The University of Houston College of Pharmacy conferred degrees to 126 Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) and Master of Science (M.S.) program graduates at the 2026 Commencement May 14 at Cullen Performance Hall.
The ceremony was the first presided over by UHCOP Dean Arash Bashirullah, Ph.D., who joined the college in January.
The ceremony recognized 107 Pharm.D., 13 Ph.D. and six M.S. program graduates of the 2025-26 academic year. Among those recognized with academic honors for cumulative grade point average (GPA) were 12 who achieved Summa Cum Laude (3.9-4.0 GPA), 25 who achieved Magna Cum Laude (3.7-3.89 GPA), and 18 who achieved Cum Laude (3.5-3.69 GPA).
Among the Summa Cum Laude honorees were six graduating students who achieved a perfect 4.0 GPA and served as the college banner bearers for the ceremony. Those students were Barbara Mae Abad, Chad Johnson, Kason Landman, Cynthia Ma, Lyna Pham and Nadia Salim.
In addition, among the graduates were 20 members of the Rho Chi Honor Society and 12 members of the Phi Lambda Sigma Pharmacy Leadership Society.
During the ceremony, the college also recognized three Class of 1976 Golden Cougars on their milestone 50th anniversary of graduating from UHCOP: Gustavo Mena Mayorga, Gregory L. Roberts and Michael King Watts.
This year's Student Response was delivered by Aniqa Virani, who recalled milestones of the past four years and encouraged her classmates to “pay it forward.”
“Each of us is walking into a path we once looked up to, roles we once admired in others,” Virani said. “We are now those people: the pharmacists, the leaders, the ones responsible for shaping the future.”
Special guests included UH System Regents Honorable Bryan F. Clark ('90) and the Honorable Adrian Caraves ('21), Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs & Provost Diane Z. Chase, Ph.D.,, Vice President of Energy and Innovation Ramanan Krishnamoorti, Ph.D., , Interim Vice President for Marketing and Communications Shawn Lindsey, , and Vice President of Student Affairs Paul Kittle, Ph.D.
The 2026 Commencement was livestreamed at https://www.uh.edu/commencement/live/pharmacy/.
