Number of graduates: 626, including 475 receiving bachelor’s degrees, 140 receiving master’s degrees, 11 with certificates of advanced graduate studies and 5 earning doctorates in philosophy. Five students earned two degrees.

Interesting fact: This is the university’s largest undergraduate class ever, with students hailing from 29 states and 4 countries.

Keynote speaker: Alan G. Hassenfeld, chairman of the board and former chief executive at Hasbro Inc. “Your degree is nothing more than a ticket, an open ticket with a destination. You can go anywhere and be anything you want to be.”

Honorary degree recipients: Jessie Gruman, founder and president of the Center for the Advancement of Health, a Washington-based nonpartisan policy institute, and Edward F. Sanderson, executive director of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission since 1984.

Link to online list of graduates: www.salve.edu/commencement/2008/