From the Nominator

After Carnegie Mellon University made the difficult decision to postpone the live May 2020 Commencement ceremony in response to the pandemic, a special team quickly came together to plan a virtual event to celebrate the class and confer their degrees. The entire event was prerecorded and edited together from a variety of sources to play a timed, online broadcast.

 

At 10 a.m. on May 17, 2020, the virtual ceremony launched with a pre-show featuring an array of self-submitted photos and videos of the graduates, and congratulatory messages from their class members and families. The main ceremony featured surprise appearances from well-known alumni such as Ted Danson offering their congratulations and reflections on what the future would mean for this class. These messages were interspersed among the more traditional commencement elements,  such as remarks from the university president and Board of Trustee chair, graduate and undergrad student speakers, and the formal presentation of each college’s graduates by the respective dean. In addition to the CMU bagpipers playing the processional and recessional, the ceremony featured a performance of the bittersweet classic “Smile” by alumna, actor and trustee Tamara Tunie. Finally, exuberant good wishes from actor, fashion icon, and alumnus Billy Porter ended the event on an unexpected but positive note. 

The result was a brilliant and uplifting milestone event that was not only a rite of passage for the graduating class, but also served as a confirmation by and for the entire CMU community of the university’s purpose and mission.

From the Judges

Overall, this was a comprehensive, well-conceived, and branded ceremony that was engaging and inspiring for graduates and families.