Commencement Ceremonies Moved to Apogee Starting 2015

[FirefightnRick]

These places arent in Texas. You cant predict the weather down here. Especially for the May and summer graduations, are you kidding me? Black robes in Summer?

My class wore Green Robes and Caps.

Rick

[Christopher Walker]

My class wore Green Robes and Caps.

Rick

And?

[laxtonto]

Im pissed..

Screwed me out of my true doctoral graduation.. Now screwing with my doctoral robes (they want green instead of black). Those things are a grand a piece..

Not liking this shit at all. Pretty much shit all over the doc students on this one.. lets just say that any donation I will be making is not going to the general fund but to COB scholarship fund..

Not happy.. not happy at all..

[FirefightnRick]

And?

...and it was BAD ASS!

Rick

[ChristopherRyanWilkes]

Im pissed..

Screwed me out of my true doctoral graduation.. Now screwing with my doctoral robes (they want green instead of black). Those things are a grand a piece..

Not liking this shit at all. Pretty much shit all over the doc students on this one.. lets just say that any donation I will be making is not going to the general fund but to COB scholarship fund..

Not happy.. not happy at all..

My understanding is that you'll have another commencement ceremony with your program. The large ceremony is just for everyone and neither is required. If you just want to walk the stage, just go to your programs commencement. Sounded like what UT does, when my brother graduated we did his college of business ceremony in the coliseum and then later that day did the big one with all students. I thought it was pretty cool.

[All About UNT]

My understanding is that you'll have another commencement ceremony with your program. The large ceremony is just for everyone and neither is required. If you just want to walk the stage, just go to your programs commencement. Sounded like what UT does, when my brother graduated we did his college of business ceremony in the coliseum and then later that day did the big one with all students. I thought it was pretty cool.

Insert brother joke. Kevin > You

[SAGreenFan]

I think this is a great decision. NT commencement ceremonies are long, and frankly the key note speakers are terrible. I graduated in May of 2008 and our key note was the brand new president of the NT Alumni association. At one point he referred to us as proud graduates of UT and after he was booed said "Oh please I missed a consonant." I think we could stand a change.

Edited December 10, 2014 by SAGreenFan

[Cerebus]

Screwed me out of my true doctoral graduation..

Congrats a completing a ton of work.

[Withers940]

...and it was BAD ASS!

No disrespect to your badass green robes but the May Class of 2010 from the Arts and Science division wore black robes.

BLACK=SEXY

[Ryan Munthe]

Im pissed..

Screwed me out of my true doctoral graduation.. Now screwing with my doctoral robes (they want green instead of black). Those things are a grand a piece..

Not liking this shit at all. Pretty much shit all over the doc students on this one.. lets just say that any donation I will be making is not going to the general fund but to COB scholarship fund..

Not happy.. not happy at all..

I'll be graduating with a masters, and I'm pretty jealous of your green robes.

[FirefightnRick]

I'll be graduating with a masters, and I'm pretty jealous of your green robes.

Green Caps and Gowns are Bad Ass....cause their GREEN!

Rick

[VideoEagle]

I'm sure Rick's graduation was great, but I've never personally attended a college graduation where the gowns themselves were not black. And every high school graduation has a rainbow of colored gowns.

My NT undergrad graduation was black. My Baylor MBA graduation was black. Both of my nieces TCU graduations, black. Sisters from Trinity and SHSU were black.

I'm sure green looks fine, but black is the more standard college grown color.

[oldguystudent]

but black is the more standard college grown color.

I dunno. I bet they grow a lot of green in college.

[FirefightnRick]

I'm sure green looks fine, but black is the more standard college grown color.

Black IS standard, except when your university is celebrating its Centennial.

Then it's Bad Ass time!

Rick

[VideoEagle]

Black IS standard, except when your university is celebrating its Centennial.

Then it's Bad Ass time!

Rick

That WAS cool!

[Tyler Maryak]

My thoughts exactly... May/June in Texas.... Shirt & tie under your black cap n gown. Someone one is gonna pass out, bank on it.

People pass out at graduations in the Super Pit...average temperature in Denton in mid-May is 80 degrees.

[GBmello]

A lot of you seem to be missing the fact that the commencement starts at 8:00 PM. It says so in the FAQs. Yes, there are pre-commencement celebrations starting at 4:00 PM outside in the tailgating area, but water among other concessions will be available, so heat should not be an issue.

[laxtonto]

I'll be graduating with a masters, and I'm pretty jealous of your green robes.

Until you realize that those green robes cost 1k+ and there is a strong possibility that after making that purchase I may have to buy another traditional (black) color at my new institution.

The problem isn't that they are changing, the problem is that that they are telling everyone after the application to apply for December graduation. Combine that with killing off the most common doctoral graduation in August and changing the robe color to boot, and you are going to see many angry new doctorates.

I'm in the business college, paying 1k for robes a year after I get out won't kill me. Most of the other new doctorates that will be a huge financial commitment that may or may not be flushed when they get to their new institution.

The whole entire process was poorly timed and they did little to no checking with the doc students on the potential impact of these changes. That is extremely unfortunate and will cause many to hold a long-term grudge.

As an example, if you make May graduation mandatory how does that work with international students and visa requirements? If they can't walk in August do they intend to let walk in May without graduating beforehand? If not, how does that impact their visa paperwork and OPT by forcing them out in May instead of August? If not then now you are saying that the graduation and dissertation deadlines no longer matter if you are letting them walk instead in May. That leads to an even larger mess. That means I do not need to submit a completed dissertation to graduate. That is a disaster waiting to happen and will lead to an even larger number of dissertations going incomplete.

To go further. if I walk in May as a graduate, they stand a chance of cutting my funding, because I am no longer a student. No what? The school is no longer liable for me if I am not student. No insurance, no office, no access to materials to compete my research (which may or may not be finished). If I am no longer a student where am I going to work from mid May till mid August, when the faculty jobs all start? That will be a huge issue here. By killing the summer graduation you are screwing up the academic schedule for placement.

[Christopher Walker]

Until you realize that those green robes cost 1k+ and there is a strong possibility that after making that purchase I may have to buy another traditional (black) color at my new institution.

The problem isn't that they are changing, the problem is that that they are telling everyone after the application to apply for December graduation. Combine that with killing off the most common doctoral graduation in August and changing the robe color to boot, and you are going to see many angry new doctorates.

I'm in the business college, paying 1k for robes a year after I get out won't kill me. Most of the other new doctorates that will be a huge financial commitment that may or may not be flushed when they get to their new institution.

The whole entire process was poorly timed and they did little to no checking with the doc students on the potential impact of these changes. That is extremely unfortunate and will cause many to hold a long-term grudge.

As an example, if you make May graduation mandatory how does that work with international students and visa requirements? If they can't walk in August do they intend to let walk in May without graduating beforehand? If not, how does that impact their visa paperwork and OPT by forcing them out in May instead of August? If not then now you are saying that the graduation and dissertation deadlines no longer matter if you are letting them walk instead in May. That leads to an even larger mess. That means I do not need to submit a completed dissertation to graduate. That is a disaster waiting to happen and will lead to an even larger number of dissertations going incomplete.

To go further. if I walk in May as a graduate, they stand a chance of cutting my funding, because I am no longer a student. No what? The school is no longer liable for me if I am not student. No insurance, no office, no access to materials to compete my research (which may or may not be finished). If I am no longer a student where am I going to work from mid May till mid August, when the faculty jobs all start? That will be a huge issue here. By killing the summer graduation you are screwing up the academic schedule for placement.

Sorry bud, I think you are confusing this a bit.

[3XNTGRAD]

Until you realize that those green robes cost 1k+ and there is a strong possibility that after making that purchase I may have to buy another traditional (black) color at my new institution.

1) You can rent robes. No one is required to buy them, so if you want to wait and purchase a different color later you can.

2) Not sure about other institutions, but as faculty I get my robes for free rental at UNT any time I attend graduation.

[FirefightnRick]

Until you realize that those green robes cost 1k+ and there is a strong possibility that after making that purchase I may have to buy another traditional (black) color at my new institution.

The problem isn't that they are changing, the problem is that that they are telling everyone after the application to apply for December graduation. Combine that with killing off the most common doctoral graduation in August and changing the robe color to boot, and you are going to see many angry new doctorates.

I'm in the business college, paying 1k for robes a year after I get out won't kill me. Most of the other new doctorates that will be a huge financial commitment that may or may not be flushed when they get to their new institution.

The whole entire process was poorly timed and they did little to no checking with the doc students on the potential impact of these changes. That is extremely unfortunate and will cause many to hold a long-term grudge.

As an example, if you make May graduation mandatory how does that work with international students and visa requirements? If they can't walk in August do they intend to let walk in May without graduating beforehand? If not, how does that impact their visa paperwork and OPT by forcing them out in May instead of August? If not then now you are saying that the graduation and dissertation deadlines no longer matter if you are letting them walk instead in May. That leads to an even larger mess. That means I do not need to submit a completed dissertation to graduate. That is a disaster waiting to happen and will lead to an even larger number of dissertations going incomplete.

To go further. if I walk in May as a graduate, they stand a chance of cutting my funding, because I am no longer a student. No what? The school is no longer liable for me if I am not student. No insurance, no office, no access to materials to compete my research (which may or may not be finished). If I am no longer a student where am I going to work from mid May till mid August, when the faculty jobs all start? That will be a huge issue here. By killing the summer graduation you are screwing up the academic schedule for placement.

Are you saying something this important at North Texas wasn't clearly thought thru? Surely not? Afterall, we're so "Creative" and are "Above The Rest For Thousands Less".

Some people will bitch about anything(Sarcasm).

Rick

[Elvis]

Until you realize that those green robes cost 1k+ and there is a strong possibility that after making that purchase I may have to buy another traditional (black) color at my new institution.

The problem isn't that they are changing, the problem is that that they are telling everyone after the application to apply for December graduation. Combine that with killing off the most common doctoral graduation in August and changing the robe color to boot, and you are going to see many angry new doctorates.

I'm in the business college, paying 1k for robes a year after I get out won't kill me. Most of the other new doctorates that will be a huge financial commitment that may or may not be flushed when they get to their new institution.

The whole entire process was poorly timed and they did little to no checking with the doc students on the potential impact of these changes. That is extremely unfortunate and will cause many to hold a long-term grudge.

As an example, if you make May graduation mandatory how does that work with international students and visa requirements? If they can't walk in August do they intend to let walk in May without graduating beforehand? If not, how does that impact their visa paperwork and OPT by forcing them out in May instead of August? If not then now you are saying that the graduation and dissertation deadlines no longer matter if you are letting them walk instead in May. That leads to an even larger mess. That means I do not need to submit a completed dissertation to graduate. That is a disaster waiting to happen and will lead to an even larger number of dissertations going incomplete.

To go further. if I walk in May as a graduate, they stand a chance of cutting my funding, because I am no longer a student. No what? The school is no longer liable for me if I am not student. No insurance, no office, no access to materials to compete my research (which may or may not be finished). If I am no longer a student where am I going to work from mid May till mid August, when the faculty jobs all start? That will be a huge issue here. By killing the summer graduation you are screwing up the academic schedule for placement.

FYI, Walking for graduation does not mean that you graduate. Many, especially, under graduate students, think they are graduating but do not learn until after the ceremony that they failed a class and thus did not graduate despite walking. Also you will still be able to graduate in the summer, you can just not walk then, but you can walk in May if you choose. In fact, there will likely be no walking at the combined may graduation. So, this has no effect on actual graduation, only on when to invite your family to see you. Also the colleges will likely still have their own "walking" ceremony twice a year in a different location.

[Elvis]

1) You can rent robes. No one is required to buy them, so if you want to wait and purchase a different color later you can.

2) Not sure about other institutions, but as faculty I get my robes for free rental at UNT any time I attend graduation.

3). As a faculty you generally wear the robe from the institution where you you obtained your phd degree, so no need for a new robe as you move elsewhere. You will notice the many different faculty robes and hoods at graduation.

[laxtonto]

1) You can rent robes. No one is required to buy them, so if you want to wait and purchase a different color later you can.

2) Not sure about other institutions, but as faculty I get my robes for free rental at UNT any time I attend graduation.

3). As a faculty you generally wear the robe from the institution where you you obtained your phd degree, so no need for a new robe as you move elsewhere. You will notice the many different faculty robes and hoods at graduation.

1. This is a wonderful idea, except for the fact due to their change in mandates they are essentially pushing an additional cost (be it only about 150 or so) back on the doc students to rent a different set of regalia and then purchase another set.

2. Most schools do not provide free rentals anymore. Most regalia if provided is now funded out of the department or college and not the university. It sucks, but that is the way the world has moved to. FYI, don't be shocked the that free regalia provided by UNT (which is most likely not funded at the university level but at he department or college level) be on the chopping block as well.

3. Depends on the school. Some schools do, some schools do not. The biggest issue here is making green mandatory instead of an option is that most schools accept black as the default or their school specific colored regalia.

And for those that state that the graduation does not confer the degree, you are correct. But when dealing with doctorates the primary reason why the universtriy restrict the application for graduation until you have a submitted manuscript to the graduate reader is that we are notorious about not finishing the dissertation. By letting people walk in May without the completed dissertation, you are inviting disaster.