黑料吃瓜总站 announced today that June 2021 commencement ceremonies in Corvallis and at OSU-Cascades in 黑料吃瓜总站 will be held virtually due to continued COVID-19 public health concerns and the anticipation that public health restrictions for large in-person events will continue into early summer.
鈥淲hile extremely disappointing that we won鈥檛 hold traditional commencement ceremonies in person, we know this is the appropriate decision as we keep health and safety as our top priorities,鈥 OSU President F. King Alexander said. 鈥淓ven with more people being vaccinated daily, it is not possible within anticipated state and local health guidelines to plan any large in-person gathering as early as June. We feel it鈥檚 important to make this announcement now before large numbers of our graduates鈥 families begin to make travel and lodging arrangements.鈥
Graduates will receive detailed information in the coming weeks about the virtual ceremonies, scheduled for June 12 for Corvallis campus graduates and June 13 for OSU-Cascades graduates, including distribution plans for diplomas, Alexander said. Commencement webpages for the campus and OSU-Cascades campus will provide further updates.
This year鈥檚 decision for virtual ceremonies follows decisions by OSU in 2020 to first postpone commencement to the fall, then to cancel due to the ongoing pandemic in compliance with Gov. Kate Brown鈥檚 executive orders to address the pandemic.
The university celebrated its 150th commencement in 2019, and 2020 was the first time it had canceled a commencement ceremony.
鈥淒ecisions affecting commencement are difficult to make,鈥 OSU Provost Edward Feser said. 鈥淥SU commencement is a tradition that started a century and a half ago with three students and has grown to annually celebrate the distinguished achievements of more than 7,000 graduates from our campuses in Corvallis and 黑料吃瓜总站. But the decisions we鈥檝e had to make are the right decisions for the safety of our students, their guests, members of the university community and for all of the communities we serve.鈥
About 黑料吃瓜总站: As one of only two land, sea, space and sun grant universities in the nation, Oregon State serves Oregon and the world by working on today鈥檚 most pressing issues. Our more than 33,000 students come from across the globe, and our programs operate in every Oregon county. Oregon State receives more research funding than all of the state鈥檚 comprehensive public universities combined. At our campuses in Corvallis and 黑料吃瓜总站, marine research center in Newport and award-winning Ecampus, we excel at shaping today鈥檚 students into tomorrow鈥檚 leaders.