Dear UMPI Students,
I’m very pleased to share with you plans we’re putting in place for this year’s Commencement Exercises. As you know, our charge has been to prepare for a virtual commencement on May 9 as no “live, in-person” commencements will be taking place next month in the University of Maine System. Here is what you can expect to happen for our campus. Significantly, we are planning three events in celebration of your graduation.
On May 9, at 10:30 a.m., we will host our first-ever virtual commencement on UMPI’s Youtube page. This event will include shortened graduation speeches, the presentation of degrees accompanied by a slideshow featuring each of our graduates as well as photos and messages they provide, and culminate in a distance-friendly tossing of the caps. (Please note that we are covering the costs of caps and gowns this year for all of our graduating seniors.) Later today, our Registrar Alex Myhre will be sending students more details connected with this event and items we will need our graduating seniors to complete in the next two weeks. Please note the most up-to-date and accurate information on our 2020 Commencement will be shared on our umpi.edu/graduation page.
In addition to our virtual commencement, we will host a Live Celebratory Event for our 2020 grads during Homecoming Weekend, September 18-20. Preliminary plans are underway now, but this event will give members of the Class of 2020 an opportunity to celebrate with the UMPI community, friends, and family during an official University event.
Finally, as we understand that a Homecoming option may not work for all schedules, our graduating seniors are all also invited to participate in our 2021 Commencement Exercises.
Our goal is to celebrate the Class of 2020 in these very special ways as we recognize that no graduating class has experienced such dislocation and disruption. And while we understand that nothing replaces the live graduation experience originally anticipated for May 9, these plans do allow us to come together and honor our graduates. Please note that all individuals graduating in the Class of 2020, as well as all family, friends, and members of the UMPI community, are welcome at all of these events. So you can choose to participate in as many of these as you wish.
My great thanks to the Commencement Committee, most especially Matthew Payan and Evan Zarkadas, for the work they’ve done in such a very short amount of time to put all of these plans together to appropriately recognize and honor our Class of 2020. And I’m very much looking forward to joining–virtually, as well as in person–with members of campus, family, and friends as we celebrate the Class of 2020.
Ray