Top photo: Jennifer Bartell Boykin, MLIS 2024, was the keynote speaker. On stage (l to r) Valerie Byrd Fort, David Lankes and Lyda Fontes McCartin, director of the iSchool.

The crowd was in high spirits as family and friends gathered in the Russell House Theater for the 2026 School of Information Science Spring Graduation Ceremony (with the exception of one little girl who very much wanted to “go outside.”) The ceremony took place on Wednesday, May 6, at 10 a.m.

Smiles festooned the rows as parents, spouses and siblings spotted their graduates in the procession, a wave of pride sweeping through the room.

City of Columbia Poet Laureate and school librarian Jennifer Bartell Boykin, MLIS 2024, was the keynote speaker. She urged the graduates to keep the big-picture purpose of their work in focus, even as they carry out their day-to-day tasks. 

“People are the purpose of all the work we do," said Boykin. “They are the why and who we do the work for, and we must not ever forget that the work we do is for the benefit and development of humanity.”

Two Doctorates in Library and Information Science and 53 MLIS degrees were awarded. Five members of the inaugural class of the Master’s in Information Security and Cyber Leadership graduated, as well. 

Former iSchool Director David Lankes, Ph.D., made a guest appearance at the ceremony — to hood his son Andrew Lankes and say, to the crowd’s amusement,“That’s my boy!”

In closing, School of Information Science Director Lyda Fontes McCartin shared this sentiment: “You have been prepared not just to respond to the moment you are in but to shape the future that your communities need. And we have every confidence in your success.”