Celebrating a non-commencement, commencement
On September 18, 2021 the university held its non-commencement, commencement at Camp Randall, exactly 497 days since the Class of 2020 was supposed to celebrate. This in-person event followed the official virtual commencement ceremonies and invited students from spring 2020, summer 2020, and fall 2020 who were unable to have an in-person ceremony. More of a celebration than a ceremony, all students who were invited have had their degrees conferred.
This celebration was the first time since 1965 when both the winter and spring graduates joined in celebration during one, shared event. With a crowd of around 8,000 the event was a large success. There were around 2,700 graduates in attendance, about 25% of those who were invited, and over 5000 spectators, cheerleaders, and others there to join the celebration.
This joyous celebration brought some new challenges to data wrangling. Traditionally data specialists lean on standard queries to include students who have applied to graduate to supply to the commencement planners for inclusion in the program. Since many of these students involved in the event have already graduated, the Registrar data specialists had to modify these existing queries and processes to report students who have earned their degrees and include them in the program. An additional challenge of including students in the program was reminding and notifying students of FERPA restrictions. Students who previously had a FERPA hold needed to be reminded to release the hold to allow the inclusion of their names. The challenge came when attempting to communicate with students who had graduated earlier and were not checking their student email but wished to have their names included in the program.
This special event and celebration was just one of many events that took place over the weekend to honor graduates. There was a breakfast on the Terrace, a concert at the Sylvee and more. Scott Owczarek, as part of his platform party responsibilities during the celebration, was responsible to help Pat Connaughton, commencement speaker and Bucks player, present the NBA championship trophy on the stage! The weekend was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate student success and celebrate those dedicated to the university and their degrees despite the hardships and changes caused by the pandemic.
(Photo by Bryce Richter / UW–Madison)