WVU holds two commencement ceremonies each year – one in May and another in December. Both are filled with excitement and pride as family and friends gather to celebrate their graduate's accomplishment.
Commencement at WVU is bittersweet. Thousands of students say goodbye to the old gold and blue and hello to fulfilling careers all over the world.
WVU holds two commencement ceremonies each year – one in May and another in December. Both are filled with excitement and pride as family and friends gather to celebrate their graduate's accomplishment.
The ornamental staff is brought to the platform by the grand marshal, who taps it three times and places it in a designated holder to signify the beginning of the ceremony. The mace was handcrafted by a WVU professor.
Graduates have been decorating their mortarboards for years with notes of future aspirations, gold-and-blue embellishments or the ever popular Flying WV.
The Alma Mater is sung at Commencement and during pregame of home football games. Louis D. Corson, a 1937 graduate, composed the song.
During commencement, graduates move the tassel on their caps from left to right and turn their class rings so the logo faces outward.
WVU’s student yearbook, the “Monticola,” was founded in 1896. The most recent issue was published in 2000.