The postponed spring 2020 commencement ceremonies have been rescheduled for the weekend of September 12 and 13.
In late March, President Michael Driscoll announced the postponement of the May ceremonies to promote safety during the coronavirus pandemic. At that time, the university conducted a poll of May and August graduates and their families to see if they would prefer to have a ceremony in September or to join in the regular fall commencement ceremonies in December. The respondents indicated a clear preference for a September ceremony.
Currently, IUP plans to hold all the ceremonies on Saturday, September 12. This includes two undergraduate ceremonies, divided by colleges, at 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. and a ceremony for graduate students at 5:00 p.m. If the ceremonies need to be further divided to limit the number of attendees and allow for social distancing, additional ceremonies will be scheduled for Sunday, September 13.
No college or departmental ceremonies or other recognition events that typically coincide with the spring commencement ceremonies will take place that weekend. The Commencement Committee expects to release a finalized schedule of events for the September ceremonies in roughly two weeks.
Should restrictions on these types of in-person events still be in place in September, the university will further postpone the ceremonies until December.
As a reminder, the Marketing and Communications Division is compiling a video in honor of May and August graduates that will air the week of finals. Members of the IUP community, including students, parents, faculty and staff members, and coaches, are encouraged to submit a video shorter than 30 seconds or a written message three sentences or fewer to share well wishes, advice, or praise for the graduates. Participants should include their name and department or office and send the message to brand-management@iup.edu by Thursday, April 30.