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COMMENCEMENT INFORMATION 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTSNew to San Luis Obispo? Check out our City's website for more information at www.ci.san-luis-obispo.ca.us or the county's website at www.sanluisobispocounty.com or the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce at www.slochamber.org. Also, spend the weekend in San Luis Obispo County, check out the lodging at http://www.sanluisobispocounty.com/listings/index.cfm?catId=1. THE CUESTA COLLEGE COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY: PAST AND PRESENT The Commencement Exercise is a fitting conclusion to a successful academic career and earning of a university degree. The ceremony is based on 800 years of academic tradition handed down from European universities of the Middle Ages. Commencement ceremonies, with their academic gowns, mortarboards, tassels, hoods and maces, are colorful, festive and dignified. It is a ceremony recognizing the successes of the University and the students who merit degrees. The first organized institutions of learning took form during the 12th and 13th centuries, generally under the jurisdiction of the church. Academic attire, as we know it today, evolved from the robes, hoods and caps worn mainly for warmth in unheated buildings by the first students. European universities continue to show great diversity in their academic dress. As a result of our English heritage, caps and gowns have been used in the United States since colonial times by the faculties of some universities; they became generally standardized about 1895. Some 10 years prior to that date, there had developed in the country a widespread student movement to wear caps and gowns at commencement ceremonies as a sign of belonging to the great profession of scholars. Since the end of the 19th century, the wearing of caps and gowns has been an integral feature of the American commencement pageantry. The first commencement in the United States was held at Harvard University in 1642 on the second Tuesday in August. In early times, candidates for degrees demonstrated their learning at commencement with orations and debates, usually in Latin or Greek. The doctor of philosophy degree was first conferred in the United States at Yale University in 1891. The first commencement ceremony at Cuesta College was held on June 6, 1965 at the Gymnasium on Camp San Luis Obispo. Forty-one students received their Associate degrees that year. In the past 43 years, Cuesta College Commencement has grown and it is estimated that over 800 students will earn degrees in this 2007-08 academic year. This year's exercise is composed of a processional of all graduates, honor guards, introductions, speeches, awarding of degrees, a recessional and a reception. The degree candidates, faculty and dignitaries participate in the exercise before an audience of commencement guests. The actual degrees are not conferred until all requirements have been met. COMMENCEMENT INFORMATION AND SCHEDULE April 7, 2008 - Purchase your cap, gown and tassel at the Cuesta College Bookstore. April 18, 2008 - Deadline to apply for the associate degree. May 22, 2008 -
Graduation BBQ in Student Center Courtyard; 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. May 23, 2008 - Commencement Ceremony from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
WHAT’S NEEDED TO PARTICIPATE First, an associate degree application must be on file with the Evaluations Office. Students completing degree requirements in Fall 2007, Spring 2008 or Summer 2008, and those students who applied during the 2007-2008 academic year for a degree completed in a prior academic year, are eligible to participate in Cuesta College 43rd Commencement Ceremony on Friday, May 23, 2008. Second, the commencement invitation will be mailed to all applicants in March, RSVP required. If you do not receive one, please call the Commencement Hotline at (805) 546-3141, option 1. Third, graduates must also make arrangements with the bookstore for a cap and gown. Attendance is a matter of individual choice. It is important to attend the graduation rehearsal to receive important instructions. You will be able to pick up your name card, which will be used during the ceremony. If your name is difficult to pronounce you will be asked to write it phonetically on the card. Please note: Graduation portraits by Jostens will be taken on commencement day this year. COMMENCEMENT ETIQUETTE FOR GUESTS Your family and friends are invited to attend commencement, and seating begins at 4:00 p.m. Guest RSVP and tickets are not required. The first row of seats are reserved for the elderly and disabled. Wheelchair space will be available for handicapped guests and translators are available for the hearing impaired. Seats may not be held after 4:45 p.m. COMMENCEMENT ETIQUETTE
Thank
you for your cooperation.
CAP
AND GOWN Commencement participants
must wear black academic regalia (cap, gown, tassel), which may be purchased
from the campus Bookstore at the San Luis Obispo or North County Campuses
(546-3206). Caps, gowns and tassels will go on sale beginning April 7, 2008.
Personnel at the bookstore will assist you with your selection. The purchase
price (excluding tax) is: cap, gown and tassel - $23.75; extra tassel - $4.25. The Cuesta College Bookstore has
everything you will need for commencement -- personalized graduation
announcements to invite the special people in your life to commencement, class rings, Cuesta
College "Thank You" notes, and many types of graduation
souvenirs. The bookstore supports commencement activities and will have a
booth at the commencement ceremony on May 23. Students who graduate
with GPA honors and high honors will receive a "cord" from the Cuesta College
Bookstore to wear with their gown. To qualify for the cord, a candidate for
graduation must have achieved the following as of Fall 2007 semester,
or through the term in which
degree requirement were met: Honors (green cord): awarded to students achieving an
overall grade point average
of 3.50 – 3.74 High Honors (white cord): awarded to students achieving an
overall grade point
average of 3.75 The grade point average calculation for honors
designation for Fall 2007 graduates is based on all associate degree applicable
units completed through Fall 2007. For pending Fall 2007, Spring 2008,
Summer 2008 and prior academic year degree candidates, the calculation is based
on all A.A. (non-transfer) degree applicable units completed through Fall 2007,
or through the term in which degree requirements were met, from Cuesta and all
other regionally accredited postsecondary institutions attended.
Students who achieved Alpha Gamma Sigma Honor Society Membership can obtain the
following from the Cuesta College Bookstore. (AGS will project Spring 2008
membership.) Alpha Gamma
Sigma (AGS) membership (gold cord) Alpha Gamma
Sigma (AGS) Permanent membership (gold stole) The bookstore will have
an official list of all graduates & degree applicants who, at the end of
the Fall 2007 semester, have met this criteria. If you qualify, simply
show your student I.D. at the bookstore and you will be given this
symbol of your outstanding academic achievement. There will be no cost
for GPA Honor cords due to the generous donations of the Cuesta College
Foundation, Academic Senate, Management Senate and EOPS.
Alpha Gamma Sigma Honor Society cords/stoles are funded by the
Gamma Gamma Chapter of Cuesta College. Consult the AGS Faculty Advisor
for certain restrictions.
ASSEMBLY
OF GRADUATES – PROCESSIONAL LINE UP Graduates should assemble outside the gymnasium between the pool and PE
Building 1100. Graduates should plan to arrive at
4:00 p.m., one hour prior to the 5:05 p.m. processional. All
graduates must be in place by 4:30 p.m. Graduates should be in their cap, gown and tassel, leaving cameras,
purses, cell phones, etc. in a secure location or with guests. Cell phones
in the gym must be turned off. Please bring bobby pins to
secure your cap. Please see the
evaluations office information table in this area for
quick questions. Cuesta graduates will line up behind the
marshals and follow Cuesta faculty. Graduates that would like to
sit together should be next to each other in the same line.
THE
CEREMONY - CUESTA COLLEGE Graduates Processional lines moves to the gym at 4:50 p.m. Processional into the gym at 5:05 p.m., following the
introduction (taped earlier). Please listen to and follow your marshal into the gym. Remain standing at your seat for the flag salute and national
anthem. Your commencement program will be on your seat – follow the
program. Enjoy the speeches from the college president, honored
alumnus, student speaker, and faculty speaker. Presentation of the degrees – marshals will direct you to
the stage. Give your name card to the announcers – proceed across
stage as your name is read. Members of the board of trustees will congratulate you first. President Dave Pelham will congratulate you and give
you a diploma cover. Take the cover with your left hand and shake hands with
your right. Your picture will be
taken when you are shaking hands. Return to your seat and remain standing until your entire row
has filled. Then, at the marshal’s direction, seat in unison. Cuesta
College graduates will be presented and tassels moved (from right to left). Final
comments will be made. Recessional
– follow marshal’s cue to stand and walk out the side doors (before the
lobby). Reception
is offered in the gymnasium courtyard. CONGRATULATIONS from CUESTA COLLEGE! After
the final remarks, the dignitaries will exit first, followed by the graduates
and then the faculty. The marshals will signal you to stand and then exit by
row.
Everybody will exit through the side doors before the lobby. You and your guests are invited to a reception held in your honor
in the gymnasium courtyard immediately following the commencement ceremony. You will not receive your diploma on commencement day. The
president has
provided a diploma cover and a Certificate of Participation. When your degree
requirements have been confirmed by the evaluations office, your degree will be
posted on your Cuesta record (transcript) and a diploma will be ordered for you.
Degree posting will occur approximately two to three months
after the end of the term. Your diploma will be mailed within a week of posting. Please be sure to notify the
admissions
& records office and the evaluations office of any change of
address, or you may simply update this information through PAWS through summer
2008.
IMPORTANT
PHONE NUMBERS Bookstore – (805) 546-3206 Counseling – (805) 546-3138 Evaluations – (805) 546-3100
x2318 Check status of degree application on PAWS through summer
2008 under STATUS
CHECK. SPECIAL THANKS Please join us in thanking the following groups for their financial support
of our Cuesta College graduates and the Spring 2008 Commencement Ceremony: The Cuesta College Foundation, donation to Honor Cord Fund Back
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