Boise State University will honor winter graduates at a Commencement ceremony at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 16, in Taco Bell Arena. The event honors August and December graduates and includes a processional, recessional and individual recognition of each graduate, broadcast on large screens.

The ceremony also features the first-ever presentation of four Pesky Awards for Inspirational Teaching to Idaho K-12 teachers and the hooding of Faith Beyer Hansen, who is earning her Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction

The ceremony is free and open to the public; no tickets are required. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. A reception for graduates and their families will be held immediately following the ceremony in the Student Union.

There are 1,472 students eligible for 1,609 degrees and certificates, and 220 are graduating with honors: 10 summa cum laude, 62 magna cum laude and 148 cum laude. About 800 students are expected to participate in the ceremony.

Alan and Wendy Pesky funded the Pesky Award for Inspirational Teaching to recognize K-12 teachers in Idaho who make a major difference in the lives of their students and who “ignite a fire in students at some point in their life to set as a goal becoming a teacher and then lighting a similar fire in the lives of the children they teach.”

Four teachers recognized at the Dec. 16 ceremony will be the first group of educators to receive the award. They will each receive $2,000 and their schools will each receive $500.

Gracie Bingham, a member of the Honors College, is the student speaker. The Pocatello native is graduating with a double major in political science and history, with a minor in French.

Parking is free. Due to limited handicapped parking, those who cannot walk to the arena can be dropped off at entrances 1 and 2, where volunteers can assist them while their families find parking. For special accommodation information, visit academics.boisestate.edu/provost/commencement.