Future Mississippi State graduates will hear their names called and walk in front of their peers to be congratulated by the university president at the Humphrey Coliseum.
University officials are finalizing plans to divide graduation into two ceremonies to allow the change, University Relations Director Joe Farris said.
Registrar Butch Stokes said Mississippi State will divide the December commencement into two ceremonies, one at 7 p.m. on Dec. 10 and the other at 10 a.m. Dec. 11. May commencement will also be held in two ceremonies.
“The university decided it is time to have two ceremonies,” he said. “Students want to hear their names announced.”
Stokes said the divided graduation would also be more suitable as the university grows.
“This gives us the ability to grow,” he said. “Particularly in May we almost exceeded capacity at The Hump.”
The new system could encourage more students to participate in commencement exercises, Stokes noted.
“Hopefully it will make the ceremony more meaningful,” he said. “More students will attend than in the past. The problem is that if the numbers grow and more students attend you will have more family members packed in the Hump, and it will get crowded.”
President Charles Lee will make his final decision soon on how students will be divided, but students should be aware of the change, Farris said.
Possibilities include dividing students by college or having undergraduate and graduate commencement on separate days, Provost Peter Rabideau said.
“We ask students to wait for notice of which day they will graduate before they order graduation announcements,” Stokes said.
Concerns that family members could graduate on different nights would be out-weighed by the opportunity for a more personalized experience, Stokes said.
“I don’t think that anyone wants to sit through a three-hour ceremony,” he said. “This will make the event more comfortable, a nicer ceremony and more enjoyable.”