Manchester Introduces New Graduation Schedule

Aaron Lloyd

This year’s commencement ceremonies differ from ceremonies in the past. Rather than taking place on the same day, the Baccalaureate Service will be held on Friday, May 13, in Cordier Auditorium and graduation will be held on Saturday, May 14 in the PERC. Another significant change is that there will be two separate graduation ceremonies: one for graduate students and pharmacy graduates in the morning and the other for undergraduate students in the afternoon. In the past, graduation activities would have all taken place on the last Sunday that students would be on campus.

The events for Friday include program awards and hooding for the College of Pharmacy graduates, dinner in Haist Commons, the Baccalaureate Service and the President’s Celebration back in Haist Commons. Unlike it has been in previous years, graduates and faculty will not be robed during the Baccalaureate service. The Friday services will be open to the students and the guests that they bring.

On Saturday, there will be two separate graduation ceremonies held on the North Manchester campus. The first of the two will be held at 10 a.m. inside Cordier Auditorium for the master’s graduates and the pharmacy graduates. The second ceremony begins at 2:30 p.m. in the PERC for the undergraduate students.

“By separating baccalaureate and our two commencements, we anticipate no single set of participants will be any larger than our typical commencement crowds,” said Manchester University President Dave McFadden.

Recent graduate Kelsey Barta does not necessarily understand the change of the schedule. “It was difficult enough for my parents to make the trip into town that early in the morning when everything was held on one day,” she said. “Now it would require them to take the day off from work on Friday and then get a hotel room for the night to be ready for graduation on Saturday.”

Senior James Tarner, sports management major agrees. “I would say that it is very inconvenient for parents who have to drive a far distance to see their son or daughter graduate, but I think that if they put both the baccalaureate and graduation on the same day, it would be too much with the heat and how long the day would be,” he said.