After Years of sharing a commencement ceremony with undergraduate students, graduates of the College of Graduate and Professional Studies (CGPS) will have a separate ceremony this May. The May 10th ceremony will take place at 7 p.m. in Jarman Auditorium the night before the undergraduate ceremony and will feature Interim President Marge Connelly as the keynote speaker.
Kathy Charleston, assistant dean of the CGPS, has been a strong advocate of such an event for more than 12 years. She said earning a graduate degree, while not necessarily more important than an undergraduate degree, is a “whole different kind of accomplishment.”
Charleston said support for a separate ceremony was not strong until recently, as the undergraduate population has grown significantly.
Easter said it seemed that the 120 to 140 graduate students who graduate annually were beginning to be “tacked on” at the end of the ceremony and a separate ceremony will better highlight their achievements.
“They don’t get to have the connection to Longwood, the typical undergraduate connection, because they’re not here every day, five days a week, getting to participate in all the kinds of activities that are the hallmark of an undergraduate experience,” said Charleston.
Diane Easter, assistant to the president and director of Events and Ceremonies, said a May 10th hooding ceremony, at which graduates’ program coordinators place their hoods on them while they are on stage, was already in the works for this year.
Easter said it made sense to make the ceremony the full commencement ceremony since the graduates’ families and friends would already be in attendance.
Easter said the separate commencement ceremony has received positive feedback. Many graduate students have heavy responsibilities, such as families or full-time jobs in addition to their education, and Easter believes the ceremony is the university’s way of recognizing this.
“It’s an acknowledgment that they’re kind of at a different place, and they deserve this special recognition.”
