6 | News
SNHU Announces Virtual Commencement for Classes of 2020 and 2021 Stefan Karlberg and Taylor Posik News Co-Editor and Staff Writer SNHU has announced that the Commencement ceremonies for the classes of 2020 and 2021 have been scheduled to take place virtually Saturday, May 8. Joining the ranks of universities like Saint Anselm’s College and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, SNHU has decided to err on the side of caution and postpone in-person Commencement ceremonies. In an email sent out to both graduating classes, the SNHU Commencement Team notified students of the decision, saying, “All Southern New Hampshire University 2020 and Spring 2021 graduates will be recognized and celebrated in a virtual commencement ceremony on May 8. In-person celebrations have been postponed until we can safely gather all of our graduates and guests from around the world.” Assistant Vice President of
Ceremonies & Events Deanna Zanella elaborated on this decision further, saying, “We are absolutely committed to holding in-person ceremonies once it’s deemed safe to do so. Just one Commencement Weekend usually brings over 30,000 people to Manchester and we cannot safely do that just yet.” However, this does not rule out a future in-person ceremony. Zanella states, “We hope to celebrate all of our postponed ceremonies in-person as early as later this year and are in the process of looking at multiple options. Remember our graduates not only live in New England but all over the United States as well as in other parts of the world.” Traditionally Commencement has fallen at the end of Senior Week, so many of the graduating seniors would already be in the area. The
majority of graduates would have to travel and find accommodations, meaning SNHU has to take the Greater Manchester community into account as well. This decision has been in the works for quite a while. Zanella says, “When it was clear that we would have to postpone our first Fall Commencement planned for the end of 2020, we surveyed our eligible Spring and Fall 2020 graduates and asked if they’d like to participate in a virtual ceremony while they await a rescheduled in-person ceremony. Overwhelmingly, they said yes. They also offered suggestions for what aspects of a virtual ceremony would be meaningful to them (the most important was having their name read and including a photo on screen). So, we began to research options and examples
2020 Graduate. (image courtesy: Southern New Hampshire University)
