WMU to confer more than 1,800 degrees during fall commencement

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Western Michigan University will grant degrees to more than 1,800 students during three commencement ceremonies Saturday, Dec. 19, in Miller Auditorium.

WMU President John M. Dunn will preside over the fall 2015 ceremonies. In all, the University will confer 1,859 degrees: 1,378 at the bachelor's level, 445 at the master's level, one at the specialist level and 35 at the doctoral level.

Schedule

All three fall 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 the College of Aviation, College of Education and Human Development, and College of Health and Human Services.
• The 12:30 p.m. ceremony is for graduates of the College of Fine Arts, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Haworth College of Business.
• The 4 p.m. ceremony is for graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences and Extended University Programs.

December's graduation exercises will feature music by the Western Brass Ensemble, conducted by Dr. Stephen M. Wolfinbarger. The national anthem and alma mater will be sung by the University's chapter of the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia professional music fraternity, conducted by Jeremy Stevens.

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 four 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, Dec. 18.

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 Auditorium.

Live coverage, photos

All of the fall 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. Not all browsers are compatible with the commencement stream.

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

Parking and other information

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.

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 fall 2015 graduates is expected to be distributed to hometown newspapers in February.

For more information, including directions to WMU and how to obtain tickets or view the live webcast, visit wmich.edu/commencement. Direct questions to the Registrar's Office at (269) 387-4300.

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