Commencement Week runs Saturday, then Monday to Friday

Rowan runs its graduation as a week, and the order surprises people. The big university-wide ceremony comes first, on the Saturday. The ceremonies where each graduate is actually recognized on stage come afterwards, on the weekdays that follow.

The University Commencement Ceremony is for everyone: every college, every degree level, one stadium. Last round it was a Saturday morning at Richard Wackar Stadium, with speakers, the conferral of degrees, music, and a celebration afterwards that included a beer and wine garden for those over 21 and cash gift prizes that had to be claimed in person.

The college and school ceremonies run Monday to Friday of the following week, at various times, at Wackar Stadium and Esbjornson Gymnasium. This is where your graduate’s name is read and they cross the stage. Which college is on which day is published closer to the time; last round each college had its own slot.

For a family, that shape leaves two choices. Stay through: arrive for the Saturday, spend the weekend in South Jersey or Philadelphia, and stay on for the college ceremony early in the week. Or make two trips. Either way, do not plan around the Saturday alone and assume you have seen your graduate graduate. Doctoral candidates had their own recognition ceremony too, on the Friday before the university ceremony.

Two kinds of ticket, and why it matters when it rains

Every ceremony is ticketed, and Rowan issues guest tickets in two types. The difference only shows up in bad weather.

• All-Weather tickets let a guest into Richard Wackar Stadium and, if severe weather moves a ceremony inside, into Esbjornson Gymnasium.
• Stadium-Only tickets work at the stadium and nowhere else. If the ceremony goes indoors, they do not get you in.

Graduates receive a mix of the two for their college ceremony, and Rowan’s own advice is to give the All-Weather tickets to the guests who matter most. Each ticket shows its type at the top when it is opened in the registration system, so check before forwarding. Tickets are tied to one ceremony and cannot be used at another.

Last round, tickets had to be claimed by the start of April. After that, unclaimed Stadium-Only tickets were assessed and offered to graduates first come, first served, with a short window to claim extras. Watch for the equivalent dates for this round.

Leave the stilettos at the hotel

Wackar Stadium is the football field, and Rowan protects the turf. Stiletto heels and any shoe with pointed or spiked soles are banned on the field. Flat soles, sneakers, loafers, sandals and wedges are all fine. Guests who arrive in restricted shoes are asked to change or to stay in non-turf areas such as the bleachers, and graduates must follow the same rule to cross the stage. Rowan’s suggestion is simple: bring a second pair for walking on the field.

Weather plans

Rowan’s commencement is outdoors by default, and it plans for the weather in two ways. Last round the University Commencement held a Sunday afternoon as its extreme-weather date. The college ceremonies had an indoor fallback in Esbjornson Gymnasium, with limited tickets, which is exactly where the All-Weather ticket comes in. During Commencement Week Rowan posts a weather status page for the ceremonies, and every ceremony is livestreamed for anyone who cannot be there.

Where to sleep

Glassboro has one hotel. The Courtyard on Rowan Boulevard has 129 rooms and suites and is about half a mile from the stadium. It is the obvious first choice, and for a week when the whole graduating class’s families want to be in town, it is also the scarcest.

After that, the choice moves out of Glassboro. The next hotels are on Route 42 in Blackwood, about five miles north, and a cluster in Deptford around Hurffville Road, about eight miles north and a quarter of an hour by car. Mullica Hill, a small historic town just to the west, is as close. For a family making a longer stay of Commencement Week, Cherry Hill and Center City Philadelphia are each about half an hour away and have the depth that South Jersey lacks; Philadelphia means crossing the river each day.

None of the hotels nearby publishes a graduation-week minimum stay or prepayment rule. The pressure grade is ours, drawn from the room counts rather than a measured series, and Glassboro’s single hotel is the reason it is graded high.