Commencement 2025 – Save the Date

Russell Sage College will celebrate our 108th Commencement on Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 11 a.m. at MVP Arena in Albany. Keep an eye out for updates about this special celebration in early 2025. Eligible graduates and participants will receive email invitations around March 1, 2025 from the student life office. No tickets will be required for guests and there will be no limit on the number of guests a student can bring.

Commencement 2024 – Congratulations Graduates!

Russell Sage College celebrated our 107th Commencement on Saturday, May 11, 2024 at 6 p.m. at the MVP Arena (formerly known as the Times Union Center) in the city of Albany.

Nearly 450 eligible graduates from August 2023, December 2023, May 2024, and anticipated August 2024 and December 2024 graduates who had been approved to “walk” at commencement joined the celebration. Esteemed composer Tania León, winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Music and a Kennedy Center honoree, delivered the keynote speech at the 2024 Russell Sage College commencement ceremony. For information about her fascinating life and accomplishments, check out the recent press release. In addition, the college will also award an honorary degree to President Ames, who will retire on June 30 after leading Russell Sage for seven years.

Contact the Office of Student Life with any questions regarding commencement at 518-244-2207 or [email protected] or visit our Commencement FAQ page. 

Visit the commencement 2024 microsite for academic award recipients, past honorary degree recipients, and a link to the livestream.

Prior Commencement Ceremonies

Russell Sage College’s Commencement ceremonies were available to view online live during the ceremony. You can view recordings of prior Commencement ceremonies on Russell Sage College’s YouTube Channel.

Archived Webcasts

Our May 2021 graduation celebrations honored Sage graduates from August 2019/2020, December 2019/2020, and May 2020/2021. Sage hosted small, outdoor, on-campus gatherings for graduates and up to 2 guests on Tuesday, May 11 and Wednesday May 12.

Video from past Commencement ceremonies (2019 and prior) at the Houston Field House is available at our Webcast Archive.