Graduates to 'Walk' in University of Arkansas' First Fall Commencement in Forty Years

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – An estimated 700 University of Arkansas graduates are expected to walk across the stage at Barnhill Arena in the university’s first Fall Commencement since 1971. The ceremony will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, and will include graduate, law and undergraduate students who either graduated at the end of the summer 2011 term or will graduate at the end of the fall 2011 semester.

Civil rights icon Ernest Green, one of the original “Little Rock Nine,” and longtime Arkansas Congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt will receive honorary degrees and address the students during the ceremony. Green will be given a Doctor of Humane Letters degree and Hammerschmidt will receive a Doctor of Laws degree.

“The university decided to revive the Fall Commencement tradition for two main reasons,” said registrar Dave Dawson. “First, we have had a growing number of requests from students and their parents over the years to have a ceremony for those who earn their degrees in the fall. Second, we saw that the growing enrollment on campus was contributing to the need for two ceremonies in an academic year.”

Approximately 2,500 students graduated from the University of Arkansas in spring, 2011, although not all of them took part in commencement ceremonies.

Students who graduated this summer were invited to register for the Fall Commencement ceremony, and students who applied to graduate at the end of the fall semester were able to register for the commencement through their ISIS account.

Students and faculty taking part in the ceremony will begin lining up at 8 a.m.

The doors to Barnhill Arena will open to the public at 7:30 a.m. Anyone wishing to attend the ceremony can enter through the upper south, upper east, and lower north doors of the building. Disabled drop off is available on the west side entrance accessed from Meadow Street. All guests will be required to go through a security check, so please allow extra time for this preventive measure. Wrapped gifts, umbrellas, backpacks, strollers and noise makers will not be allowed into the ceremony. These items must be left at the entrance. Cameras and other personal items will be inspected, and, of course, no firearms or weapons of any kind are permitted.

Additional information is available at the registrar’s website.

Commencement parking will be available in lot 44, and the Stadium Avenue Parking Facility. Parking for people with disabilities is available in in lots 59 and 67. A map of these lots can be found on the registrar’s website.

Between 1948 and 1971 the University of Arkansas held an annual Winter Commencement in January or February. Now that the tradition as been revived the university plans to hold the ceremony in December each year, after fall semester finals.