Two kinds of ceremony, and only one reads your graduate’s name

Most families assume “graduation” means one event. At the University of Utah it means at least two, and they do different jobs.

The University Commencement is the campus-wide ceremony in the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Graduates process in with their college, leaders speak, honorary degrees are conferred, the alumni association welcomes the class, and everyone sings the fight song one last time. It runs about ninety minutes. What it does not do, and the university says so directly, is call anyone by name.

That happens at the college convocation. Each college and school holds its own, smaller ceremony, and at every one of them graduates are called to the stage individually to receive their diploma. For a grandparent who has flown in to hear one name read out, this is the ceremony.

The practical rules differ too. The University Commencement has no tickets, first-come seating and, in the university’s words, no limit on the number of guests. Convocations are run by the colleges themselves, and each one may cap guest seats. The college is the only place to ask.

A graduation that spreads across the week

Because each college convenes on its own schedule, this is a graduation week, not a single day. The registrar fixes the window: two days for the University Commencement and the convocation exercises, shown in the table above. Within it, the university publishes the day-by-day schedule closer to the time.

How it ran last round is the best guide to how it will run. The University Commencement was on the Thursday evening, with guests asked to be seated by 5:45 for a six o’clock processional. Convocations ran from early Thursday morning through Friday evening at the Huntsman Center and at Kingsbury Hall, two or three hours apart. And one college, the David Eccles School of Business, held both of its convocations on the Saturday.

That last detail is worth watching. The registrar’s calendar names only two days. If your graduate is in business, do not book your flight home until the convocation schedule is posted.

The professional schools sit outside this week altogether. Law and Dentistry hold their own graduation exercises a week later, and Medicine a week after that. Each is its own trip, with its own date in the table above.

No winter ceremony at all

The University of Utah holds commencement once a year, in May. Its FAQ is explicit: there is no ceremony at the end of fall semester. A student who finishes in December, or who will finish over the summer, walks in the May exercises. For a family planning ahead, that means a December graduate’s big day is still months away, and there is only ever one week to plan around.

Getting to campus: free parking, free train

This is one of the easier campuses to reach on graduation day. During the University Commencement and the convocations, campus lots can be used at no charge. The university still steers people toward TRAX, because campus parking is limited, and TRAX rides on campus are free on both ceremony days. UTA’s Red Line runs up to the University Medical Center at the top of campus, and a free campus shuttle loops between the venues. It ran every ten minutes last round, which matters for a family moving between the Huntsman Center and Kingsbury Hall on the same day.

For guests with limited mobility, there is an ADA drop-off and pick-up point at the Huntsman Center’s south entrance, off South Campus Drive. Wheelchair spaces are on the arena’s concourse level, first come, first served. The university ceremony is captioned on the arena’s video boards and has ASL interpretation.

What to carry, and what to leave at the door

Every graduation venue on campus runs a clear-bag policy and weapon-detection screening. Two points catch families out:

• Signs are banned. No signage at any graduation ceremony, including the homemade kind.
• There is somewhere to leave the rest. Strollers, backpacks and purses can be stored during the ceremonies at the HPER West second-floor entrance, north-east of the Huntsman Center, where security staff are posted. Diaper bags are allowed in with a small child.

Where to sleep

The one hotel on campus is the University Guest House in Historic Fort Douglas, under half a mile from the Huntsman Center, with 170 rooms and 30 suites and a TRAX stop beside it. It is the only hotel you can walk to every venue from, which makes it the obvious first call. The Marriott University Park in Research Park is similarly close, on the east side of campus.

Beyond campus, the geography helps. The university sits on the east bench above downtown, and downtown Salt Lake City, with a large hotel base, is about ten minutes away by car. Sugar House is as close on the south side. For a family covering a Thursday-evening ceremony and a Friday convocation, a downtown hotel with two or three nights is the straightforward plan.

We have not measured graduation-week availability here, and the tables below say so. Our judgement is that this is not a hard market: the ceremonies are spread across several days, early May falls between the ski season and summer, and the city’s hotel base is close. If any rooms go early, expect it to be the on-campus ones.

Not published yet

At our last check, the university had not posted:

• Which evening, and what time, for the University Commencement. Last round it was Thursday at 6:00 p.m.
• The convocation schedule by college. The one that decides your nights.
• Guest seat limits for each convocation, where a college sets one.

When the schedule appears, check two things first: the day of your graduate’s convocation, and whether any college has moved onto the Saturday again.