Update: Commencement ceremonies have been moved to Memorial Gymnasium due to weather.
Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos will give the traditional address to graduates during the Commencement ceremony beginning 9 a.m. Friday, May 8.
Undergraduates will receive their degrees after the chancellor’s address, while graduate and professional students will adjourn for their own 10:30 a.m. degree ceremonies.
Vanderbilt is granting about 3,400 degrees this year, 1,580 to undergraduates and 1,820 to graduate and professional students. About 2,700 graduates are expected to attend the ceremony.
For the first time, participants in Commencement activities will be given the opportunity to share their impressions and comments through the free social networking service Twitter.
Short messages posted by students and others during the event will be available for viewing by those who sign up for a Twitter account at http://www.twitter.com.
Anyone wishing to share their Commencement experience on Twitter can add #VU2009 to the end of their Twitter posts (called “tweets”). All Commencement tweets may be tracked at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/commencement/twitter. Follow Vanderbilt at http://www.twitter.com/VanderbiltU.
Other events of interest around Commencement:
• THE PARTY, from 9 p.m. to midnight Wednesday, May 6, is an outdoor dance on the lawn near the university’s Peabody College of education and human development. The Al McKay Allstars will entertain with the music of Earth, Wind & Fire.
• Senior Day speaker and winner of Vanderbilt’s 2009 Nichols-Chancellor Medal Doris Kearns Goodwin will address graduating seniors and their friends and family at 10 a.m. Thursday, May 7, in Memorial Gymnasium. Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian whose books include Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.
• Study Breaks are educational seminars led by Vanderbilt faculty for graduating seniors, their friends and families. The hour-long seminars will be presented 1:30-4 p.m. Thursday, May 7, in Wilson Hall. The lineup includes talks on “Historic Uncertainties and New Opportunities in Funding American Higher Education,” “Promise of Nanotechnology: Unique New Properties that can be Tailored and Controlled to Solve Challenges in Our World,” “Complicated Interdependencies: Water, Energy and Food” and “Cornpone and the Cold War: Reassessing the Musical Li’l Abner.”
In case of inclement weather, Memorial Gymnasium will be used instead of Alumni Lawn for Senior Day and Commencement events. THE PARTY is held rain or shine. For more information on Commencement 2009 at Vanderbilt University, go to http://www.vanderbilt.edu/commencement/.
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu