WMU to confer 1,370 degrees during summer commencement

Ceremonies are set for 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Western Michigan University will grant degrees to more than 1,300 students during two commencement ceremonies Saturday, June 27, in Miller Auditorium.

WMU President John M. Dunn will preside over the summer 2015 ceremonies. In all, the University will confer 1,370 degrees: 861 at the bachelor's level, 485 at the master's level and 24 at the doctoral level.

Both ceremonies will last about two hours and be geared toward students who are graduating from a particular set of degree-granting academic units.

Schedule

• The 9 a.m. ceremony is for graduates of the colleges of Education and Human Development, Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Health and Human Services as well as Extended University Programs.
• The 12:30 p.m. ceremony is for graduates of the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation and Fine Arts as well as the Haworth College of Business.

June's graduation exercises will feature music by the Western Brass Ensemble, conducted by Dr. Stephen M. Wolfinbarger. The national anthem and the alma mater will be sung by the University's chapter of the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia professional music fraternity, conducted by Christopher E. Hass. Graduates will be welcomed as new alumni of the University by Jennifer Lentner, president elect of the WMU Alumni Association.

Tickets

Tickets are required for guests to attend commencement, and each participating student is eligible to reserve up to six guest tickets. All seats are general admission. Guests who need accessible seating or other accessibility services should call (269) 387-2320 to make arrangements.

Should there be extra tickets, students who are participating in one of the exercises may request up to two more tickets on a first-come, first-served basis from the Miller Auditorium Ticket Office beginning at 8 a.m. Friday, June 26.

After all ticketed guests have been seated in Miller, any remaining open seats will be offered to those without tickets. Guests without tickets may view the commencement ceremonies live on a large screen in 1028 Brown Hall, which is near Miller.

Live coverage, photos

The summer ceremonies will be broadcast live on Channel 5 of EduCABLE, the University's cable television system, and throughout the Kalamazoo area on Public Media Network Channel 99, a local public access channel on the Charter Communications commercial cable television system.

A live webcast of the ceremonies also will be available online the day of graduation. A maximum of 1,000 connections will be accepted.

A professional photographer will take pictures of each graduating student. Color proofs will be sent to the students, but purchase of prints is optional.

Additional details

Commencement guests should plan to arrive at least 30 minutes before each ceremony. Free parking will be available in all parking areas adjacent to Miller Auditorium.

Significant summer highway construction in the Kalamazoo area means visitors to campus will want to carefully plan their routes. The U.S. 131/Stadium Drive interchange is under construction, Parts of Stadium Drive may be down to one open lane in each direction, and the Goldsworth Valley Drive portion of WMU's Ring Road is closed.

For complete graduation information, including how to obtain tickets, view the live webcast or find alternate routes to campus, visit wmich.edu/commencement. Direct questions to the Registrar's Office at (269) 387-4300.

The University only conducts formal graduation exercises after the fall and spring semesters and the summer I session, although WMU students also may graduate after the summer II session. A final list of summer I graduates is expected to be distributed to hometown newspapers in August.

For more news, arts and events, visit wmich.edu/news.