Ithaca College

Dear members of the class of 2018, faculty, and staff,

Though we’ve just kicked off the spring semester, planning is well under way for this year’s Commencement ceremony. We’d like to share with you an important change that will be made to help create a more student-centered Commencement which celebrates the individual accomplishments of our graduating students.

During the Commencement ceremony, the name of each graduating student who is present and would like to participate will be announced as that student crosses the stage. This change reflects the strong interest of students and their families in fully recognizing the proud moment that college graduation represents and the incredible efforts and sacrifices that have been made to realize this outstanding accomplishment.

Thoughtful conversations and the careful deliberation of many opinions and factors took place among the members of the Commencement committee to arrive at this decision. The committee also relied heavily upon the results of a survey that was distributed to students, parents, faculty, staff, administrators, and alumni as well as thorough research into how graduation ceremonies are conducted at other schools.

We acknowledge that this decision will influence the duration of the ceremony, and the committee is working diligently and creatively to minimize the increase to the event’s length.

Graduating students can find out more about the Commencement ceremony during the graduation fair, scheduled for Tuesday, March 27, and more information will be posted to the Commencement website.

We give our deepest gratitude to the many members of our IC community, and particularly to the members of our Commencement committee, for their thoughtful work in helping us create an inclusive ceremony that offers an opportunity to fully recognize and honor such a proud moment.

Sincerely,

Shirley M. Collado

President

Dave Prunty

Executive Director, Auxiliary Services

Co-chair, Commencement Committee

Doreen Hettich-Atkins

Director, Strategic Planning and Administration

Co-Chair, Commencement Committee