After two months of meetings and planning, a decision has been made for the replacement for the fall 2009 commencement ceremonies.
May 8 will be the make-up date for those supposed to participate in fall commencement Dec. 18. This date [May 8] is also the original commencement date for all spring graduates.
Rather than combining both events and creating a possible capacity issue, a committee decided the fall graduates commencement will be at 9:45 a.m. in the K.R. Williams Auditorium while the spring graduates commencement will take place at 2 p.m. in the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Fall commencement will feature the same keynote speaker [Larry Womble] and program as originally planned for Dec. 18.
“We are trying our best to replicate the Dec. 18 commencement on May 8,” said Nancy Young, the interim director for Media and Public Relations.
The speaker and program for spring graduates will be different from fall commencement.
Rather than immediately putting together a replacement graduation at an earlier date, Young said the plan was to give fall graduates as much planning time as possible.
“A lot of the graduates are working and need time to schedule [time to attend commencement].” Another concern was the number of fall graduates planning to attend a replacement graduation. The Chancellor’s Office dispersed e-mails and postcards to fall graduates to survey how many graduates will attend the May 8 commencement.
“We are expecting 160 to 200 [out of 525 graduates] participants,” Young said.
The Chancellor’s Office will also send one final e-mail as a last call for all graduates to participate.
With fall commencement being considerably smaller than originally planned, Young said that K.R. Williams should accommodate all. “It will be much more intimate.”
The final decision was ultimately Chancellor Reaves’; however, it was a small group composed of Young, Dr. Shirley Manigault, Dr. Melody Pierce and Sharon Hush who developed the decision.
The group had several meetings, including meetings with current students, fall graduates and SGA. Young said that majority of the students were receptive to the idea for the replacement fall commencement May 8.
“It is regrettable it [fall commencement] had to be canceled,” Young said.
Young also said it should not be ignored that summer graduates were affected by the cancellation.
“Summer graduates have no commencement and many wanted to march [in the fall] as well.”