OU to Honor December Graduates in Virtual Ceremony

Graduation ceremony to be streamed online, and aired on Cox Channel 3 in Oklahoma City and Tulsa

NORMAN, OKLA. – The University of Oklahoma will celebrate its December 2020 graduates in a virtual graduation ceremony.

Graduates and their families, friends and the worldwide OU community are invited to gather online for the ceremony, which will be held starting at 7 p.m. CST Friday, Dec. 18, at link.ou.edu/graduation. Additionally, Cox Communications will air the virtual ceremony on Dec. 18 from 7 to 8 p.m. on Cox’s YurView Channel 3 in both the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro areas.

“We are infinitely proud of our December 2020 graduates, who carried on with their studies despite being presented with so many abrupt and unfathomable changes this year,” said OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. “While the format for our December ceremonies is different this time, our enthusiasm for celebrating our students is undiminished. The effervescent spirit of our graduates gives me incredible hope for our future, and we look forward to welcoming them into our remarkable OU alumni family.”

Approximately 3,000 December graduation candidates have been invited to be honored in the virtual ceremony, which will integrate 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, graduates participating in the virtual ceremony will be given the opportunity to create an individual recognition slide, which will include their name, college, degree, major, an audio announcement and either their photo or a video of them walking across a replica of the OU graduation stage. Following the ceremony, graduates can download their slides and share them with others or on social media. In addition, graduates will receive celebration boxes, which contain items to help them make the most of their personal celebration during the graduation ceremony.

Also as part of the virtual experience, academic deans will deliver recorded special video messages for the graduates of their college, which will be available at link.ou.edu/graduation.

As is the custom for OU’s graduation, the virtual ceremony will conclude with the singing of the OU Chant and Oklahoma! together as the OU family. Leading this tradition will be members of the OU Men’s Glee Club, along with students who submitted videos of themselves singing these classic spirit songs.

A cap decorating contest begins today on OU’s Instagram page (@uofoklahoma). All cap submissions will be compiled into a video, with contest winners announced following the virtual ceremony.

Along with the OU alumni who graduated in May 2020, December graduates will also be invited to participate in next year’s slated in-person graduation ceremonies.

For the latest information on OU’s December graduation, visit ou.edu/commencement or email [email protected].