SOUTH KINGSTOWN — The University of Rhode Island Graduate School handed out 643 degrees yesterday in ceremonies in the Ryan Center on the Kingston campus.

Graduate-degree recipients came from 26 states — 456 graduates were from Rhode Island — and 16 countries, including Mauritania in northwest Africa, and ranged in ages from 22 to 74.

URI President Robert L. Carothers told the graduates and their families, “Our challenge as a people is always to use wisely and compassionately the truths, the realities exposed to us by our scholars and scientists. Our future as a people is inextricably linked to theirs. In ways we do not always understand, these young men and women will decide the future of Planet Earth itself. And while for some of you that may be a scary thought, it is nonetheless true.”

Today, URI holds its undergraduate commencement on the main quadrangle in Kingston and again the ceremonies will be broadcast live.

Starting at 12:30 p.m., the commencement can be seen on Rhode Island PBS on Channel 36 and Cox Cable Channel 8. The broadcast can be viewed in nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut. Listeners can also tune their radio to WRIU 90.3 FM. The graduation will also be Webcast live. For details, go to www.uri.edu/commencement.