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WMU to confer 1,500 degrees at June commencement

June 18, 2009

KALAMAZOO--Western Michigan University will grant degrees to more than 1,500 students during two commencement ceremonies Saturday, June 27, in Miller Auditorium.

President John M. Dunn will preside over both ceremonies.

9 a.m.--Leading off the day's graduation exercises will be a ceremony at 9 a.m. for graduates of the colleges of Education and Fine Arts, Extended University Programs, and the Haworth College of Business.

Noon--The second ceremony will be at noon for the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Health and Human Services.

During the ceremonies, WMU will confer an estimated 1,561 degrees: 1,008 at the bachelor's level, 526 at the master's level and 27 at the doctoral level.

The June graduation exercises will feature music by Dr. Karl Schrock, University organist. The national anthem and the alma mater will be sung by WMU's chapter of the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia professional music fraternity, conducted by Zechariah Shrum. The day's graduates will be welcomed as new alumni by an official of the WMU Alumni Association.

Tickets

Tickets are required for guests to attend commencement, and each participating student is eligible to receive up to six guest tickets. 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 box 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 also view the commencement ceremonies live on a large screen in Brown Hall, which is adjacent to Miller.

Live broadcast and webcast

Both of the June 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 22 by the Charter Communications commercial cable system.

A live webcast of the ceremonies will be available online to a limited number of people the day of graduation. Those planning to view the webcast will need to install Windows Media Player on their computers.

Photography and video tapes

The University's TotalTech store will be providing professional recordings of the ceremonies in DVD and VHS formats. The recordings will cost $25 each, plus shipping and formatting fees if any, and may be ordered by mail or calling (269) 387-3930.

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

More information

The University conducts formal graduation exercises in June, December and April, although WMU students also may graduate in August. Students scheduled to graduate in August are given the option of participating in the June commencement ceremonies. The names of August graduates who choose to participate in those ceremonies are published in the June commencement program.

Visit wmich.edu/commencement for complete graduation information, including how to obtain tickets, recordings and student photos. A final list of June 2009 graduates is expected to be distributed to hometown newspapers late this summer.

Media contact: Jeanne Baron, (269) 387-8400, jeanne.baron@wmich.edu

WMU News
Office of University Relations
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5433 USA
(269) 387-8400
www.wmich.edu/news