{"id":321809,"date":"2026-05-18T21:53:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T21:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/321809\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T21:53:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T21:53:21","slug":"photos-uc-berkeley-grads-celebrate-their-achievements-at-2026-commencement-ceremony-the-mercury-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/321809\/","title":{"rendered":"Photos: UC Berkeley grads celebrate their achievements at 2026 commencement ceremony \u2013 The Mercury News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The campuswide commencement ceremony that celebrated all the undergraduate and graduate students was held on Saturday at Memorial Stadium on the University of California, Berkeley campus. The keynote address was delivered by Professor Emeritus Robert Reich. Charles Long<\/a>, the graduating senior who was awarded the 2026 University Medal, also spoke at the ceremony.<\/p>\n

\"UCUC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students of the Class of 2026 celebrate during their commencement ceremony at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0
\n\"UCUC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students of the Class of 2026 celebrate during their commencement ceremony at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0
\n\"UCUC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students of the Class of 2026 celebrate during their commencement ceremony at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0
\n\"Robert<\/p>\n

Robert Reich, former U.S. Labor Secretary and UC Berkeley professor emeritus, delivers the keynote speech before UC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students of the Class of 2026 during their commencement ceremony at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

Robert Reich, former U.S. Labor Secretary and UC Berkeley professor emeritus, delivers the keynote speech before UC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students of the Class of 2026 during their commencement ceremony at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

Robert Reich, former U.S. Labor Secretary and UC Berkeley professor emeritus, delivers the keynote speech before UC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students of the Class of 2026 during their commencement ceremony at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

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Robert Reich, former U.S. Labor Secretary and UC Berkeley professor emeritus, delivers the keynote speech before UC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students of the Class of 2026 during their commencement ceremony at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"UCUC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students of the Class of 2026 celebrate during their commencement ceremony at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0
\n\"University<\/p>\n

University Medalist Charles Long, 43, gets emotional as he delivers the keynote speech to UC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students of the Class of 2026 during their commencement ceremony at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., Saturday, May 16, 2026. Long, a sociology and social welfare double major with a 4.0 GPA, spent years cycling in and out of jail and homelessness as a young man before transferring to Berkeley from community college. He now mentors incarcerated men at San Quentin and youth in Bay Area juvenile halls. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"University<\/p>\n

University Medalist Charles Long, 43, delivers the keynote speech to UC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students of the Class of 2026 during their commencement ceremony at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., Saturday, May 16, 2026. Long, a sociology and social welfare double major with a 4.0 GPA, spent years cycling in and out of jail and homelessness as a young man before transferring to Berkeley from community college. He now mentors incarcerated men at San Quentin and youth in Bay Area juvenile halls. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"University<\/p>\n

University of California, Berkeley, Chancellor Rich Lyons, left, hugs University Medalist Charles Long, 43, before he delivers the keynote speech to UC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students of the Class of 2026 during their commencement ceremony at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., Saturday, May 16, 2026. Long, a sociology and social welfare double major with a 4.0 GPA, spent years cycling in and out of jail and homelessness as a young man before transferring to Berkeley from community college. He now mentors incarcerated men at San Quentin and youth in Bay Area juvenile halls. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

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University Medalist Charles Long, 43, gets emotional as he delivers the keynote speech to UC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students of the Class of 2026 during their commencement ceremony at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., Saturday, May 16, 2026. Long, a sociology and social welfare double major with a 4.0 GPA, spent years cycling in and out of jail and homelessness as a young man before transferring to Berkeley from community college. He now mentors incarcerated men at San Quentin and youth in Bay Area juvenile halls. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

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\"AA Palestian flag is displayed between UC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students of the Class of 2026 during their commencement ceremony at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0
\n\"UCUC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students of the Class of 2026 leave the California Memorial Stadium aftrer their commencement ceremony in Berkeley, Calif., Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The campuswide commencement ceremony that celebrated all the undergraduate and graduate students was held on Saturday at Memorial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[389,184,764,7,8,332,15,2306,181,100,143,145,144,2944,182,385,149],"class_list":["post-321809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-alameda-county","tag-bay-area","tag-berkeley","tag-california","tag-california-news","tag-east-bay","tag-education","tag-higher-education","tag-latest-headlines","tag-news","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-photos-and-videos","tag-pm-report","tag-regional","tag-uc-berkeley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}