OU Announces Virtual Ceremony for December Graduates

NORMAN, OKLA. – The University of Oklahoma will honor its fall 2020 graduates in a virtual graduation ceremony. The decision was announced in light of the university’s COVID-19 capacity limits for all campus classrooms, spaces and venues, which have been developed to accommodate social distancing best practices.

Graduates and their families, friends and Sooners worldwide are invited to gather online for OU’s December virtual graduation ceremony, which will be held starting at 7 p.m. CST Friday, Dec. 18, at ou.edu/commencement. Along with the OU alumni who graduated in May 2020, December graduates will also be invited to participate in next year’s university-wide in-person spring Commencement ceremony.

“We are tremendously proud of our soon-to-be graduates, whose resilience and achievements are an inspiration to the entire OU community,” said OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. “While our December convocations will take on a different form this year, this in no way diminishes our pride in these remarkable students. We look forward to celebrating their rightfully earned place in the OU alumni family.”

Traditionally, the majority of OU’s degree-granting colleges host individual convocation ceremonies in December to recognize students who complete their degree requirements during the fall semester.

The virtual graduation ceremony will include many of the same components of a traditional, live ceremony. Similar to OU’s virtual Commencement ceremony last spring, the December virtual ceremony will provide students with a personalized graduation experience, incorporating several interactive, celebratory elements in the festivities.

In partnership with Candid Color Photography, graduation candidates will again be able to create an individual recognition slide that will debut during the virtual ceremony, but this time, students have the opportunity to include an added touch. In addition to including their name, college, degree, major, photo and an audio announcement in the individual recognition slide, OU will provide a physical replica of its graduation stage at the upcoming Graduation Gear-Up event. Students attending Graduation Gear-Up will be filmed and photographed walking across the stage, creating visual elements that students can choose to include in their individual recognition slides.

Further details on OU’s December virtual graduation ceremony are forthcoming and will be available at ou.edu/commencement.