UW-Green Bay works to reimagine commencement ceremony
Green Bay, Wis.—As a part of ongoing efforts to keep students, faculty, and staff safe while also doing its part to contain community spread of the coronavirus, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay today announced it has canceled its on-campus spring commencement ceremony and is working to reimagine a celebration honoring graduates. The University was slated to hold its 101st commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 16, 2020.
“Degrees can be conferred if all academic requirements are met regardless of whether or not we have a ceremony on campus,” said Interim Chancellor Sheryl Van Gruensven. “Commencement is one of the happiest days on a university campus. It is a day that is long-awaited, justly earned and richly savored by students, families, faculty and staff alike. While we are canceling the on-campus ceremony, make no mistake: UW-Green Bay will find a way to celebrate our students and their accomplishments following the end of this semester. There may not be an in-person ceremony, but there will be a celebration,” said Van Gruensven.
“As educators, we are disappointed and know our students will be disappointed, but the risk of continuing the spread of this powerful virus is simply too great,” Van Gruensven added.
UW-Green Bay Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Michael Alexander echoed the Chancellor’s comments. “We are working very hard to reinvent what Commencement will look like for 2020. Many ideas are being explored. The ceremony will look different but the sentiment remains: UW-Green Bay is supremely proud to provide the communities’ problem solvers and creative thinkers who are ready to help our region move forward. As we come out on the other side of this world crisis, we want everyone to see how fearless, resilient and generous these new leaders are. They are critical to helping us recover and to finding our way back as a community and world.”
About the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is a comprehensive public institution offering undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs to more than 8,700 students with campus locations in Green Bay, Marinette, Manitowoc and Sheboygan. Established in 1965 on the border of Green Bay, the University and its campuses are centers of cultural enrichment, innovation and learning. The Green Bay campus is home to one of the Midwest’s most prolific performing arts centers, a nationally recognized 4,000-seat student recreation center, D-I athletics, an award-winning nine-hole golf course and a five-mile recreational trail and arboretum, which is free and open to the public. This four-campus University transforms lives and communities through student-focused teaching and research, innovative learning opportunities, powerful connections and a problem-solving approach to education. UW-Green Bay’s main campus is centrally located, close to both the Door County resort area and the dynamic economies of Northeast Wisconsin, the Fox Valley region and the I-43 corridor. UW-Green Bay offers in-demand programs in science, engineering and technology; business; health, education and social welfare; and arts, humanities and social sciences. For more information, visit www.uwgb.edu.
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