The graduation ceremony May 12 on the University of Idaho campus will be the last in a series of six commencement ceremonies this year.
“They’re very big signature events for the university that are very important to a lot of people,” said Nancy Krogh, UI registrar. “They highlight what the university achieves for the state and for the country and for the world … it’s a place to showcase what the university is all about. Obviously it’s also very important to the graduates — it’s a celebration of a lot of work and their academic achievement at the university.”
Krogh is responsible for planning and organizing each of the commencement ceremonies. She works with a team from the registrar’s office, the president’s office and University Support Services to ensure the events will be a success.
The University of Idaho will also award more than 400 degrees at the Boise center, the UI centers in Idaho Falls and Coeur d’Alene and the College of Law commencement ceremony.
Krogh said the overall cost for all six ceremonies will be about $160,000.
“Of that for the May commencement ceremony, we’re anticipating that the University Support Services bill will be about $85 to 90,000,” Krogh said. “There’s lots of organizational things we need to have set up behind the scenes. We have photography and video — we stream the commencement live. There’s the lighting and video screens — because it’s a big event we want to make sure that everyone can see and everyone gets their moment.”
Krogh said the money for commencement is budgeted from the general education fund, and the May ceremony in Moscow is the most expensive because it is the biggest.
“We have college and university marshals led by professor Mickey Gunter. He directs the marshals about how the processions go and they have a rehearsal, the banner bearers have a rehearsal, the deans that greet the students have a rehearsal, the band has a rehearsal — there are lots of rehearsals,” Krogh said. “We have everybody else so organized that the students just get in line.”
Krogh said she spends the year planning and preparing for graduation but finds the outcome rewarding.
“It’s so much fun when you see those graduates coming across and you see them hugging their moms … it’s just so nice,” Krogh said. “It’s what we’re all about. Students are graduating — doing what everybody has worked so hard to have them do, which is have them finish their academic career and then go on into the real world.”
Krogh said it’s important students enjoy the event because they’ve worked hard and commencement is a celebration of their success and achievements at UI.
“They’re called commencements because as the president will say, they’re graduating but the ceremony is commencement because it’s really a celebration of what students are beginning,” Krogh said. “They’re finishing as a student with us, they’ll always be a Vandal, but it’s what they’re starting that’s so great.”
Kaitlyn Krasselt can be reached at [email protected]