Reno’s mother and daughter will both receive their master’s degrees in social work this week

Debra Smith had one of the best seats to see her daughter Kaylie graduate from the University of Nevada, Reno on Thursday morning.

She didn’t have to worry about seeing Kaylie cross the stage or finding a seat in the picturesque Quad, where more than 3,000 students will receive their diplomas over three days.

Debra was as close as you could get to a UNR graduate. She walked across the stage just seconds before her daughter.

Mother and daughter both graduated with a master’s degree in Social Work on Thursday morning.

They are among 687 students who will earn advanced degrees during five graduation ceremonies through Saturday.

Although UNR President Brian Sandoval has often said that graduation is one of his favorite moments on campus, his spot on stage also came with some pretty good parent perks. His daughter Madeline graduated with a master’s degree in social work.

“Like all the parents here, I am extremely proud of this achievement,” he said during his opening remarks about his daughter, who graduated with a 4.0 GPA.

“Hey Maddy, I don’t want to embarrass you too much, but we are all so very proud of you.”

Debra, Kaylie and Madeline are among the class of 2024 graduating with 110 different majors. The most popular graduate degrees are social work, business administration, computer science and engineering.

The most popular bachelor’s programs this year are psychology, marketing and management.

“It’s not something we planned, it just turned out that way,” said Kaylie, who took the traditional route to college after graduating from North Valleys High School. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in 2023 and immediately enrolled for the master’s program.

Her mother was not traditional.

After staying home when her daughters were young, Debra went to college at age 40, starting at Truckee Meadows Community College. It took her 10 years to complete her bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

“People are living longer, so getting a diploma and an advanced degree is something I wanted to do,” Debra, 57, says.

After earning her bachelor’s degree in social work, she landed a job at Nevada Behavioral Health, combining graduate school with a full-time job.

She said her classes were full of people in their 40s and 50s who wanted to change careers or get back into the workforce.

And while the average age of graduates is 25, Debra is not the oldest. UNR said its oldest graduate this year is 68. The youngest is 19.

She received her bachelor’s degree in social work in 2022 and enrolled online for the master’s program at UNR.

Both mother and daughter want to work with people who need help.

“There is such a need for mental health care in this country,” Debra said. She hopes to eventually mentor adults struggling with homelessness.

For Kaylie, she will be going to California after graduation. She looks for a job where she can work with children.

“I wanted to finish college before her,” Debra said of her daughter. “But life and work got in the way.”

Livestream: Watch a livestream of graduation ceremonies at unr.edu/live.

Graduation schedule

May 16

9 a.m. ceremony: College of Science and School of Social Work

3 p.m. ceremony: College of Liberal Arts, Orvis School of Nursing and Reynolds School of Journalism

May 17

9 a.m. ceremony: College of Business

3 p.m. ceremony: College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources and College of Engineering

May 18

9 a.m. ceremony: College of Education and Human Development, School of Medicine (Speech Pathology) and School of Public Health