Below is a message sent to families and guests of the Yale College Class of 2019 from Heather Calabrese, director of university events. If you would like to receive Commencement notifications, please contact University Events.
Dear Families and Guests of the Class of 2019,
We write to share Commencement updates that we hope will be useful to you as you continue to plan your weekend. Official university events on Commencement weekend include Baccalaureate ceremonies on Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning, Class Day exercises on Sunday afternoon, and the university Commencement ceremony, followed by residential college diploma ceremonies, on Monday.
Baccalaureate ceremonies, assigned by residential college, feature an address by President Salovey and remarks by Yale College Dean Marvin Chun. The ceremonies take place in Woolsey Hall on Saturday, May 18, and Sunday, May 19. Refer to the Weekend at a Glance page on the website for the time reserved for your student’s residential college.
Tickets are required for the Baccalaureate ceremony. Each student will receive a package of four tickets from their residential college. Tickets may be shared between students but not sold. Viewing locations with live-streams of the ceremony will be open near Woolsey Hall for guests without tickets.
Class Day exercises, which take place at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 19, on Old Campus, include an address by the Class Day speaker, the awarding of several undergraduate prizes, and a celebration of Yale College traditions. No tickets are required.
During the Commencement ceremony on Old Campus on Monday, May 20 at 10:30 a.m., President Salovey will present symbolic diplomas to student marshals from each residential college. After the ceremony, residential college deans, who serve as Commencement marshals, will lead you back to your student’s college, where they will receive their diploma. No tickets are required for Commencement, but with more than 18,000 people filling Old Campus, guests are advised to arrive early.
Commencement weekend includes three days filled with special events. A schedule can be found on the Commencement website. We will continue to update the schedule and the website as events are confirmed and encourage you to use the site as your most up to date source for information.
Best,
Heather Samson Calabrese
Director of Communications and University Events
Office of the Secretary and Vice President for Student Life