Second commencement ceremony added

Winter semester commencement ceremonies, scheduled for April 28 at the Van Andel Arena, will be split into two ceremonies.
Bob Stoll, director of Student Life said the change was made to better accommodate the growing number of graduates.
The first ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. and include graduates from the College of Community and Public Service, Padnos College of Engineering and Computing, College of Health Professions, Kirkhof College of Nursing and Seidman College of Business.
The afternoon ceremony will begin at 3 p.m. and include graduates from the College of Education, College of Interdisciplinary Studies and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Stoll said that the April commencement has become too large and the ceremony too long. In an effort to keep the ceremony personal and student-focused, he said the new format will result in a number of benefits to students, including:
• Increasing the number of guest tickets from six to 10;
• Increasing the number of guests from 9,500 attending one ceremony to 19,000 attending two;
• Ceremonies will be shortened from more than three hours down to two hours;
• More students may choose to participate in graduation ceremonies.