2025 Master’s Degree Candidates’ Ceremony
Join us in celebrating CCA’s commencement class of 2025 master’s degree candidates.
Student Speaker
Vanshika Bhagat
Vanshika Bhagat (MDes Interaction Design 2025)
“The most powerful movements in history didn’t start with grand declarations. They began with one person deciding to care. One voice refusing to stay silent. One step forward when it would have been easier to stand still. You have that power. The power to shape conversations, to stand up for what’s right, to create beauty and meaning in the lives of others.”
— Vanshika Bhagat (MDes Interaction Design 2025), Graduate Student Speaker
Program
Master’s Degree Candidates’ Ceremony
Grand Marshal Introduction
Calvin B. Wheeler, MD
Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees
Academic Processional
Candidates for the Master of Advanced Architectural Design
Candidates for the Master of Architecture Degree
Candidates for the Master of Business Administration Degree
Candidates for the Master of Design in Interaction Design Degree
Candidates for the Master of Arts Degree
Candidates for the Master of Fine Arts Degree
Welcome from the President
David C. Howse
President
Land Acknowledgment
California College of the Arts current and historical campuses are located on the unceded territories of Chochenyo and Ramaytush Ohlone peoples, who have continuously lived upon this land since time immemorial. CCA honors Indigenous peoples—past, present, and future—here and around the world, and we wish to pay respect to local elders.
In Memoriam
David C. Howse
President's Address
David C. Howse
Professor Emerit Announcement
David C. Howse
Presentation of Distinguished Alum
Sunny A. Smith
Dean of Fine Arts
Conferring of Honorary Degrees
David C. Howse
Distinguished Alum Address
Lava Thomas
BFA Ceramics 1999
Student Remarks
Vanshika Bhagat
MDes Interaction Design 2025
Commencement Video
Taro Hattori
Faculty Senate Vice President, Sculpture Assistant Professor
Step into the world of CCA alum Miyah Wooden (BFA Film 2025) as she redefines what it means to create with community. In a powerful new work commissioned for CCA’s 118th Commencement, Miyah shows how connection fuels transformation, how identity is forged through making, and how CCA’s culture lives through every artist’s journey — starting with her own.
Conferring of Degrees
Keith Krumweide
Dean of Architecture
Master of Architecture
Master of Business Administration
Master of Design in Interaction Design
Master of Arts
Master of Fine Arts
Presentation of the Class of 2025
David C. Howse
Recessional
Members of the audience, please stand and remain standing until the academic procession has left the hall. Music provided by The Ben Brussell Ensemble.
Master’s Degree Candidates
Celebrating 164 graduate students
Architecture
MAAD Architecture
- Shreyas Mohan Poojary
- Salwa Shafiq
- Boya WANG
MArch Architecture
- Shane Chavez
- Owen DiMarzo
- Kira Finigan
- Clarice Gaw Gonzalo
- Kaden Hilinski
- HEATHER LEIGHTON
- Layla Namak
- Haneen Othman
- Annie Petty
- Maitri Vipul Rudani
- Tara Tadic
- Phong Tran
Design
MFA Design
- Sherry Chou
- Elisabeth Cobb
- Chibuzor Darl-Uzu
- Weijia DENG
- Wen Guo
- Vicky Guo
- Duvalier Hawkins
- Chenyue He
- YANAN HOU
- Weiyu Huang
- GAYATRI IYER
- Jiamei Li
- Katherine Liang
- Aimee Liu
- Shuyi Ma
- Ramya Mullapudi
- Bo Pang
- Siming Qiao
- Leah Ray
- Lisa Santaniello
- Nina Shi
- Ian Taylor
- Siqi Wang
- Zhuo Wang
- Zijun Wen
- Byoung-Hoon Woo
- Yixuan Xie
- Luyao Xu
- Dechao Xu
- Kejing Xu
- Zhaoxi Yu
- Bohan Zeng
MBA Design Strategy
- Lovell Casey
- Anton Castro
- William Collie
- Jordan Fitzgerald
- Yasmeen Kamel
- Aishwarya/ Ash Kulkarni
- Yves Louise
- Cortland Moore
- AKHIL NALLURI
- Yiyi Qin
- Ana Soto Mora
- Lauren Wiersema
- Sophie Wilton
MDes Interaction Design
- Samyak Aggarwal
- Anna Bang
- Vachan Batavia
- Spencer M. Bertelsen
- Vanshika Biren Bhagat
- Priya Chandra
- Shrunga Divakara Chavalmane
- Irene Cheung
- Rutal Deshmukh
- Sayya Dushanbieva
- Mehak Garg
- Rithvika Reddy Gurrala
- Emma F. Haines
- Florencia Hasson
- Rachel Hong
- Raajnandini Bharat Jadhav
- Jasmine M. Kemp
- Aashna Keswani
- Kyuri Kim
- Jun Oh Koo
- Chaitanya Landge
- Sienna Lee
- YUE LIU
- Sawani Sameer Mardhekar
- Chang Mou
- Mark Ortlieb
- Atmaja Piyush Patel
- Riya Girish Pathak
- Sanvika Patil
- Shambhavi Sanjay Phule
- Julie Ramsey
- Sahana Rao
- Rujuta Sanghvi
- Sanvithi Saya
- Pearl Sequeira
- Akshat Sharma
- Yashswee Sinha
- Sakshi Anilkumar Suthar
- Dorcas Thirugnanam
- Uttkarsh Upendrakant Mandaknale
- Len Wang
- Yuxuan Wang
- Xiaoxuan Weng
- Ruotong Wu
- Sumedha Yadav
- Shiyu Zhang
- Emily Zhang
- Kelvin Zheng
Fine Arts
MFA Film
- Sulaiman Akbar
- Richard Cascio
- Eva Guo
- Mana Macdougall
- Boya Zhang
- Haoran Zhang
- Michelle Zhang
MFA Fine Arts
- Gabby Anderman
- Amanda Bristow
- Isaiah Brownstein
- Chloe Cortez
- Leyla Dualeh
- Nasib Elahimehr
- J-P Herdeg
- Angela Jin
- Ye Il Kim
- Nagi Lee
- Marilyn Montúfar
- Molly Rapp
- Jonah Reenders
- Elaine Sheen
- Ashley Spencer
- Lisa Vlasenko
- Krista Wright
Humanities and Sciences
MA Curatorial Practice
- Sam Hiura
(dual degree)
MA Visual and Critical Studies
- Sam Hiura
(dual degree) - Sloane Holzer
(dual degree) - Vanessa Perez-Winder
- Giorgie O'Keeffe DePaolis
- Yunfei Hua
MFA Comics
- Kwai Chen
- Jess Cutberth
- John Dorsey
- Samadrita Ghosh
- Mehedi Haque
- Cassy Lee
- Meegs Longacre
- Malika Lyons
- Jasmyn mullins
- Vicco Naylor
- Leah Spears
- Ross Stevens
- Annie Viale
- Kaylen Wan
- Mike Wang
MFA Writing
- MV Candelaria
- Alex Fischer
- Sloane Holzer
(dual degree) - Mady Jones
- Armando Padron-Cruz
- Stephanie Peters
- Jeremy Patricia Stone
- Emma Vetter
CCA’s 118th Commencement celebrates students who completed their degree requirements in fall 2024, as well as students anticipated to complete their degrees in spring and summer 2025. Degrees will officially be conferred upon successful completion of all degree requirements.