Ph.D. ceremony shifts venue

The location, time and ticket allotments have changed for students receiving their doctorates this summer. The ceremony will now be held Aug. 4 at 7 p.m. in the Ferst Center for the Arts.

"The number of candidates exceeded the number of people that could be on the floor of the [Alexander Memorial] Coliseum, so the commencement had to be split into two venues," said David Arnold, director of Client Communications in Institute Communications and Public Affairs.

Both ceremonies will take place on the same day, with one in the morning and one in the evening.

"Both commencements will be on Friday, Aug. 4 with the masters students and the undergraduate students in the Coliseum from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and the Ph.D. students in the Ferst Center from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.," Arnold said.

Many students who plan to attend commencement have not been notified of the changes.

"I sent out an email to my [executive board] and I got a response from a student who said that it was the first they had heard about the change. In the future there should be more notice about commencement," said Mitch Keller, the graduate student body president.

According to Keller, he had heard rumors about it a few weeks ago, but had not heard anything definitive until recently. "The whole thing could have been publicized better," Keller said.

The Coliseum is undergoing renovations due to issues with the fire code and it limits the number of people who can be in the building. According to Arnold, the renovations are the reason the Ph.D. ceremony was moved.

"The general consensus I have been getting is that a Ph.D. degree... is a research degree and should have a more special setting for commencement," Keller said.

As a result of the move, Ph.D. graduates will only receive four guest tickets with the potential to receive an extra two if space permits.

"With ticketing, we are in wait and see mode. We are waiting to see if they fill the Ferst Center and waiting to see how many people don't get as many tickets as they need," Keller said.

According to Keller, if there is a problem getting everyone in the ceremony, the Institute can run closed circuit television to another location so people can still watch the ceremony.

"The general idea is something that can be good. It will be a more intimate environment for the achievement of the terminal degree. The Ph.D. is the ultimate degree," Keller said.

This isn't the first time that the format of commencement has changed.

"Commencement is in a state of flux. The people running commencement have been exploring a bunch of different models," Keller said.

A recent trend affecting commencement is the number of graduating PhD students is on the rise.

"We have to look at the balance of degrees to determine venues and breakdowns," Keller said.

According to Keller, the main issue is consistency.

"No one knew what was going to happen. We have to get some consistency. That doesn't mean that all commencements during the course of the year have to be the same, but that a certain commencement is consistent over the years. If a person is attending the summer commencement, that person should know what the format of the commencement will be ahead of time," Keller said.

Many of the graduate students Keller has talked to have a preference as to what format they would like to see implemented.

"Grad students like to be separated out from the undergrads. It provides an additional element of the event to make it special," Keller said.

Although, according to Keller, undergrads benefit from having a ceremony with the graduates by receiving inspiration to continue in their collegiate careers.

According to Keller, the format of commencement should have some student input.

"There should be an opportunity for dialogue with student leadership, so they can get the information to the students who are affected. We need to sit down in fall and see what works well for everyone involved," Keller said.