Nearly 2,600 individuals are expected to receive undergraduate, graduate and law degrees this month at local Catholic colleges in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Commencement speakers range from the mayor of Los Angeles to a best-selling author to a papal nuncio.

More than 1,900 bachelor's, master's and law degrees will be awarded during three separate ceremonies at Loyola Marymount University in Westchester, beginning May 6 when Los Angeles Major Antonio Villaraigosa will deliver the undergraduate commencement address to more than 1,200 students.

Roy Romer, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, will give the graduate commencement address on May 7, while author Scott Turow will deliver the keynote commencement address to law students May 21. All three ceremonies will be held in the Sunken Garden on the Westchester campus.

For the first time, Mount St. Mary's College graduation ceremonies will be held at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City on May 15. At least 610 students will be awarded degrees, including three doctorates, 95 masters, along with over 300 bachelor degrees and 100 associate degrees. Two hundred and thirty nine students alone are receiving nursing degrees.

Monica Luechtefeld, executive vice president of business development and information technology for Office Depot, will be the main speaker at Mount St. Mary's graduation. The businesswoman is a 1971 graduate of MSMC and a trustee of the college.

At Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, 79 students are expected to graduate on May 13. Archbishop Celestino Migliore, papal nuncio to the United Nations, will be giving the homily at a morning Mass and later delivering the commencement address.