Arlette Henry
It's just around 9:20 a.m. on commencement day. University of Ottawa's newest graduates file into Southam Hall at the National Arts Centre. Though jittery, they savor the moment, proud to be receiving the diploma they've toiled for with the support of friends and family. Today, they are front and centre. The stage is theirs—and a full contingent of uOttawa staff is on hand to guide every one of them along the way.
Who indeed stages the show known as convocation or commencement? How is it possible to run as many as 12 ceremonies in a row over just several days, to hand out roughly 7,000 diplomas barely a few weeks after final exams...and to keep smiling throughout?
Work in fact begins early in the year. Faculty academic teams identify students likely to complete their program by the end of the session if they meet their degree requirements. So, one by one, each student's academic record is checked and double-checked in the process.
At the Registrar's Office in the meantime, staff members relay the names of future graduates to the Senate, print official transcripts and diplomas, then check each and every one for possible mistakes; at the same time, the team organizes the ceremony itself, making sure students each get their rightful ticket allotment for guests, planning for the best way to help students with special needs—and, when convocation day arrives, greeting all the gradates and making sure they're fitted with the gown and academic hood matching their degree and faculty (each faculty has a designated colour, and the length of the academic hood varies according to the degree received: bachelor's, master's or doctorate). Next, students are lined up according to the roll call and, after their walk across centre stage, are given their parchment backstage---all in record time. Finally, the uOttawa ceremonies team has to expect the unexpected and to plan accordingly: surprises and convocation ceremonies go hand in hand, it seems. Not surprisingly, the team's motto is a simple one: Be prepared.
Impossible to overlook as well are the honorary doctors and the dozens upon dozens of professors and Senate members in their spectacular academic regalia from around the world, making the academic procession a solemn yet colourful and inspiring part of every ceremony.
No matter what challenges crop up during commencement celebrations, the event team—made up of regular University staff, casual employees hired for the event and NAC personnel—always finds a way around the problem. The slogan for the day: Our graduates come first, because this is their day and their show—a seasoned production staged by a masterful crew.
