The University of Vermont’s 210th commencement ceremony will take place from 9 to 11 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 15, in the Athletic Complex Multipurpose Facility.
 

Rachel Johnson, Robert L. Bickford Green and Gold Professor, former dean of the UVM’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and a nationally prominent nutritionist, will deliver the commencement address to an expected 300 graduates. A reception will follow in the Grand Maple Ballroom and Olin Atrium of the Davis Center.

The closing reflection will be delivered by Provost Jane Knodell.

The December ceremony recognizes those students who completed their coursework at the end of the summer or who will complete degree requirements at the end of the fall semester. Students may choose to participate in December commencement or return for the spring ceremony in May 2013. Students with questions about eligibility may contact their dean's office or the registrar's office.

Students, wearing academic regalia, will be recognized individually as they receive a diploma cover on stage; graduate students will be hooded on stage.

Diplomas will be mailed in January after final grades are submitted and the Faculty Senate votes on the conferring of the degrees. Latin honors – cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude – will be awarded in May when all grades are tallied. Caps and gowns are available at the UVM Bookstore now, along with announcements. Photographs will be taken of each student upon crossing the stage.

Students are asked to line up for the ceremony in Patrick Gymnasium at 8:15 a.m., and faculty will line up in the dance studio starting at 8:30 a.m.

Honorary degrees will be conferred on Theresa L. Tomasi and, posthumously, Carl H. Reidel. This is the first time the degrees have been awarded at December commencement.

Tomasi, a class of 1950 alumna, has dedicated her life to child welfare, adopting 27 children from countries around the world as a single mother, serving as a case worker for the state of Vermont for 11 years and in leadership positions at the DeGoesbriand Hospital and the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont in Burlington for 29 years. She received both the David Goldberg Award for Commitment to Improving the Lives of Vermont Children and the Child Protection Network Lifetime Achievement Award.

Reidel launched the nation’s first university-wide interdisciplinary Environmental Program at UVM in 1972 and was the director of the university’s Environmental Studies program for 28 years. Reidel, who also taught at the University of Minnesota, Williams, Yale and Harvard, served as vice president of the National Wildlife Federation, director of the National Parks Association, the first chair of the Citizen Advisory Committee on the Future of Lake Champlain and as a member of the Vermont House of Representatives.

Commencement parking is located on the main campus in the parking lots at Jeffords Hall and Given Medical Building near the Davis Center. Campus shuttle buses will transport graduates and guests to and from the commencement ceremony in the Multipurpose Facility on the Athletic Campus. Buses will run every five to seven minutes from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to the Patrick Gym/Multipurpose Facility (ceremony), the front door of the Davis Center (reception), and parking lots (bus stops located at the east door of Jeffords Hall and the lobby of the Given Medical Building). Both Jeffords Hall and the Given Building will be open to provide shelter from the weather.

In the event of severe weather that would make travel unsafe, the December commencement ceremony will be cancelled. An announcement will be posted on the UVM homepage and on the recorded message at (802) 656-3309 or toll free (800) 903-6601.


The ceremony will be webcast live by Vermont Public Television.