Joanna Orban
Staff Writer
Commencement is one of the highlights of a college student’s experience. It means that being poor, all of the late nights of studying and eating too much ramen are coming to an end. Despite the special experience, only about 50% of ISU graduates were actually walking in the ceremony. The Office of Marketing and Communications knew that something needed to change.
Allyson Johnson, Director of University Special Events and Protocol, is excited about the new changes. She and the rest of the Office of Marketing and Communications partnered with the president’s office to work on a change to commencement.
As is common on campus, a committee was formed and the group actually looked at six different ways to do commencement before the new model was decided on. “We spent a lot of time looking at all of the different options,” Johnson said.
When the office decided to change commencement, there were four things they considered. First, they wanted to shorten the length. They knew that one of the main complaints about commencement was the length. A few years ago, commencement was almost four hours long.
In addition to the length of commencement, there was also the equity of students to consider. The office wanted to make sure that masters and doctorate students were given equal time for their hooding ceremonies.
Another aspect of the commencement ceremony that the office is trying to remedy is the confusing idea of duplicate ceremonies. Many colleges on campuses have ceremonies for their graduates, which is to be expected, but in some cases, the ceremonies got so elaborate that students were confused about which one they should actually attend.
The final thing that was considered when changing the ceremony was whether or not this change would see more students participate in commencement.
Taking in everything mentioned above, the office decided to split spring commencement in half. From now on there will be two commencement ceremonies for the spring semester in addition to a ceremony for the winter graduates. The first winter commencement took place last December and was a success, according to Johnson.
ISU students who want to take part in commencement will also have to RSVP on the commencement website, so plans can be made for the number of seats etc. Going forward for spring commencement, the ceremonies will be held at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.
The colleges are divided into two groups. The first group consists of the Colleges of Arts and Letters, Health Professions, Nursing, and Education. The second group is made up of the Colleges of Business, Science and Engineering, Technology, Rehabilitation and Communication Sciences, and Pharmacy.
The groups will stay together for all future commencements but the times will switch year by year.
When speaking about the way the colleges were split up, commencement assistant Libby Howe said, “We hopefully have found a really nice way to split the university up so it’s an enjoyable and diverse experience. We wanted it to be diverse in programs. It’s kind of like a cross-section of the university.”
In addition to the changes in the ceremony, the student speaker tradition is also being changed.
Traditionally, the ASISU student body president has been the student speaker at commencement. However, as the president may not always be graduating, the office decided that allowing other students the chance would be a welcome change. Going forward, any graduating student, provided they meet the requirements, can apply.
Some of the requirements are a 3.0 GPA and being in good disciplinary standing. The application opened on February 3 and will close on March 9.
“Another reason we wanted to do the student speaker thing is so that we could have one for each, so they actually represent the college that they are speaking for,” Johnson said.
With all of the changes made for commencement, Johnson and Howe both want to make sure that the students know it’s all for them.
“I want them (the students) to know that we’re making the changes to try and make it more enjoyable for them. That’s our goal is to make their experience as good as it can be,” Johnson said.
