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From Bridges Magazine, Spring 2013
Story by Anita Rathje
On convocation day, before the procession of mortarboards weaves its way into the view of family and friends, the graduands arrive in ones or twos or entire cohorts to check in. There is no dress rehearsal; here, behind the scenes, the students move towards their walk across the stage thanks to a small but enthusiastic chorus of staff and faculty.
“Convocation is a grand spectacle that celebrates the achievements of students and faculty,” says Dr. Katherine Sutherland, Interim Associate Vice-President Academic, Student Relations, “but like any theatrical production, the success of the event depends as much on the talents of the people behind the scenes as those on the stage.”
Of the stations set up to prepare students to convocate, gowning is the point when excitement kicks in. Months of work by events coordinator Wanda Cowles and her team, the Registrar’s staff and the Facilities crew culminates in a roomful of gowns, caps, cords and coloured hoods, where a handful of “gowners” spend a few hours or an entire day in a flurry of tassles and congratulations.
Dr. Nancy Flood helps an eager student into her convocation gown, hood and mortarboard, one of the thousands Nancy has been there to personally congratulate over the years.
“I’ve pinned thousands of hoods onto gowns, given out lots of hugs and said, ‘you look lovely’ hundreds of times,” says Biology faculty member, Dr. Nancy Flood, who has been gowning graduates for over a decade. Stating their names and programs in varying degrees of pride and wonder, students are whisked into black robes and program colours. Loaned out and returned for two ceremonies a day, the regalia keep gowners—here and at the faculty station—on their toes. It’s just part of a campus-wide effort that began, much like the students, with a vision and a plan that takes on a life of its own.
“Convocation is a year-long planning process for our office that encompasses Spring and Fall ceremonies,” explains Cowles. “Each year is bigger than the last with the constant addition of new programs and faculties like Law.”
The Events team works with internal and external partners on the set-up of the venue and the campus at large, coordinates ceremony programs and other print materials, and tries to be everywhere at once at the event to ensure the succession of backstage procedures, multiple ceremonies and receptions run according to plan.
The Facilities department is essential in the execution of the event, from the stage and seating that visitors see to the signage that leads students from check-in through gowning to the processional. The Facilities team spends about 100 hours in direct support of convocation, before and after the event.
The entire campus has an extra sparkle as they also give every building a final spit and polish and make the gardens burst with colour. During the event, staff are on hand across campus to help with directions or last minute parking, or give grads time to take pictures on the stage.
“I don’t know how many pictures we have taken of the grads and their families,” says Utility Coordinator Malcolm Henry. “The team knows that this is a special day for the students and we help them and their families in any way we can.”
The graduates’ credentials and other print materials also involve weeks of preparation. Students planning to convocate must apply to graduate and RSVP for the convocation ceremony. Program advisors then inform the Registrar’s Office of the applicants who have completed the requirements to graduate, and credentials are prepared. The Registrar’s office and program advisors, Financial Aid and Awards and Marketing and Communications staff collaborate in the process of preparing programs, recognizing honorary doctorates, valedictorians and medal winners, printing hundreds of certificates, diplomas and degrees, and even creating the name cards read out as each graduand crosses the stage.
Holding TRU’s ceremonial mace, Acting Registrar Dennis Acreman leads the processional to and from each ceremony in 2012.
“Everyone in the Registrar’s Office celebrates with our graduating students—we feel we’ve played a role in their accomplishments,” says Acting Registrar Dennis Acreman. At the first check-in station on convocation day his staff greet arriving graduands, re-connecting with familiar faces met at Admissions semesters before. At the final station, pronunciations are checked, pins tucked back into hoods, and name cards handed out before the faculty marshals take over for the academic processional.
The stage is set, the stands are full, the bagpipes approach. At the head of the processional, the Registrar leads the Chancellor, President, honourary guests and faculty—also pinned into robes, hoods, and their alma maters’ colourful hats—to their places on the stage, while the graduands are escorted by ushers to their chairs.
Faculty member Saskia Stinson has worn the red satin usher’s vest at Convocation ceremonies for six years. “A student leaving the stage once asked me, ‘Were you in the military?’” laughs Stinson. It takes parade-ground precision to keep 150 to 200 students and their guests moving through each ceremony. The TRU camera crew staff hover on the sidelines, capturing the onstage drama and streaming it live online.
After the caps are tossed and the graduates follow the drummers in a recessional, helpers return to their stations for another ceremony or join the grads and their guests at the reception to offer personal congratulations. An elated Arts graduate approaches advisor Heather Wisla, recognizing her from program advising in Open Learning over two years before. The grad came all the way from Toronto with her mother to attend convocation, proud to have finished her degree.
“She wanted me to meet her mother,” says Wisla, amazed and honoured. Moments like these make the preparations, whether a few hours at check-in or months of detailed planning, all the more rewarding.
Back in the gowning room, the day ends when the last graduates return their caps and gowns, family and friends in tow. The congratulations are louder, the smiles are wider, and the party shoes staff admired as the gowns went on now dangle from graduates’ fingertips.
“For me, it is an honour to be part of this rite of passage for our students,” says Flood. “I love being on stage in my academic regalia and rising with my colleagues to give the graduates a standing ovation when the last one has passed the stage—but I enjoy it all the more having been in the background helping them before (and after) the ceremony. It’s exhausting, but well worth it. I know how hard many TRU staff work to make the day a special one. I’m proud to be a part of the effort.”
Master of Education graduates give a cheer as caps fly into the air on the Campus Commons.
Expanded to four days and six ceremonies this year, Spring 2014 convocation runs June 11 to 14 at the Tournament Capital Centre Fieldhouse. When the caps fly into the air for the last time, staff and faculty will shout congratulations with the rest, inspired to start the process all over again.
WATCH CONVOCATION 2014 LIVE ONLINE AT http://www.livestream.com/livetru
Follow on social media: #TRUgrad
For more information visit TRU’s Convocation page.
Look for the Spring 2014 issue of TRU’s Bridges Magazine around campus and in the community in June for a feature on the Faculty of Law’s first graduating class of 2014.
