One ceremony site for a university spread across the Valley

UTRGV teaches across the Rio Grande Valley, from Edinburg and McAllen to Harlingen and Brownsville, but commencement brings everyone to one place. Last round every ceremony was at Bert Ogden Arena, in south Edinburg beside I-69C, and UTRGV arranged transport from the Brownsville campus.

For families, that means a drive. From Brownsville it is over an hour each way with clear roads, and from Harlingen about forty-five minutes. With the fall ceremonies starting at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., a family coming from the coast for a morning ceremony will have an easier day if it stays in Edinburg the night before.

Two days a round, grouped by college

The fall round runs over a Friday and a Saturday, with a ceremony at 9 in the morning and another at 2 in the afternoon each day, and the colleges grouped between them; that schedule is in the table above. Spring is also a Friday and a Saturday on the academic calendar, and UTRGV posts its times later.

At each ceremony graduates are seated by degree, doctoral, master’s and bachelor’s, in the order they arrive, and each crosses the stage to pose for an official photograph before returning to their seat. There is a lot of walking on the day, and UTRGV suggests comfortable shoes.

Ten tickets last round

Last round each graduate received ten guest tickets, delivered electronically after they RSVP’d in Tassel. UTRGV explains the number: ten covered most graduates’ needs in past years, while keeping the arena within capacity. Guest seating is first come, first served. The ceremonies are also livestreamed on UTRGV’s website and on Facebook Live.

Children: the two firm rules

UTRGV is clear about children, and both rules affect who needs to come. Only the graduate crosses the stage: a graduate cannot carry an infant or walk with a child. And children cannot be left unaccompanied, in the audience or with staff, even briefly. A graduate who is also a parent should invite a guest whose job on the day is looking after the children. Childcare supplies are allowed through security.

Where to sleep

Bert Ogden Arena has a group of chain hotels on its doorstep. On West Trenton Road, the Tru by Hilton, the Home2 Suites and the TownePlace Suites stand together about three or four minutes away by car, and the Holiday Inn Express on South Closner Boulevard is about the same. Central Edinburg and the main campus are nine minutes north.

McAllen, about fifteen minutes south-west, has an airport and many more hotels, and Mission is just beyond it. Harlingen and Brownsville are forty-five minutes and more than an hour away.

We grade the pressure as low. Each round spreads over two days, each family attends one ceremony, and Edinburg and McAllen together have plenty of rooms. That is our judgement from the schedule and the supply, not a measured count of free rooms in the Valley, which we have not taken.