Georgetown University President Eduardo Peñalver announced via email on Monday that Georgetown will hold a campus-wide commencement ceremony at Nationals Park on May 20 for all undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. The ceremony will take the place of the existing undergraduate senior convocation, while school-specific ceremonies will remain.
“It will take the place of the undergraduate Senior Convocation and will elevate Senior Convocation’s most meaningful elements in a commencement ceremony shared by the full graduating class,” Peñalver wrote. “Having a unified commencement ceremony allows us to create new traditions shared across our University community, and provides an opportunity for the conferral of degrees by the president and for a featured speaker to address all graduates.”
Previously, in May 2021, Georgetown held a commencement ceremony at Nationals Park in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the past, senior convocation has been held on Georgetown’s hilltop campus ahead of school-specific graduation ceremonies to allow for all students, regardless of area of study, to gather together. At the Class of 2026’s senior convocation, just under 30 students walked out during interim President Robert M. Groves’ speech, protesting his tenure as university leader.
Last year’s commencement ceremonies at Georgetown University Law Center were also a source of controversy after the center cancelled small cohort ceremonies on the Capitol Campus and replaced the Graduation Gala with a cocktail hour.
Peñalver wrote that he believes joining the whole university together while maintaining smaller, school and cohort-specific ceremonies, will offer students the best of both worlds.
“Some of the most memorable moments of celebration can occur when an entire university community comes together to mark the commencement of its students,” Peñalver wrote. “I look forward to sharing these special moments with the graduates and families of the Class of 2027 and beyond.”
