Preparation for graduation ceremony

In preparation for the upcoming commencement ceremony, which will take place on Sunday, June 13, Portland State’s Graduation Program Board is considering applicants for the ceremony’s student speakers.

J.R. Tarabocchia, coordinator of commencement and student affairs outreach, said the board had received 28 applications by its deadline on Monday, April 12, “almost double from 2009.”

According to Tarabocchia, the board usually selects two applicants. However, the number varies depending on the applicant pool.

“[This year] we really want a story of PSU pride,” he said.

Before making a final decision at the end of April, Tarabocchia said the Graduation Program Board will select six or seven finalists to present their speeches before the board.

Joan Jagodnik, assistant director of community college relations, said that once the board selects the student speakers, they are given practice sessions with teleprompters and coaching in order to prepare them for such an abnormally large venue.

This year’s June commencement will take place in the Rose Garden Arena, a venue that holds approximately 20,000 people, according to Tarabocchia.

In addition to reviewing applications for student speakers, the board is experimenting with new means to increase faculty participation.

“[PSU has] like 800 full-time faculty and we have about 100 [or] 150 show up to commencement,” Tarabocchia said.

In one attempt to increase faculty participation, Rachel Richardson, a student employee working under the direction of Tarabocchia, created a video available at www.pdx.edu/commencment/faculty.

Although faculty members have a contractual obligation to participate in commencement ceremonies, it is not enforced. As a result, Tarabocchia said he and the Graduation Program Board will try to make attendance easy and attractive.

In addition, full members of the American Association of University Professors will be reimbursed for the cost of renting gowns and other regalia.

According to Tarabocchia, the problem of low faculty participation in commencement ceremonies dates to at least 2004, when only 86 faculty members registered. In addition, every year some faculty members do not attend, despite having registered.

However, every year some faculty members attend who did not register, Jagodnik said.

Nevertheless, the numbers are a bit bleak. 2007 marked a six-year high with 209 registered faculty members. For 2010, as of April 16, only 74 faculty members have registered, according to Tarabocchia.

“In years past, what’s really sad is we used to announce faculty as they march in and that number just got smaller and smaller,” he said.

Now, Tarabocchia said, he wants to “put the onus on students to ask faculty to come,” in the hopes that the faculty will become more enthusiastic if they know their presence means something to their students.

 Unlike other institutions of similar size, PSU students do not graduate in groups. Jagodnik said that “every student’s name is called,” and faculty members can watch their students walk across the stage.

Although there aren’t statistics on how many graduates from PSU are first generation college students, approximately 45 percent of entering freshmen are.

According to Jagodnik, commencement and faculty participation is very important to these students in particular.

“It’s celebratory, they’re so excited,” he said.