Summer Quarter Commencement Set for Aug. 22

BELLINGHAM– Julie Larson-Green, chief experience officer for Microsoft’s Applications and Services Group, will address Western Washington University graduates and their families in two summer Commencement ceremonies that will take place in Western’s Performing Arts Center Mainstage Aug. 22.

Approximately 360 undergraduates and about 45 master’s candidates will receive degrees this quarter. Admission is by ticket only, and each graduate will be allowed four tickets. Overflow seating also will be available on campus.

As Carver Gymnasium undergoes a $70 million renovation project, summer, fall and winter Commencement ceremonies will be held in the Performing Arts Center Mainstage during the next 18 months to two years. Spring Commencement will be held at Civic Field in Bellingham.

Summer Commencement will include two ceremonies: At 9 a.m., students will graduate from the College of Science and Engineering, the College of Business and Economics, the College of Fine and Performing Arts, Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies, the American Cultural Studies Program, Huxley College of the Environment and the Graduate School. The 12:30 p.m. ceremony will include graduates of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Woodring College of Education and the Graduate School.

Additional viewing for the summer ceremony will be available in the Performing Arts Center Concert Hall, located in the same building as the Mainstage. Off campus, the ceremony will be broadcast on Whatcom County Comcast Cable Channel 26, and streamed live at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wwu-live-events1.

Larson-Green, who will speak at both ceremonies, grew up in Maple Falls and is a 1986 graduate of Western in Business Administration. She has spent more than two decades at Microsoft, leading teams that transformed Microsoft Office and the Windows operating system. Earlier this year, the Anita Borg Institute gave Larson-Green a 2015 Women of Vision Leadership Award, citing her “remarkable ability to unify leaders and teams to a single mission.” She is a former member of the Western Foundation Board of Directors and was a keynote speaker in May at Western’s Leadership Forum in Seattle.

The 9 a.m. ceremony’s student Commencement speaker will be Aubrey LaPlante, a graduate of Edmonds-Woodway High School who is receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology. LaPlante served as a teaching assistant in Geology labs and was a member of Western’s rock climbing team. She wants to work in the field of natural hazard mitigation.

The student Commencement speaker for the 12:30 p.m. ceremony will be Jennifer Lockwood, who is receiving a Master of Arts in Rehabilitation Counseling. Lockwood, who received her bachelor’s degree from Western in Human Services in 2000, is the Parenting Skills Program coordinator at Brigid Collins Family Support Center in Bellingham.  

All guests should be seated 20 minutes before the posted time of the ceremony. Doors open an hour before each ceremony. No food or drink is allowed in the Performing Arts Center.

Following the ceremony, graduates will have the opportunity to follow WWU tradition and deposit their Western identification cards in a box that is later cemented into Memory Walk in front of Old Main.

Guest parking is free on Commencement day and available in most lots. Visitors must observe regulations for handicapped and individually reserved spaces. Guests are advised to arrive early to avoid traffic congestion and to allow for travel time between the parking lots and gym.

Shuttle bus service will be available from the 12A parking lot off South College Drive near Fairhaven College from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. until there is no demand. One of the shuttle buses will be ADA equipped and accommodate wheelchairs. Guests who use wheelchairs may also park in lot 11G, adjacent to the Performing Arts Center, which will be reserved for handicap parking.

Parking attendants will be available to assist guests with special parking needs.

For more information or for disability accommodations contact the Registrar’s Office, (360) 650-3701.