Academic Calendar
Looking for registration deadlines, spring break or when grades are due? Our academic calendar has all of the important events for this academic year.
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Looking for registration deadlines, spring break or when grades are due? Our academic calendar has all of the important events for this academic year.
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Info For
What you need to know about the last days of registration, when final grades are due, planned class cancellations, commencement, and more.
This year’s Commencement will be Sunday, June 4, 2023 on the Carnegie lawn. We do not limit seating for the event so no tickets are issued. Guests will be seated on a first come, first served basis.
Students will line up on the west side of campus for the academic procession. If by Friday, June 2, 2023, the weather looks bad for Sunday, we will move to the Murray Athletic Center. Campus-wide announcements will be made with the location update. We are anticipating a live feed of the event so that families can watch the program on their personal devices. The link will be shared as we get closer to Commencement.
One rehearsal will be held for the Commencement Exercises at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, June 3, 2023. Students will line up on the west side of campus near the fountain and we will outline the program. All participating students should attend this rehearsal. We will not hold a rehearsal for the Candlelight Ceremony. That program and processional will be described at the Commencement rehearsal.
Undergraduate students who are more than nine credit hours away from completing their degree requirements and graduate students who are more than six credit hours from completing their degree requirements at the time of Commencement must receive permission from the Educational Standards Committee in order to participate in Commencement. Letters for the Committee can be sent to registrar@elmira.edu so that the requests can be put on the Committee’s agenda. If you are not sure how many credits you may be missing at the time of Commencement, please speak with your academic advisor.
Academic regalia will be distributed from the Office of the Registrar, 113 McGraw Hall beginning in mid-March. Please remove wrinkles from your robe by hanging it up well in advance. Do not leave it in the package until the ceremony. If there are any problems with your regalia, contact the Office of the Registrar at (607) 735-1895 or registrar@elmira.edu. Graduates will keep their academic regalia.
Caps are worn well forward on the head, with the point halfway down on the forehead. Tassels on caps are worn on the right side of the cap, centered. Undergraduate students will be directed to move your tassel to the left side later in the ceremony. Men should remove and replace caps whenever the President does. This normally takes place during the invocation and final prayer. Women generally keep their caps on during the ceremony.
There should be nothing in your hands as you process; there will be programs on the seats of all participants. Please leave purses, phones, etc. with family or friends as there will be no storage location available during the ceremony. There is no smoking or vaping or carrying of tobacco.
Latin Honors regalia are awarded for baccalaureate students only, who achieve the cumulative grade point average indicated below. Latin Honors are calculated as of April 30, 2023 and are only awarded to those students who achieve a cumulative grade point average of 3.400 or above at Elmira College and have completed all degree requirements at the time of Commencement. Students who will complete their degree requirements after Commencement will have Latin honors noted on their transcripts and diplomas when their degrees are conferred and not at the Commencement Ceremony.
Elmira College uses American convention in the formatting of diplomas. Quoting from The Registrar's Guide: Evolving Best Practices in Records and Registration AACRAO (2006): "most [American] institutions do not include the student's major on the diploma... The diploma should remain uncluttered and elegant, with the transcript presenting the more detailed record.”
The diploma and the Commencement program will show students’ legal names. The Provost’s list, from which students will be introduced to receive their degrees, can be the students’ preferred names.
The Candlelight Ceremony will begin at 9:00 p.m., June 3, adjacent to The Puddle. All persons participating should be present by 8:30 p.m. Programs for this event may be secured in front of Gillett Hall.
Assuming we are outdoors for Candlelight, the line of march will form near the East Wing of Cowles Hall. Students will form two parallel lines. Precise order by name or by degree is not necessary for the Candlelight Ceremony. If you wish to sit with particular people, you must be in the same line, not side by side.
The Ushers will distribute the candles for the ceremony. At a signal, the students procession, in two columns, willmove down the steps in front of Alumni Hall and proceed, under the guidance of the Marshals, fully extending around The Puddle.
Seating for graduates will be on the lawn at the northeast end of the. There will be no recessional following the ceremony. At the end, graduates will join Senior Class President Rachael Callaway ’23 in a toast and sing the Alma Mater.
The Candlelight Ceremony has been planned as an alternative service to the more traditional Baccalaureate Service. While the focus of the program is on the traditional full-time undergraduate students, all commencement participants are welcome to attend. Students will be sitting on the ground and should dress appropriately.
Students participating in this event will receive additional information from the Nursing Department, which will take place on the afternoon of Saturday, June 3, 2023.
Ushers will be available to assist with guest seating. The best accessible parking is the parking lot on 6thStreet, behind Harris and Watson Halls and the parking lots behind Alumni Hall. There are accessible restrooms available in both Harris Hall and Kolker Hall. Buildings and Grounds staff will be able to assist guests by bringing them to the seating area using golf carts if that is something that is needed. If we move to the Murray Athletic Center, there is elevator access to the floor level of the Hockey Arena.
Commencement will take place at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, June 4. Students should assemble by 10:30 a.m. on the walkway on the west side of campus near the cross walk between the Fountain and Harris Hall. You should assemble wearing your cap, gown and hood.
Precise order is essentialin forming the lines of march for Commencement. A printed list will be provided at the Commencement rehearsal, Saturday, June 3 at 10:30 a.m. Check to see that you are next to the person listed before and after your name on the printed Line of March. The two columns begin the march at 11:00 a.m. The two columns of graduates will move at an approximately equal pace. Maintain a measured, slow pace. Should there unexpectedly be gaps in the line, DO NOT RUSH FORWARD. Continue walking at a slow pace. You will proceed to seats reserved for graduates, under direction of the ushers. Remain standing until entire procession is in place. President Lindsay will provide the signal for being seated.
Each candidate is presented individually by name in the following order:
A. Master of Science in Education
B. Master of Science
C. Bachelor of Arts
D. Bachelor of Science
E. Associate of Arts
F. Associate of Science
If you have earned two degrees (generally an AS and BS degree) you will process with higher degree level (the BS). Each student will come forward, at the direction of Commencement Ushers, and our tradition is that you will receive your diploma from President Lindsay, and then have your photograph taken at the Class Banner. Diplomas arepresented only to those who have completed all degree requirements and are in good financial standinghowever, all students will receive a diploma case.
Professional photographers from GradImages will be photographing each graduate as they receive the diploma from President Lindsay and when they have descended from the platform, in front of the Class Banner. GradImages will send proofs of the photographs, as a gift, about one week after Commencement. You may order additional photographs from GradImages (www.gradimages.com).
All are invited to a reception immediately following Commencement at the Campus Center. Punch and pastries will be served.
All Residence Halls, including the College Cottages, will close on Sunday, June 4 at 5:00 p.m. Students should utilize the express check-out option or go to the Information Desk in the Campus Center to have a Residence Life staff member do a formal walk-through check-out of your room.
All College policies and social guidelines apply as long as students remain on campus.
Announcements and diploma frames are available through this link for the McGraw Bookstore, https://www.diplomaframe.com/elmi.
Friday, June 2, 2023 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 3, 2023 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Sunday, June 4, 2023 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Resident students should notify the Post Office of changes of address, noting specifically whether it is a temporary or permanent change. The Post Office will be open on Friday, June 2, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Please check your campus mailbox for mail.
Thursday, June 1, 2023 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Friday, June 2, 2023 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Friday, June 2, 2023 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 3, 2023 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Closed
Sunday, June 4, 2023 Closed
Thursday, June 1, 2023 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Friday, May June 2, 2023 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, June 3, 2023 Closed
Thursday, June 1, 2023 8:00 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.
Friday, June 2, 2023 Closed
Saturday, June 3, 2023 Closed
Thursday, June 1, 2023 7:30 a.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Friday, June 2, 2023 7:30 a.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 3, 2023 To be determined
Sunday, June 4, 2023 Closed
Thursday, June 1, 2023 7:45 a.m. – 12:00 a.m.
Friday, June 2, 2023 7:45 a.m. – 12:00 a.m.
Saturday, June 3, 2023 7:45 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Sunday, June 4, 2023 7:45 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
*subject to change by Parkhurst Dining
9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. McGraw Bookstore will be open
10:30 a.m. Commencement Rehearsal, Carnegie Lawn – rain location will be Murray
Athletic Center
2:00 p.m. Nursing Pinning Ceremony, Speidel Gymnasium
8:30 p.m. Assemble for Candlelight Ceremony, adjacent east end of Cowles Hall.
Rain location is the Speidel Gymnasium in Emerson Hall
9:00 p.m. Candlelight Ceremony, Cowles Hall Lawn
9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. McGraw Bookstore will be open
10:30 a.m. Assemble for Commencement west side of campus
11:00 a.m. Commencement Ceremony, Carnegie Lawn – rain location will be Murray
Athletic Center
Reception Immediately following Commencement at the Campus Center
5:00 p.m. All College residences close for the 2022-2023 academic year
