Update on Commencement

April 7, 2020

To the campus community,

This past week I was able to spend time on a Zoom Chat with over 100 students of our Class of 2020. This meeting was so important to me to personally hear the thoughts, concerns, and passion of this senior class regarding Commencement. It became very clear that the top priority of our seniors is having an in-person commencement, a time to be back together on-campus with their classmates and families and to walk across a stage, even though the date must be changed.

Therefore, I want to communicate today that RWU will be postponing (not cancelling) our in-person, on-campus, Commencement events and we will look to re-schedule our events for a date as soon as it is safe to do so. We will not hold any virtual Commencement ceremonies in May.

I appreciate the feedback of our seniors and their ideas for a great Commencement. There were many ideas shared and questions about Commencement Ball, academic honors, if they can still jump into the fountain, and much more! I look forward to seeing all of our Class of 2020 in person on campus for the Commencement ceremonies they deserve.

Our commencement and events team will be looking at possible dates throughout the summer and we will look to schedule the events with enough time to prepare to attend, communicate with family and other guests, make travel plans and reserve hotel space, and perform all other required logistics.

I am looking forward to presiding over Commencement 2020 and watching these amazing students cross our graduation stage as soon as possible.

Best,
Yannis