Commencement, noun, the act of beginning.
At least that’s the first definition in the dictionary, but for most people, the word “commencement” conjures up images of caps and gowns at the celebration of the end of one phase or another of their formal education.
And, indeed, this Commencement weekend at West Virginia University is both a beginning and an end for the estimated 4,264 students from 46 states and 211 countries who will cross one of three stages in Morgantown Saturday and Sunday.
It is the end of a significant part of their formal education, and the beginning of “the real world.”
Over the next three days, 18 different ceremonies will be held at either the WVU Coliseum, the Creative Arts Center or the Morgantown Event Center. For more information on each, visit http://graduation.wvu.edu/. A complete list of speakers at each ceremony is available here.
During the weekend, the University will bestow honorary degrees on four individuals: Gregory S. Babe, an engineer who rose to the top of the Bayer Corp.; Ming Hsieh, also an engineer and the namesake of Ming Hsieh Hall; G. Ogden Nutting, a longtime leader in West Virginia newspaper publishing; and Stuart M. Robbins, a financial expert who built one of the top equity businesses in the world. For more on them, click here.
Four others will be honored as this year’s Order of Vandalia, which recognizes those who have made far-reaching contributions to WVU long after their college years. They are: Alison Deem, an alumna who gave hundreds of hours to the College of Creative Arts; Paul C. Farmer, an active alumnus who organized the annual alumni crab fest in Washington, D.C.; Edna Bennett Pierce, a generous donor to many different areas of the University; and Benjamin M. Statler, a WVU graduate who pledged the largest single commitment in the University’s history in 2011. For more on each recipient, click here.
Make sure to visit http://memories.wvu.edu/ to remember the Class of 2012 with the following features:
- Stories on six graduates who were changed based on their experiences at WVU over the last four years.
- Join three graduates, including outgoing Mountaineer Mascot Brock Burwell, as they take us on their emotional farewell tours of campus.
- See how Morgantown has changed over time with the help from some students.
- Check out the “WVU Code” an interactive Storify with comments from alumni, current students and Mountaineer fans using the #wvugrad hashtag.
- Even more content like Commencement-specific Pinterest boards, goodbye messages from your favorite campus buildings and videos from the past four years.
More Commencement-specific information will be displayed on the more than 75 digital signs across campus.
If you are tweeting about graduation, make sure to use the hashtag #wvugrad to be part of our “WVU Code” at http://memories.wvu.edu/the-wvu-code.
The newest edition of the WVU Alumni Magazine will be handed out to graduates before or after each ceremony. You can also check out the Alumni Magazine online at http://alumnimag.wvu.edu/.
If you aren’t able to travel to Morgantown to watch your loved one graduate, every Commencement ceremony will be available live via webcast. For more information, check out http://graduation.wvu.edu/.
General parking information for all ceremonies can be found at http://graduation.wvu.edu/maps-parking.
Each ceremony will last approximately two hours, except for Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s college, which will last approximately two-and-a-half hours.
For more specifics, visit: http://graduation.wvu.edu/commencement/helpful-hints.
-WVU-
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