Western Washington University will host eight commencement ceremonies June 10-12 to celebrate graduates and their families
Commencement Weekend ceremonies in Carver Gym will include about 2,000 students who graduated winter quarter or plan to graduate in spring or summer quarters. Tickets are not required to attend the ceremonies so that students can bring their families and guests without the stress of leaving a family member at home. Masks are not required, but strongly encouraged for large, indoor gatherings.
“Completing a college degree is an important accomplishment not only for the graduate but for everyone who supported them along the way,” said Shelli Soto, Western’s associate vice president for Enrollment Management. “We recognize that support systems are critical to achieving this milestone, and we wanted students to be able to include those important to their success in the celebration.”
Each ceremony is expected to last about an hour and will include a student speaker. There will be two ceremonies on Friday June 10:
- 2:30 p.m.: The College of the Environment and the College of Fine and Performing Arts. The student speaker will be Aidyn Stevens.
- 6 p.m.: The College of Business and Economics. The student speaker will be Qudaffi Howell.
There will be three ceremonies on Saturday, June 11 for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences:
- 9:30 a.m.: Graduates of Anthropology, Psychology and Sociology. The student speaker will be Natalie Miller.
- 12:30 p.m.: Graduates of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Global Humanities and Religions, Health and Human Development, Linguistics, Multidisciplinary Studies, Philosophy, Political Science, and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. The student speaker will be Sadie Spektor.
- 3:30 p.m.: Graduates of Communication Studies, East Asian Studies, English, History, Journalism, and Modern and Classical Languages. The student speaker will be Kaleigh Carroll.
The three remaining ceremonies will be Sunday, June 12:
- 11 a.m.: Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies, University Interdisciplinary Studies, and Woodring College of Education. The student speaker will be Drake-Anthony Michael Pearisaeff.
- 2 p.m.: College of Science and Engineering graduates of Biology, Chemistry, Geology, Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy, and Science Education. The student speaker will be Elliott Khilfeh.
- 5 p.m.: College of Science and Engineering graduates of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Computer Science, and Engineering and Design. The student speaker will be Hien Ho.
Doors open one hour prior to each ceremony, and guests should be seated 10 minutes prior to the ceremony start time. ASL interpretation and live captioning will be available.
Graduates must make reservations to participate in the ceremonies and have been asked to share the number of guests they plan to bring. Based on this planning, Carver Gym is expected to accommodate all guests, but overflow seating will be available near Carver in SMATE, the Science, Math and Technology Education building, where the ceremony will be shown on theater-style screens in ground-floor lecture halls. The ceremony also will be streamed live; click on “Guest Viewing Options” at registrar.wwu.edu/june-2022-commencement.
Following the ceremony, graduates will have the opportunity to follow WWU tradition and place a small item representative of their time at Western in a time capsule that is later cemented into Memory Walk in front of Old Main.
Guest parking is free during commencement and available in most lots. A downloadable parking map is available here. Visitors must observe regulations for accessible and individually reserved spaces. Disability parking will be in the 9G parking lot. Visitors are also advised to arrive early to avoid traffic congestion and to allow for travel time between the parking lots and Carver.
For those parking in the south campus parking lots, there will be a free shuttle service available from the 12A/12G parking lot off South College Drive, next to Fairhaven College, that will drop off near Carver. Three shuttle buses will run in a loop during the following times:
- Friday, June 10: 1 p.m.–8:30 p.m.
- Saturday, June 11: 8:15 a.m.–6 p.m.
- Sunday, June 12: 9:45 a.m.–7:30 p.m.
The three-shuttle fleet includes one ADA-equipped shuttle that will accommodate two wheelchairs per route. Guests using wheelchairs may take this shuttle or they may park in the designated lot for disability parking in the 9G lot.
Plans are in the works to invite pandemic graduates and their guests, who had virtual graduations, to join us for an in-person ceremony in December 2022.
For more information about June Commencement, visit registrar.wwu.edu/june-2022-commencement, email Commencement@wwu.edu or call 360-650-3432
Original source can be found here.
