President Sharon L. Gaber will present Holmes with an honorary doctor of humane letters degree before the keynote address.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe University of Toledo is pleased to welcome Katie Holmes as our commencement speaker to inspire our newest alumni as they celebrate receiving their degrees,\u201d Gaber said. \u201cAs a Toledo native with close, personal connections to the University, we are eager for her to share her experiences and accomplishments in the entertainment industry and as an entrepreneur and philanthropist.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Holmes.jpg\")
<\/a>Holmes<\/p><\/div>Holmes is an internationally recognized film and television actor, producer and director, as well as a Broadway actor and an entrepreneur. <\/p>\n
An exceptional student at Notre Dame Academy, Holmes was accepted to Columbia University, but deferred to embark on an entertainment career. She made her feature film debut in \u201cThe Ice Storm\u201d in 1997, then established herself as a rising young actor the next year in the television show \u201cDawson\u2019s Creek.\u201d For six years, she played Joey Potter, a character still recognized in pop culture.<\/p>\n
Holmes has appeared in supporting or starring roles in more than 30 films and television programs, including acclaimed performances as Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy in \u201cThe Kennedys\u201d and \u201cThe Kennedys: After Camelot,\u201d Hannah Green in \u201cWonder Boys,\u201d Rachel Dawson in \u201cBatman Begins,\u201d April Burns in \u201cPieces of April,\u201d Rita Carmichael in \u201cAll We Had,\u201d and Paige Finney in \u201cRay Donovan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her credits as a director and producer include \u201cAll We Had,\u201d \u201cTouched With Fire,\u201d \u201cThe Romantics\u201d and \u201cThe Kennedys: Decline and Fall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holmes made her Broadway debut in a revival of Arthur Miller\u2019s \u201cAll My Sons\u201d in 2008 and played the role of Lorna in \u201cDead Accounts\u201d in 2012. <\/p>\n
As an entrepreneur, Holmes managed and designed a well-received fashion line, Holmes & Yang, with Jeanne Yang, from 2009 to 2014.<\/p>\n
Her philanthropic efforts include the Dizzy Feet Foundation, an organization Holmes co-founded in 2009 that increases access to dance education in the United States. She also supports the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes; Love Our Children USA, a national nonprofit organization that fights violence and neglect against U.S. children; Raising Malawi, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to helping vulnerable children in extreme poverty through health, education and community support; and the Motion Picture and Television Fund Foundation.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Alvarez.jpg\")
<\/a>Alvarez<\/p><\/div>Graduate ceremony speaker Alvarez has been an educator for nearly two decades and is a candidate for an education doctorate in educational administration and supervision.<\/p>\n
The Santa Barbara, Calif., native has enjoyed an outstanding career teaching high school music, highlighted by leading her previous school\u2019s music department to become a Grammy Signature Schools recipient in 2015. She has continued teaching music while pursuing her doctorate at UToledo by serving as a graduate assistant for the Rocket Marching Band and athletic bands since 2015.<\/p>\n
Alvarez\u201ds long career as a musician includes recording with Fleetwood Mac on \u201cThe Dance\u201d and appearances on \u201cThe Rosie O\u2019Donnell Show\u201d and Nickelodeon\u2019s \u201cThe Big Help.\u201d She also was a member of the Los Angeles Laker Band, a subset of the University of Southern California\u2019s Trojan Marching Band. She has performed with numerous professional ensembles, including The Desert Winds and the Gold Coast Wind Ensemble.<\/p>\n
A volunteer club advisor for Gay Straight Alliances, Alvarez co-chaired the Southern Nevada chapter of the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network and served the Gay and Lesbian Center of Las Vegas. During the past year, she has been executive director at Equality Toledo, where she has worked to support the local community.<\/p>\n
Alvarez earned a bachelor of music degree from the University of Southern California and a master of music degree from Northern Arizona University, both in music education.<\/p>\n
UToledo\u2019s spring commencement ceremonies will recognize graduates from the colleges of Arts and Letters; Business and Innovation; Judith Herb College of Education; Engineering; Graduate Studies; Health and Human Services; Natural Sciences and Mathematics; Nursing; Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; and University College. <\/p>\n
UToledo\u2019s College of Law will host its commencement ceremony Sunday, May 5, at 1 p.m. in the Thompson Student Union Auditorium. Angelita Cruz Bridges, a 2000 graduate of the College of Law who serves as an assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, will give the commencement address. <\/p>\n
The next week \u2014 Friday, May 10, at 4 p.m. \u2014 the College of Medicine and Life Sciences will hold its commencement ceremony in Savage Arena. Dr. Scott Parazynski, a physician and inventor whose career included serving 17 years as an astronaut, during which time he flew five space shuttle missions and conducted seven spacewalks, will be theutoledo.edu\/commencementrmation, visit the commencement website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Katie Holmes will return to her hometown to speak at the University’s graduation ceremony Saturday, May 4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,60,32,34,5,35,61,36,53,30,38,39,1,40,42,62,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54863"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54863"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55102,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54863\/revisions\/55102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}