Celebrating scholarship, vocation, and the completion of doctoral study
May 2026 – Faculty, family, friends, and fellow graduates gathered in celebration as doctoral candidates from Drew Theological School and Drew’s Caspersen School of Graduate Studies crossed an important academic milestone during Drew University’s hooding ceremony.
Serving as the official beginning of Drew’s 2026 Commencement celebrations, the ceremony honored the culmination of years of scholarship, research, and vocational discernment as graduates were formally hooded by the faculty mentors who guided them throughout their academic journeys.
“I want to congratulate each and every one of our doctoral candidates for the hard work, passion, and dedication they’ve shown to be here today,” said Interim Chief Academic Officer Steve Johnson. “I want to acknowledge the mentorship of the faculty here today, who played critical roles in supporting and guiding our students throughout their journeys to earning their degrees.”
From Drew Theological School, candidates were conferred with Doctor of Ministry and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. Graduates from the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies received Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Letters, and Doctor of Medical, Health & Humanities degrees.
In remarks delivered during the invocation, Director of Craig Chapel Beth Quick T’03,’26 called graduates to continue pursuing lives of inquiry, imagination, and purpose.
“We invoke our zeal, yet unabated, for learning and theorizing and dreaming and discussing — may it ever be so,” said Quick. “Come, lovers of wisdom, doctors, who attend to what it means to be human and what it means to minister, and what it means to tell stories that matter, that change lives, that change worlds. Come: it is time to celebrate.”
