On Dec. 12, the University of Georgia will welcome its newest alumni as 1,649 undergraduate and 1,585 graduate students — a combined total of 3,234 — have met requirements to participate in the university’s fall Commencement ceremonies.

The undergraduate ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m. in Stegeman Coliseum. Doug Ivester, former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of The Coca-Cola Company and 1969 accounting graduate, will deliver the undergraduate address. The graduate ceremony will follow at 2:30 p.m. in Stegeman Coliseum. Ron Walcott, vice provost for graduate education and dean of the Graduate School, will deliver the graduate address. Tickets are required for all graduates and guests at the fall undergraduate ceremony, but they are not required for the graduate ceremony.

Ivester presides over Deer Run Investments LLC. He was elected chairman of the board and chief executive officer of The Coca-Cola Company in 1997, a company he joined in 1979 after serving as their outside accountant for a decade. In 1981 he became the youngest vice president in the company’s history. Two years later he was named senior vice president of finance, and in 1985 he became chief financial officer at the age of 37. He retired from Coca-Cola in 2000. He is an emeritus trustee of the University of Georgia Foundation, a trustee of Brenau University and a director of the Melvin Douglas & Victoria Kay Ivester Foundation.

He and his wife, Kay, are tireless supporters of UGA and the Terry College of Business. Ivester Hall, one of six buildings comprising UGA’s Business Learning Community, was dedicated in his honor in 2019. In 2024, he helped fund and create the M. Douglas & V. Kay Ivester Institute for Business Analytics and Insights at the Terry College.

His continued contributions to the university community include establishing Georgia Commitment Scholarships to support students from Hall County. For 14 years the Ivesters invited students each fall and spring to be a part of the Deer Run Fellows Program, which featured a weekend of learning and team building at the Ivester family properties in southwest Georgia. At the conclusion of that program, the Ivesters endowed the Deer Run Global Fellows Program, a program intended to provide scholarships for Terry College students to complete international studies.

For his outstanding contributions to the University of Georgia, Ivester will be presented with an honorary doctor of humane letters at the undergraduate ceremony. The honorary degree is the university’s highest recognition short of an earned doctorate and honors those whose achievements have had a lasting impact.

UGA will recognize 32 students as First Honor Graduates for maintaining a 4.0 cumulative GPA in all work attempted at UGA as well as all college-level transfer work prior to or following enrollment at the university.

Reid McAdams, a Morehead Honors College student earning a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance, will deliver the student address. McAdams has gained valuable experience during his time at UGA, including studying international business in Cortona, Italy, and interning with Goldman Sachs as an investment banking analyst.

An estimated 344 doctoral candidates and 1,241 master’s and specialist degree students will be eligible to walk in the graduate ceremony.

Graduate speaker Walcott currently serves as vice provost for graduate education and dean of the Graduate School, having previously held several administrative roles on campus. He earned his Ph.D. in plant pathology from UGA and his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, also in plant pathology, from Iowa State University.

As a professor of plant pathology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, his research focuses on pathogens that affect commercially important vegetables and has been funded by over $5 million in external grants from government agencies and industry partners.

Walcott has also garnered nearly $1 million in additional grant funding to enhance educational experiences through career awareness programs for high school and undergraduate students.

He has personally mentored or served as an advisory committee member for more than 40 master’s and doctoral students, mentored several UGA undergraduate students, as well as a number of high school students through the CAES Young Scholars Internship Program.

The clear bag policy will be in effect for both ceremonies. Parking is free and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The graduate and undergraduate ceremonies will be broadcast live on the Commencement homepage. For more information, please visit https://commencement.uga.edu/.