Under COVID-19 restrictions, U of G is holding a single online event for grads of all seven colleges, numbering nearly 3,900 students for summer convocation and 1,100 for winter.

The June 24 event features a main video recording on the convocation website with messages from senior administrators, award-winning students, honorary degree recipients and international alumni.

From the main website, grads will be able to access college videos to hear addresses by honorary degree recipients.

A highlight will be a recorded roll call of grads’ names read alongside depictions of their submitted photos or videos.

Earlier, all graduates were mailed convocation boxes containing their degree parchments along with items for their at-home celebration.

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Adorned with the University crest, the box contained each graduate’s degree, a souvenir program, a red and gold tassel, a congratulatory letter from the college dean and a biodegradable confetti cannon. An event ticket directed grads to a website for a video featuring the University’s outgoing president, Franco Vaccarino, and incoming president Charlotte Yates.

“Our graduates will never forget the year when they had to move from on-campus and in the classroom to at-home and online,” says Ray Darling, University registrar. “I hope they have learned what is possible when we are challenged and how to turn a crisis into an opportunity.”

For more information go to our Convocation website.

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“Young people today are able to cope with and process more information and attend to more sources of new information and knowledge than any other generation,” said Vaccarino. But being constantly inundated with information from our smartphones, tablets and laptops makes it even more important to take the time to stop and think.

Vaccarino compared this deluge of data to a river flowing with new ideas and knowledge. “We need to think faster” to process this information while considering its long-term impact. U of G teaches students how to engage in both reactive and reflective thinking to improve life for themselves, their community and their world.

The University graduated more than 1,000 students during winter convocation ceremonies in February. Six ceremonies were held over two days at War Memorial Hall. –SUSAN BUBAK

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