IRVING, Texas (May 16, 2026) — His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop Emeritus of New York, addressed University of Dallas graduates and their families during commencement exercises last Saturday at The Pavilion at the Toyota Music Factory, offering the Class of 2026 a message of gratitude, faith and service as they begin the next chapter of their lives.
The Class of 2026 graduates at a particularly meaningful time, as the University of Dallas celebrates its 70th anniversary this year.
During the commencement ceremony, UDallas conferred upon Cardinal Dolan the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, recognizing his decades of leadership in the Catholic Church and his joyful witness
to the importance of Catholic education.
“Since its founding, the University of Dallas has prepared graduates not merely to enter the world, but to shape it,” said President Jonathan J. Sanford, Ph.D. “Cardinal Dolan’s presence with us affirms UDallas’ growing visibility as a Catholic university committed to forming leading citizens who know where they stand in relation to God and the world, and who are equipped to serve with wisdom, truth and virtue.”
In his remarks, Cardinal Dolan drew on the great authors of UDallas’ Core Curriculum, especially Dante, to reflect on the human heart’s struggle between gratitude and self-absorption. A liberal arts education, he told graduates, helps free us from self-absorption and opens the way to lives marked by gratitude, purpose and service.
Cardinal Dolan cautioned that there is a deficit of gratitude in the country at epic levels and encouraged graduates to pray with him the prayer of George Herbert’s poem “Gratefulness”: “Thou that hast given so much to me / Give one thing more, a grateful heart.”
The theme of gratitude was also demonstrated when Sanford announced at the commencement that UDallas is on pace for its strongest philanthropic year on record, strengthened by the generosity of members of the Board of Trustees and by a new anonymous donor’s $10 million gift in direct support of the university.
“This remarkable gift reflects a deep love and care for the University of Dallas — a love rooted in admiration for the excellence of our university and for the faculty who have been at the forefront of providing it,” Sanford said.
Over its 70-year history, UDallas students have secured 38 Fulbright awards, 10 Goldwater Scholarships and five National Science Foundation fellowships. Recent milestones include the university’s first Truman Scholar in 2023, its first Marshall finalist in 2022 and five Goldwater Scholars between 2019 and 2021. UDallas students also continue to achieve strong outcomes in graduate and professional pathways, with medical school and law school acceptance rates regularly exceeding 80%.
UDallas alumni carry the university’s Catholic liberal arts education into lives of service and leadership across the Church, civic life and a wide range of fields. Among its alumni are 12 Catholic bishops — whose dioceses serve more than 2 million Catholics in the United States — as well as more than 200 priests and more than 100 religious men and women. UDallas graduates also include more than 30 senior leaders in federal government and public policy, more than 50 senior leaders in business and entrepreneurship, more than 100 college and university faculty members, and eight executives at Fortune 500 and global firms.
These outcomes reflect the breadth of a UDallas education, shaped by the Core Curriculum, the Rome Program, close faculty mentorship and a commitment to the art of oratory. It is an education that prepares leading citizens not only for prominent positions, but for lives of gratitude, responsibility and service in the chanceries, courtrooms, boardrooms, classrooms, laboratories and communities where the character of American life is shaped.
"Cardinal Dolan said it best: we did not get here by ourselves," said Andrew Denny, who received a Bachelor of Arts in politics with a concentration in theology. "Today I leave not just with a degree, but with a purpose. I’m grateful for every professor, every classmate, every late night spent with the great books, and every sacrifice our families made for us. Now it is our turn to go out and serve."
As graduates crossed the stage, UDallas celebrated not only their academic achievement, but the vocation for which they have been formed — to receive their gifts with gratitude and to serve the Church and country with virtue and vigor.
Photos from the commencement ceremony, the full ceremony recording and Cardinal Dolan’s commencement address are available at udallas.edu/commencement.
About the University of Dallas
The University of Dallas is the premier Catholic liberal arts university in the nation, recommended by the Cardinal Newman Society for its rigorous Core Curriculum and vibrant intellectual and spiritual life. With campuses in Texas and Italy, UDallas forms students intellectually, socially and spiritually for a life well-lived through undergraduate, graduate liberal arts, graduate business programs and professional programs in the humanities, ministry and classical education. Learn more or apply at udallas.edu.
