Truman State University commencement ceremony returns to normal after 3 years.
A photo taken from the 2019 Spring Commencement. This was also the last in-person graduation ceremony held in the Stock Stadium since the Covid began.
Truman State University will hold its first back-to-normal commencement ceremony in 3 years. This commencement will not require masks and social distancing ever since the Covid pandemic started in 2019.
The ceremony will be held in person at the Stocks Stadium on May 7th, at 2 pm. The number of guests will not be limited unless social distancing protocols are implemented or the Inclement Weather Plan is enacted.
If social distancing becomes necessary or the University needs to enact the Inclement Weather Plan, the single ceremony will be split into two ceremonies in the Pershing Arena due to a large number of graduates. The Bachelor of Science degree candidates will participate in the 1 p.m. ceremony. All other baccalaureate degree candidates, masters’candidates, Honors Scholar recipients, Commissioned Officers, and Faculty Honorees will participate in the 4 p.m. ceremony. Each degree candidate will be limited to four guests due to the smaller seating capacity available in Pershing Arena.
“We expect to celebrate the pending graduation of approximately 830 students and celebrate the day with their family and friends without COVID protocols impacting the ceremony,” Nancy Asher, the Registrar from the registration office, said.
Many seniors are excited that the May graduation ceremony will return to how it was traditionally held before Covid-19. Taylor Tucker, a senior business management major student, said that she will invite around 14 friends and family members to come, and being able to have them all to this big event is a great way to celebrate. “It has been a long time since there’s a large-scale event on campus and I can’t wait to have all my close ones witness and celebrate this life event,” said Tucker.
The preparation and planning process has been moving forward in line with the turbulent and changing Covid-19 situation on campus. According to Janet Gooch, the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, they worked with the executive leadership team and registration office to make sure every procedure are accurate throughout the semester.
“We haven’t set anything in stone at the beginning. And after the lifting of the mask policy, we have to adjust quickly and came up with many plans of any scenario,” said Provost Gooch.
The ceremony during the pandemic year took various changes based on the current CDC guides and most updated campus regulations. “We take what the CDC is recommending and make it work for our commencement ceremony,” said Richie Howell, the Digital Content Specialist from Alumina Pubic Relation Office. Responding to the ever-changing CDC guide, the university had adjusted the format of the commencement ceremony over the past two years. “In 2020 we did all virtual ceremonies so that the only people that were there were the people that were necessary to confer degrees,” said Howell. When the pandemic first hit, the university had postponed the May 2020 ceremony to August. Only the necessary people were allowed to attend. “Only the president, the provost, and some other administrative people on campus attended, ” said Howell. Students were not allowed to bring any guests. “We did some things where parents were not able to attend, they could submit messages through social media to their graduates, and we display them on the screen during that ceremony,” said Howell.
While in May 2021, the social distancing was still recommended by the CDC, the university conducted seven commencement ceremonies over the span of two days. “The university held seven commencement ceremonies and had the representative speaker give his speech at every ceremony, ” said Provost Gooch. When social distancing was not recommended by the CDC, students were able to have their ceremony on the same floor. In Dec 2021, the students were allowed to invite an unlimited number of guests and have an outdoor ceremony. With the mask mandate no longer effective by the CDC and campus policy, students are able to decide if they want to wear a mask at the ceremony. “Participants and their guests may still choose to wear masks if they prefer,” said Asher.
The University had taken precautions during the pandemic years to ensure the safety and security of the ceremonies. The seven ceremonies held in May 2021 showed the consideration of the commencement team. First, the university figured out the number of graduates and how many students could fit into the gymnasium. “We know how many graduates we had, so we now know how many students we need to fit into one ceremony so we know we need to fit all students into 7 ceremonies,” said Howell. The ceremonies weren’t held in one day since there were some safety concerns. The university needs to sanitize the gym to meet the basic CDC requirements. “We figure out we know our commencement ceremony will last one and a half hours, we need to have about one hour to clean before anyone else can come back in,” said Howell. The ceremonies were divided by the graduates’ majors. The registered office worked on it to make sure each school will not have its finals happening to graduates. The registered office also handled the emergencies. “We tried to also consider if someone who contacted the registrar's office if they have a time conflict, the registered office worked with it to make sure the time works,” said Howell. The commencement ceremony team just wanted to give all the graduates an experience that is special to them.
“The biggest change is just going back to normal,” said Kaytee Wood, the assistant registrar. “While many people are delighted that the May 2022 commencement is returning back to its pre-pandemic form, we are still concerned about the potential risk of virus spread.”
The university has invited Rebecca McClanahan, the Missouri representative and a faculty member of Truman nursing community, to give the commencement address. The student speaker will be Annie Bensyl who is a graduating student and majors in psychology at Truman.
Rebecca McClanahan, faculty member of Truman nursing community, also a Missouri representative will be the commencement speaker this year. She is also a Truman alumni.
There are many people from different offices involved to make contributions. “The registered office is primarily responsible for the planning and execution, they work with the physical plant to do the stage setups. The printing services work on the program for graduation. The president’s office coordinates logistics with the speaker at the commencement,” said Provost Gooch.
