Date, Time, Location

Date: Saturday, August 22, 2009

Time: Student Procession begins at 1:15 PM, Full Procession begins at 2:10pm, Ceremony begins at 2:30 PM

Location: Tent behind Campus Recreation Center

What is Convocation?

Convocation is a gathering of learners that celebrates and marks a student’s entry into the Roger Williams University community and the beginning of the academic year.  Full of tradition, it provides a formal welcoming to the University just as the Commencement ceremony provides a closing. 

During the ceremony, the faculty and staff are dressed in academic regalia, the University Mace and Flag are carried in by the Faculty Marshall, and students take the Academic Integrity Pledge.  All this is done in the presence of family members, fellow students and the University faculty and staff. 

Details for Convocation

• At approximately 1:15pm, bagpipers will pass the residence halls signaling the beginning of the procession to the tent behind the Campus Recreation Center.  Students will walk behind the bagpipers.  Commuter students should meet at the Campus Recreation Center at 1:30pm to join the procession.
  
  
• Seating will begin at 1:30 pm.; family members are encouraged to attend.   All family members should be seated by 2:15pm as the procession will enter the tent shortly thereafter.
  
  
• Upon arrival at the Campus Recreation Center, staff will help students with their robes.  The robes are sized by height, and are along one wall of the gym.  When students pick up their robe, they are to place it over their arm and line up behind the banner of the school in which their major is located. 
  
  
• Students will then be given instructions for the ceremony and will be led out of the gym and toward the tent behind the Campus Recreation Center.  When students get to the tent, they will go to their seats but remain standing. 
  
  
• Students are encouraged to pay close attention, as there will be several speakers.  At a given point in the ceremony, students rise, put on their robe and are welcomed into their schools by their respective Deans.  The students will then recite the Academic Integrity Pledge.     
  
  
• Once the ceremony has officially closed, students will process out of the tent and back into the gym.  Students will drop off their robe to the table marked with the appropriate size.