Coming soon: UAA Commencement in the Alaska Airlines Center
by Jamie Gonzales |
It's been nearly 30 years since UAA has been able to host graduates on campus at the annual commencement celebration. But that's all about to change with the completion of the Alaska Airlines Center. In December 2014, you could be invited to attend your favorite summer or fall graduate's commencement ceremony in the new arena. And May 2015 could find you in the arena stands cheering for your spring graduates.
"We are excited to invite the community to UAA for future commencement ceremonies so they can feel the energy on campus and celebrate the tremendous achievements of our students who have made UAA their academic home in the years leading up to their diplomas," said Chancellor Tom Case.
Beyond the move back to campus, there will now be two commencement ceremonies-one in December for summer and fall graduates and another in May for spring graduates. Holding a December commencement as well as the May commencement was the recommendation given to the Chancellor's Cabinet by a campus event task force following months of work to explore the best use of new and existing campus facilities.
The university outgrew the Wells Fargo Sports Complex as a commencement venue in the mid-1980s and moved graduates and their proud supporters to the Sullivan Arena downtown in 1987 where they've been ever since.
In recent years, UAA has awarded between 1,800 and 2,000 degrees annually, with between 700 and 800 students choosing to walk in the commencement ceremony.
The Alaska Airlines Center has the capacity to hold nearly 900 graduating students and 4,400 guests per commencement ceremony, fewer than the Sullivan Arena's capacity for 1,000 students and 5,500 guests. Instituting two ceremonies will address the capacity concerns and also potentially increase participation in commencement by summer and fall graduates.
"Bringing commencement back to campus has added value, too, in inviting the community to UAA's 'front porch' to see how things may have changed since their last visit," said Bridgett Mackey, special events coordinator and chair of the chancellor's task force on university-wide events.
Hooding ceremonies for graduate students will continue to be staged in the Wendy Williamson Auditorium, but UAA will also add a December hooding to the slate of commencement events for summer and fall graduates in addition to the May hooding for spring graduates students.
This year's spring commencement will take place as planned on May 4 in the Sullivan Arena.
For more information about commencement, please visit the website.
Written by Jamie Gonzales, UAA Office of University Advancement.
"Coming soon: UAA Commencement in the Alaska Airlines Center" is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
