By Larry B. Dendy
With conversion to the semester system this fall, the university will begin holding two commencement ceremonies each year, resuming a custom that was discontinued 24 years ago.
President Michael Adams has announced that a commencement will be held each December for students who complete degree requirements at the end of fall semester. This year's ceremony will be Dec. 19.
"Under the semester calendar, we will have students who are eligible to graduate both in the spring and the fall," Adams says. "A second commencement will provide timely recognition for the fall graduates. I'm pleased that we can provide this important service for these students."
Adams says UGA will be following a pattern adopted by many large universities that are on the semester system.
UGA used to hold two commencements--a large ceremony in June for students who completed degree requirements at the end of fall, winter and spring quarters, and a smaller ceremony in August for summer-quarter graduates. The second commencement was stopped after August 1974.
Fall commencement will be held in Stegeman Coliseum and will include an undergraduate ceremony at 9 a.m. and a cere-mony for master's and doctoral candidates at 2:30 p.m.
The decision to hold a fall ceremony was made after the fall semester calendar was set, and Dec. 19 is the earliest date commencement can be held after final exams. Efforts will be made to plan future calendars so that commencement will be earlier in December.
This year's spring commencement is June 13. In 1999, spring commencement will be May 8.
