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Campus Announcements Student Success

Miami will hold in-person commencement May 13-16

More than 4,000 graduates to be celebrated across nine ceremonies

Red mortarboard with a Miami M jeweled on it
Campus Announcements Student Success

Miami will hold in-person commencement May 13-16

Updated March 19 to include information about the Class of 2020 ceremony

Miami University President Gregory Crawford announced today that the university intends to hold in-person commencement ceremonies for its more than 4,000 graduates May 14-16, while also live-streaming the ceremonies for those unable to attend in person. Miami will hold an additional ceremony at 7 p.m. May 13 for its Class of 2020, whose in-person ceremony was canceled last year because of the pandemic.

In alignment with State of Ohio capacity guidelines, Miami will host nine ceremonies (eight divisional and one for the Class of 2020) at Yager Stadium (an outdoor venue) rain or shine. 

“Commencement is a beloved tradition and our opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of our students as they reach this milestone in their academic journey,” Crawford said. “The pandemic has shaped this last year in many ways, and in the face of the unprecedented challenges, these students have shown remarkable creativity, flexibility, and fortitude. We are thrilled to be able to recognize their achievements in person this spring.”

Ceremonies will incorporate remarks from 2021 Commencement speaker Dr. Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins and allow graduates in attendance to be individually recognized as they walk across the commencement stage. 

To maintain social distancing and to meet capacity limits, each graduate is permitted to invite up to six guests to the ceremony. Guests will have assigned seats in “pods” that are socially distanced from other attendees. All participants, graduates, guests, and staff will be required to wear a face mask and maintain social distancing during the events. 

University officials continue to monitor the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure proper distancing and the implementation of strategies to help minimize the risk of coronavirus transmission. Should parameters for safely gathering change and ceremony details change, Miami will notify the community as soon as possible. 

More details, including the procedure for ticket orders, will be shared in the coming weeks on the Commencement website. Timing of the divisional ceremonies is as follows. 

Thursday, May 13
7 p.m. Class of 2020
 
Friday, May 14
1:30 p.m. -  College of Creative Arts
7 p.m. - College of Liberal Arts and Applied Science (Miami Regionals)
 
Saturday, May 15
8 a.m. - College of Engineering and Computing
1:30 p.m. - College of Arts and Science (majors TBD)
7 p.m. - College of Arts and Science (majors TBD)
 
Sunday, May 16
8 a.m. - College of Education, Health and Society
1:30 p.m. - Farmer School of Business (majors TBD)
7 p.m. - Farmer School of Business (majors TBD)
 
Last week, Miami announced that the university will return to in-person classes and operations by Fall 2021. Crawford’s announcement to the campus, as well as additional information on the university’s response to the pandemic, can be found on the Healthy Together website here.