were awarded to multicultural students. International students continued to represent a large share of doctoral degrees—47.4% in 2023-24—although that number has declined from 65.7% in 2018-19.

The data also shows that some racial and ethnic groups remain consistently underrepresented across all degree levels. American Indian or Alaskan Native students earned fewer than 0.2% of degrees overall, a number that has not significantly changed in recent years.