Mortarboards aloft in December? USU may add ceremony

Utah State University may join Weber State University in offering December commencement ceremonies.

The two colleges would be the only publicly funded ones in the state to hold separate ceremonies in the fall and spring.

USU's commencement committee began holding talks this past week to begin looking at whether the benefits would outweigh the extra costs.

"It just gives students another opportunity to not wait so long," said assistant provost Sydney Peterson.

Last year USU had 900 students who qualified for graduation in December.

One difference between spring and fall ceremonies is that in the spring students may be able to walk during a general convocation while still being a few credits shy of meeting all the graduation requirements. The understanding is they would make up the difference later that year.

In a December ceremony, USU students would need to meet all the requirements to get a diploma.

"We would want that to be a correct document," Peterson said.

Weber State began holding a fall commencement in 1996 because work began on renovating the Val A. Browning Center for the Performing Arts. When work was finished in 1999, the school's Board of Trustees decided to stick with two ceremonies.

About one-third of the student population or 1,000 to 1,500 students now graduate each December at Weber State. Unlike a spring ceremony, all of the graduating students' names are read during one general commencement.

At traditional ceremonies in the spring, colleges hold a general ceremony while separate departments have convocations the following day, when the spotlight shines in individual students.

"I think we would structure it so they wouldn't lose anything that revolves around the student," Peterson said of possible December ceremonies at USU.

Another reason to explore a December commencement is that a lot of students who do graduate early leave the state and find it difficult or impossible to return on the traditional graduation day.

USU President Kermit Hall asked the commencement committee after last spring's ceremony to study the issue. "I think it's an essential change that needs to be made at Utah State," he said.

It's uncertain in which year the first December ceremony would take place.

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E-MAIL: sspeckman@desnews.com