Contact: Vincent Reda, 518-437-4985, [email protected]
UAlbany to Emphasize Individual Recognition at Commencement Weekend 2001
Giving commencements the personal touch has become a growing challenge, particularly for the nation's large research universities, such as the University at Albany.
In fact, this February, at the inaugural Commencement Planners Conference held at Arizona State University, a new professional organization was established: the North American Association of Commencement Officers.
"What we found is that we face many of the same challenges as our sister institutions, and also that the amount of resources put into commencements varies widely," said Linda Wheeler, UAlbany director of special events, who attended the conference at Arizona State.
Months before hearing what other commencement officers had to say, however, UAlbany had already set dramatic changes in place for 2001. For the first time in a decade, its commencement is back on campus. More importantly, for the first time since 1990, graduating students will be individually acknowledged at some college, school and department-based ceremonies in many venues on the University's three campuses.
In short, at Commencement Weekend 2001, May 19-20, UAlbany graduates will again enjoy what the vast majority of they, their guests, and faculty have always wanted: individual recognition for academic achievements and a series of events evoking the close-knit traditions of the college experience.
President Karen R. Hitchcock appointed a Graduation Task Force in 2000 to review all commencement activities at UAlbany, and what it found would not have surprised recent graduates or their parents. "The Task Force felt that the undergraduate ceremony was too impersonal, too crowded, and too remote from the campus where these graduates lived and worked for four or more years," said Hitchcock, who became President in 1996. "Clearly, a new approach to this significant academic event was needed in order to appropriately recognize our graduates and their families."
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Carlos E. Santiago noted that "the main theme that emerged from the Task Force was individual recognition. Students work hard while they are completing their degrees and we needed to celebrate this accomplishment in a more personal way. I believe the new Commencement Weekend truly reflects our desire to be student-centered in everything we do."
In keeping with the Task Force's recommendations, the changes in UAlbany Commencement this year include:
¥ An expansion of a one-day Sunday commencement into a two-day Commencement Weekend 2001;¥ Undergraduate ceremonies on Saturday and Sunday held on campus for each department or school to individually recognize each graduate and his or her academic honors. Speakers of note will be chosen for these ceremonies at the department or school's discretion;¥ A formal Graduate Commencement held on campus on Saturday morning.¥ A Saturday afternoon picnic on the podium for all students and their families;¥ A greatly expanded Torch Night, a traditional event in which each senior hands down a "light of knowledge" to a freshman student of their choice;¥ A fireworks display to end Saturday evening; and¥ A formal Degree Conferral Ceremony for all undergraduates on Sunday morning on the lawn of the Science Library. President Hitchcock and the senior class president will deliver remarks to the graduates.
Said Hitchcock: "The smaller ceremonies will make it possible for us to honor our graduates, celebrate their accomplishments, and acknowledge their families in a more personal way. By dedicating an entire weekend to Commencement, we are recognizing it as a time of real significance and celebration."
Wheeler reports that UAlbany's schools and departments have so far responded enthusiastically, trying to distinguish their ceremonies from others. "The art, music and theater departments will include an art exhibit, a chamber music performance, and a soliloquy by a theater student," she said. The Classics department chair, Louis Roberts, will recite to the graduates an approbation in Latin.
In addition, each department has secured speakers that reflect their fields of study. For instance, national pollster John Zogby will speak to the Department of Political Science; former Surgeon General and current NYS Health Commissioner Dr. Antonia Novello will speak at the School of Public Health ceremony; Hunter College professor and president of the National Association of Social Workers, Terry Mizrahi, will address the School of Social Welfare.
At the University's Graduate Commencement, Nobel Laureate in physics Jerome I. Friedman will present the major address and receive an honorary degree.
Said President Hitchcock: "We are enormously proud of our students, and we are making every attempt to organize meaningful, dignified ceremonies worthy of them and their families. We are confident that the series of events we have planned will permit our graduates - and their guests - to both enjoy themselves as well as provide a wonderfully fitting conclusion to their years at the University at Albany."
For more information, please visit the Commencement Weekend 2001 website at http://www.albany.edu/feature2001/commencement/. * * * * * * *
RSS