Athabasca University will celebrate its continued success in distance and online learning with this year’s graduation ceremonies June 7-9 at the Multiplex.
The university has people graduating all year round from 80 different countries throughout the world. This continuous graduating helps to contribute to the uniqueness of the official convocation because it gives way to a much smaller and more intimate setting, noted AU events coordinator Mel MacGregor.
“Our convocation is unique in that it is very personal and more intimate, and therefore more people-oriented in general,” MacGregor said. “It’s a different kind of hospitality that people get from the Town of Athabasca, Athabasca County and AU staff. We literally roll out the red carpet for all attendees.”
MacGregor added that the hospitality extends to all people who come out in support of the grads. She noted that this is because AU wants to recognize all those who helped the students get to where they are today as graduates with university degrees.
As a way to recognize all the contributions made by individuals who helped get the graduate to the stage, MacGregor said AU doesn’t limit the number of people a student can bring to the ceremonies, and under the right circumstance, MacGregor said the university can be very accommodating.
“I once had a student tell me it took them 21 years to finish their degree because they started, had a few kids, picked it back up, had a few more kids, and other things like life got in the way, so it took them a long time to finish, but they ultimately did,” MacGregor said. “I told her that she could bring one person for every year it took her to graduate, so she came with 21 people to convocation at no charge to her.
“It’s circumstances like this that make AU special and make our convocation special because at AU we are all about breaking down barriers.”
MacGregor noted that in addition to not charging people for additional guests, the school picks up the tab on the whole ceremony from administrative fees to gown rentals; there is no cost to the student to attend convocation from AU and the only costs include personal or travel expenses. Not only does the university cover the costs, they also feed all attendees two meals for each day of convocation at no cost.
As each student walks across the stage to get their envelope, they get their personal biography read before all in attendance.
Given that AU is a distance university, often students talk to their professors only by email or over the phone and rarely get to meet in person, and MacGregor said this too helps to create a more personal atmosphere at convocation.
“A lot of the time convocation is a real time for connecting, and I often get calls from students to ask if certain professors are going to be at the ceremony so that they can meet their mentors and teachers in person,” MacGregor said. “We try to help where we can to make sure those two individuals get a chance to meet and connect.”
Each day is a different faculty. Thursday will see the Arts and Social Sciences graduate, Friday is all about the Sciences and Health Studies, and Saturday lends itself to the Businesses. On each day there is also an Honorary Doctorate given out.
Ceremonies start at 8 a.m. and run until after the official ceremonies which start at 12 p.m. Every day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. there will be opportunities for student portraits. For more information about the ceremonies or the schedule, visit http://www.athabascau.ca/convocation, or contact MacGregor at 780-675-6646 or events assistant Corina Lasiuk at1-800-788-9041.
