BATON ROUGE - LSU says its 2015-16 class has set new records for African American, Hispanic, female, veteran and overall graduation numbers.

Friday’s spring commencement ceremony includes a total of 4,102 degrees awarded, the largest amount of degrees awarded at a single commencement surpassing last year’s 3,977 degrees award in the spring.

The 2015-16 class includes 697 African American graduates, 336 HIspanic graduates, 3,485 female graduates and 148 degrees awrded to veterans.

The LSU May 2016 graduating class represents 61 Louisiana parishes, 46 U.S. states and 61 foreign countries. Women made up slightly more than half of the class at 54.16 percent. The oldest graduate is 81, while the youngest is just 20.

LSU President F. King Alexander presided over the main ceremony and also delivered the keynote address. During his speech to the graduates, Alexander talked about how the graduates are needed to make the world a better place and how, by using their skills, talents and tools to create “ripple effects around this nation and globe.”

“As one of the world’s most educated citizens with the greatest potential to help others, you now are being handed a mantle enabling you to provide widespread hope and global opportunity,” Alexander said. “Every one of us here today has great faith in you and what we know you will accomplish for many are in need of your talents and your wisdom.”

A number of diploma ceremonies had keynote speakers this year, including:

-Landscape Architecture alumnus Lewis May, who spoke at the College of Art & Design ceremony;
-Louisiana Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne, who spoke at the Manship School of Mass Communication ceremony;
-LSU Executive Vice President & Provost Richard Koubek, who spoke at the College of Science Ceremony;
-Electrical engineering graduate Daniel Lepkowski, a native of Virginia Beach, Va., who received an NSF Graduate Fellowship, who spoke at the College of Engineering ceremony.
-Louisiana Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne, who  spoke at the Manship School of Mass Communication ceremony;
-LSU Executive Vice President & Provost Richard Koubek, who spoke at the College of Science Ceremony;
-Electrical engineering graduate Daniel Lepkowski, a native of Virginia Beach, Va., who received an NSF Graduate Fellowship, who spoke at the College of Engineering ceremony.

Some notable spring 2016 graduates included 2014 Truman Scholarship recipient and Scoville Peace Fellow Marlee Pittman, a native of Baton Rouge who graduated from the College of Humanities & Social Sciences; 2015 Truman Scholarship recipient Michael Beyer, a native of New Orleans who graduated from the College of Humanities & Social Sciences; Fulbright Binational Internship recipient Valencia Richardson, a native of Shreveport who graduated from the Manship School of Mass Communication; and 2015 Goldwater Scholarship recipient and NSF Graduate Research Fellow Mollie Smoak, a native of Lafayette who graduated from the College of Engineering. In addition to Smoak and Lepkowski, other recent NSF Graduate Research Fellows who graduated this spring include Kurt Ristroph, a native of Baton Rouge; Jennifer Kenyon, a native of Marrero; and Katie Hogan, a native of Choudrant.

For more information on commencement, visit www.lsu.edu/commencement. For a list of graduates, please visit http://sites01.lsu.edu/wp/commencement/category/commencement-lists/. The list includes graduates who have authorized the release of their names.