WMU to confer 1,260 degrees during summer commencement
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Western Michigan University will grant degrees to some 1,260 students during a morning and afternoon commencement ceremony Saturday, June 25, in Miller Auditorium.
WMU President John M. Dunn will preside over the summer 2016 ceremonies. The University will confer 1,269 degrees: 821 at the bachelor's level, 417 at the master's level and 31 at the doctoral level.
The afternoon ceremony will include a public celebration of the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters that WMU has awarded to Michel Legrand. The famed French composer, conductor and pianist was honored during a private ceremony May 11 in Kalamazoo while Legrand was in town to perform at the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. He will not be at the summer graduation exercises.
Schedule
Both June ceremonies will last about two hours and be geared toward students who are graduating from a particular set of degree-granting academic units.
- The 9 a.m. ceremony is for graduates of Extended University Programs and the colleges of Education and Human Development, Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Health and Human Services.
- The 12:30 p.m. ceremony is for graduates of the Haworth College of Business and the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation and Fine Arts.
The 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 Steven Earegood. Graduates will be welcomed as new alumni of the University by Jennifer Lentner, president 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 Friday, June 24.
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 191, 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. Not all browsers are compatible with the commencement stream. For directions on how to view the live webcast, visit wmich.edu/commencement.
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. Those who wish to plan their routes to Miller using GPS or online driving directions should put the following physical address as their destination: 2200 Auditorium Drive, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008.
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 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.
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