FSU College of Arts and Sciences set to honor new graduates Aug. 1

Florida State University will celebrate its Summer 2025 graduates Friday, Aug. 1 with three commencement ceremonies at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center.

College of Arts and Sciences graduates will participate in two ceremonies on Friday. Doctoral students will be hooded at the 9 a.m. ceremony while undergraduate and master’s students will cross the stage during the 7 p.m. ceremony. Nearly a quarter of the 2,855 degrees FSU will award this summer are to undergraduate and graduate students from arts and sciences disciplines.

The evening ceremony will feature a commencement address by Pamela Keel, a Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Psychology and FSU’s 2025-2026 Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor — the highest honor FSU faculty bestow upon their own. Since joining FSU in 2008, Keel has brought in more than $55 million in research funding and has led or co-led multiple National Institutes of Health initiatives.

“Graduation is a milestone worth celebrating, and commencement ceremonies represent great venues for that,” said Sam Huckaba, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Summer graduates will be joining the College of Arts and Sciences alumni base exceeding 100,000 people, a great network. Staying in touch with the college will enhance those networking opportunities while reinforcing the best memories of this outstanding institution. We’re pleased to celebrate the achievements of these newest alumni and wish them success as they pursue their goals.”

Gwen Niekamp, José Martínez, and Miya Luebke are among the college’s 683 Summer 2025 graduates. Niekamp and Martínez will be awarded doctorates, and Luebke will receive a bachelor’s degree.

Niekamp, a Louisville, Kentucky native, earned her doctorate in creative writing through the Department of English. She served as the graduate advisor for Sigma Tau Delta, an International English Honor Society, and assisted members in traveling to and presenting their work at the organization’s annual convention. Niekamp also connected writers through her role as a co-host of the Jerome Stern Reading Series. Her chapbook, “By Way of Buenos Aires: A Memoir of an Early Twenties Friendship,” was awarded the 2025 Prose Prize from the University of Indianapolis and is set to publish this fall through Etchings Press.

“I pursued a doctorate to become a university educator, but I’ve always found joy in working within literature and language,” Niekamp said. “Within the fields, there’s room to ask questions about identity, memory, history, genre and more.”

Niekamp was awarded three FSU teaching awards in 2023: the Robert O. Lawton Award for Excellence in Teaching First-Year Composition, the Fred L. Standley Award for Most Effective Teacher Among Graduate Assistants, and the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. Postgraduation, Niekamp has accepted a tenure-track position as assistant professor of creative writing at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Martínez, a Palm Beach Gardens, Florida native and two-time FSU alumnus, earned his bachelor’s from the Department of Psychology in 2020 and his doctorate in social psychology this summer.

In support of his studies, Martínez earned a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation to test the link between life history theory — a framework for understanding how people adapt their motivations and behavior in response to uncertainty in their environments — and goal setting. For seven years, Martínez was an active part of the Evolutionary Social Psychology Lab, led by professor of psychology Jon Maner.

“Behavior isn’t neat or predictable, but there are patterns within the messiness,” Martínez said. “Uncovering psychological patterns through conversations with my advisor, collaborators, and research assistants when designing studies, collecting data, and translating those findings into writing has been a thrill.”

Martínez served in many roles within FSU’s Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program from student researcher to colloquium leader and graduate student mentor. In August, he’ll begin a new role as a tenure-track assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Luebke, who hails from Orlando, Florida, earned her bachelor’s degree in religion through the Department of Religion and participated in the University Honors Program. After receiving a certificate in teaching English as a foreign language, she worked as a TEFL intern in two English learning courses for the FSU Center for Intensive English Studies. In 2023, Luebke received the Allison E. Overholt Scholarship for her academic work and engagement.

“After taking an introductory religion course, I was hooked,” she said. “My religious studies helped me develop life skills that have been applicable in every facet. What I enjoy most about the field is that it showcases how human we are: we’re all trying to find our place in the world.”

During her time at FSU, Luebke served as political chair for FSU’s Environmental Service Program and encouraged political environment education through her platform. She also participated in FSU’s non-major’s orchestra, part of the College of Music, in which she played cello for three semesters. Luebke plans to take a gap year to research graduate programs in religion and hopes to one day teach English as a second or foreign language in another country.

For more about FSU’s Summer 2025 commencement activities, a full schedule of events, and livestream links, visit commencement.fsu.edu.