Watch The Rutgers Virtual Graduation This Sunday

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Many New Jersey high schools will host graduation ceremonies on July 6, the date after which Gov. Murphy has decreed it safe to do so.

But for Rutgers University, with its nearly 19,000 graduates, commencement ceremonies will be all virtual this year.

Starting at 2 p.m. this Sunday anyone can watch the Rutgers graduation ceremony online; the virtual celebration will be streamed via the University Commencement website, Facebook and YouTube. The video will also be streamed on Rutgers' Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (@rucommencement), with the hashtags #RutgersStrong and #RU2020.

Tune in to hear inspirational messages from New Jersey Senators Cory Booker and Robert Menendez and Gov. Phil Murphy. As Patch previously reported, "NBC Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt will deliver the commencement address. Rutgers graduates themselves also submitted videos, which will be shown.

Holt will also receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Rutgers usually pays its graduation speakers $35,000, but Holt asked that the money be donated in his name to the Committee to Protect Journalists, said a Rutgers spokeswoman.

Radio personality Angela "Angie" Martinez was scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the Rutgers-Newark campus. She is one of the most popular on-air personalities on radio stations Hot 97 and Power 105.1, as well as iHeartMedia.com. Martinez also will receive an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree.

There will also be a short film celebrating the Rutgers University Class of 2020. Profiles on this year's remarkable and inspiring graduating class can be found here.

Related: Lester Holt Named Rutgers' 2020 Commencement Speaker