This week marks both an end and a beginning for the prospective 637 Cardinals graduating from their respective fields. Of those students, 560 are participating in the graduation ceremonies this week.
University Registrar and commencement committee member Clifford Dorne noted the importance of commencements.
“Commencement means beginning,” Dorne said. “You’re going out into the world. Some of our students go on to graduate school. This is a milestone. It signifies great success. So we’re proud to be a part of this process.”
The commencement ceremony for graduates of the College of Business and Management and the College of Health and Human Services will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18, in the Ryder Center’s O’Neill Arena. The College of Arts and Behavioral Sciences, the College of Education and the College of Science, Engineering and Technology will hold their ceremony at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 19, in the same location.
The number of students eligible to graduate this semester is higher than last December’s numbers by more than 100 students. These numbers are as expected, Dorne said, and will typically double for the May graduation and ceremonies.
Dorne noted that SVSU has awarded almost 45,000 degrees since its conception and now awards about 1,600 degrees each year. This semester, 505 of the prospective graduates will receive their bachelor’s degrees, while 132 graduates will receive their master’s degrees.
Creative writing and literature senior Maria Bur will receive her bachelor’s degree this semester.
“Your last semester, you have a lot of work to do, so I’ve put aside the job search for right now until I graduate, and then I’m looking,” Bur said.
She says she plans to attend her college’s graduation ceremony.
“(The ceremony is) a good way to end your college experience,” Bur said. “I feel like I need the kind of closure a commencement ceremony gives and I like having that formal opportunity to celebrate … with my friends and family.”
Director of Annual Giving and Commencement committee chairman Joe Vogl said there are a few changes to the ceremony this semester, in addition to the garment changes instituted last May. Vogl said the ceremony will now use the locker rooms in the SVSU Fieldhouse area rather than the football locker rooms as makeshift dressing rooms. Extra workers will be situated near the stands to provide crowd control.
“We’re always going to have little things to look at as far as trying to improve upon what we’re doing,” Vogl said.
According to Vogl, an average of 82 percent of eligible graduates attend their graduation ceremonies. The committee decides which colleges will attend each ceremony date based on estimates of student participation.
“We’re already looking into next May,” Vogl said. “We look at how many students in our system have 105 credit hours going into this semester. We assume anyone with 105 more than likely is going to graduate in May. … As it looks right now, we’re going to keep these same colleges on Friday night and Saturday night as we have this semester.”
Diversity leader and SVSU alum Billy Dexter will address graduates during the ceremonies.
Dexter serves as a managing partner at Heidrick & Struggles, an executive search firm.
He previously served as executive vice president and chief diversity officer for MTV Networks and president of Hudson Inclusion Solutions.
He serves on the board of directors as a trustee of the Metropolitan Club of Chicago, Link Unlimited Scholars, the Executive Leadership Council, the Goodman Theater of Chicago and the NFL Players Advisory Association.
Dexter was named one of the “Top 100 Global Diversity Thought Leaders” by the Society of Human Resources Management. Savoy Magazine awarded him its trailblazer award and recognized him as one of the Top 50 African-American executives in 2010.
The University selected him for an Outstanding Alumni award in 2011.
Vogl noted that this ceremony is his last as chair—a position he has held for about eight years. Vogl will move away from the SVSU Foundation office and the chairman position will go to Director of Alumni Relations director Jim Dwyer.
“Prior to (being chairman), I ran the Ryder Center, so I was involved with commencement ever since we opened up the Ryder Center back in 1989,” Vogl said.
Vogl said he thinks graduation ceremonies are important because they celebrate students’ entire college experience.
“Students come here to get a degree, to learn—to better not only themselves, but society in general,” Vogl said. “(Commencements are) the one day that we say, ‘Hey, nice work, way to go, you’re done; now go do great things out in the world.’”