School of Social Work Summer 2025 Commencement
August 16, 2025, 1 PM ET
Hill Auditorium 825 N University Ave Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Important Information
The School of Social Work Summer Commencement for Master of Social Work students will be held in person at Hill Auditorium and livestreamed on the SSW website. Hill Auditorium doors will open for guests and graduates beginning at 12 Noon.
A light reception will be held in the School of Social Work Lower Level Atrium immediately following commencement.
Please email [email protected] with any questions.
The SSW Commencement will be livestreamed on this page and on the front page of the U-M School of Social Work website.
Keynote Speaker Dr. Oluwaferanmi Okanlami
Dr. Oluwaferanmi Okanlami is the Director of Student Accessibility and Accommodation Services at the University of Michigan, where he oversees the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities, and is the founding director of the Adaptive Sports & Fitness program. He is also an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Urology and Orthopaedic Surgery.
“Dr. O” was born in Nigeria before immigrating to the U.S. at a young age. He attended high school at Deerfield Academy and college at Stanford University where he also ran track and field, serving as captain his last two seasons and achieving Academic All-American recognition.
He then earned his MD from the University of Michigan before matching into orthopedic surgery at Yale. At the beginning of his third year, he experienced a spinal cord injury, paralyzing him from the chest down. After two surgeries and intense rehabilitation, he was blessed with some return of motor function, and navigates the world as a proud wheelchair user, managing the other long-term sequelae of an incomplete cervical spinal cord injury.
He has been featured on “CBS News,” “PBS News Hour” and MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” He speaks around the country on creating a health system that is accessible to and inclusive of both patients and providers with disabilities, and providing reasonable and appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities in higher education.
He is passionate about adaptive sports and fitness, striving to provide access to physical fitness and inclusive recreational and competitive sports for all. He coined the catch phrase, “Disabusing DisabilityⓇ,” hoping to demonstrate that DISability doesn’t mean INability.