This fall, President Darrell Wheeler convened a Commencement Planning Committee whose essential goal is to provide our graduating students and their families with a memorable commencement experience befitting this important life accomplishment. The Committee includes faculty and student representation and leadership, in addition to those staff who regularly plan and execute commencement (e.g., Development & Alumni Relations, Facilities Management, Emergency Management, Sodexo, Academic Affairs, UPD, Communication & Marketing, Environmental Health & Safety, and others).
As part of this process, undergraduate and graduate students who are projected to participate in May’s ceremonies were invited to a polling event in October and asked for their input on potential structural and scheduling changes to the ceremonies. Key questions included whether to combine the Undergraduate Ceremonies into one day or to keep them over the traditional two days. The consensus from student respondents was to continue with the three days of outdoor ceremonies as noted above.
The Committee provided additional input and echoed the student polling feedback on the ceremony schedule, including for event safety, security and logistical needs. Participating graduates and their families and friends make commencement ceremonies the celebration that our students deserve. Yet, more students and more families on a single Undergraduate Ceremony date would add complexities of traffic control, safe ingress/egress, crowd control, and general security both for the campus and New Paltz community. Maintaining the above three-day event schedule helps mitigate these matters and keeps the ceremonies focused on the event goal.
