First updated convocation to be held Friday

McMaster's convocation ceremony has been updated this year in ways that will enrich
the experience of students and their friends and family members in attendance while
preserving the solemnity of the ceremony.

Convocation will begin as it has in the past, with a piper leading graduands, the
academic procession and the Chancellor's Party into the auditorium. Following greetings
from the Chancellor, the President or a dean will introduce the honorary degree
recipient who will deliver the convocation address.

The most noticeable changes will be in the conferral of degrees and the hooding of the
graduands. Graduands will stand at their places in the audience and be formally
admitted to their degrees as a group by the Chancellor. The en masse conferral
facilitates an individual graduate processional across the stage, providing each student
with a singular graduation experience. Graduates then proceed to the stage during a
musical interlude.

As each student's name is called, they will step forward, facing the audience at the left
of the stage, be hooded and then proceed across the stage where they will be
congratulated, centre stage, by the President and the Chancellor, who will rise to greet
and congratulate PhD graduates.

“These changes are important and will contribute very positively to the entire
experience,” said Melissa Pool, acting University Registrar. “We really strived to balance
the changes necessary with the traditions of the ceremony, and we're very pleased with
the outcome.”

The first spring convocation where these changes will be implemented is May 20 when
graduands from the Faculty of Health Sciences receive their degrees at Hamilton Place.