March 9, 2007 == MEDIA ADVISORY
Summary: Calvin College will host its annual Commencement ceremony off campus
in 2007 for the first time in over 40 years.
Full story see http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2006-07/commencement.htm
For the first time in over 40 years graduates of Calvin College will have
their Commencement ceremony in downtown Grand Rapids.
The 2007 Calvin Commencement, slated for Saturday, May 19 at 2 pm, will be
held in VanAndel Arena, on Fulton Street in downtown GR.
The last Commencement not to be held in the Calvin Fieldhouse took place in
1966 at the old Civic Auditorium, which was located less than a mile from the
site of VanAndel Arena (the Civic was south of the Grand River near the current
DeVos Place).
Calvin also plans to hold its May 2008 Commencement ceremony at VanAndel Arena
before moving back to campus in May 2009.
The reason for the move is simple.
Construction on Calvin's Spoelhof Fieldhouse Complex, which will include a new
arena, a new aquatics center and a new indoor track and tennis center, will
begin this spring and that work will allow only limited access to Calvin
Fieldhouse (which will be renovated into a health and recreation center).
Calvin president Gaylen Byker says that while polls of seniors over the years
have indicated they prefer to graduate on campus, those polls also show that a
Commencement at VanAndel was preferred over other possible on-campus options,
such as an outdoor ceremony.
Byker notes that one advantage of the VanAndel Arena is that the college
expects to be able to accomodate about 8,000 guests, significantly more than it
hosted in the past in Calvin Fieldhouse and the Fine Arts Center auditorium.
In addition to the ceremony at VanAndel Arena a number of events that weekend
will take place on campus.
For example the annual department of nursing pinning ceremony will be held on
Thursday, May 17 in the Fine Arts Center. The Commencement worship service will
happen on Friday, May 18 at 5 pm in the Calvin Chapel, the celebration cookout
will also be that day on the Commons Lawn, there will be a bachelor of arts
exhibition and reception in the Spoelhof College Center Art Gallery and much
more.
The location for the traditional commencement receptions, which have been held
after the ceremony on the Commons Lawn, is still in flux, but the Commencement
website is being updated with new information on a regular basis.
The speaker for 2007 will be Michelle Loyd-Paige, a professor of sociology at
the college who also serves as interim dean for multicultural affairs. Her
title? "Leave A Little Dust."
Full story see http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2006-07/commencement.htm
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Received on Fri Mar 9 05:30:35 2007
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