NEW ORLEANS – Tulane University awarded degrees to nearly 3,000 graduates on May 19 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.

Garrison Boyd of Lakeport, Calif., earned a Juris Doctor from the School of Law.

The ceremony's keynote speaker was acclaimed author and professor Jesmyn Ward, a two-time National Book Award winner and 2017 recipient of the MacArthur “Genius Grant.”

Honorary degrees were awarded to internet pioneer Jim Clark, health care activist Dr. Paul Farmer, former New Orleans Saint and ALS activist Steve Gleason and Grammy Award-winning singer Irma Thomas, who sang one of her biggest hits, “It’s Raining,” with Dr. Michael White’s Original Liberty Jazz Band.

Boyd and fellow class members were honored at the ceremony, which included all the pomp and circumstance of a traditional commencement but with a New Orleans twist, including herald trumpets, and a second-line jazz procession.

In addition to Dr. Michael White’s Original Liberty Jazz Band, Gospel and jazz singer Topsy Chapman performed “Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans.”

Tulane University is one of the nation’s leading educational and research institutions. Founded in 1834 in New Orleans, Tulane has 10 schools and colleges offering degrees in architecture, business, law, liberal arts, medicine, public health and tropical medicine, the sciences and engineering, and social work.