As the end of the academic year nears, NC State students wait to find out whom the 2015 commencement speaker will be. With graduation about a month away, students still do not know who will deliver the address.
The Office of Registration and Records is responsible for issuing the commencement schedule. At this time, there is still no information on the schedule as to who will be giving the commencement address because the office itself does not know.
“We have not been given that information yet,” said Teresa Dail, executive assistant in Registration and Records. “It is the Chancellor’s office that provides us with the name.”
The Chancellor’s Office is responsible for reading the applications and deciding who the speaker will be. Once the speaker is decided, it is then sent to Registration and Records.
The name of the speaker is due to Registration and Records by April 6. Students can expect to hear who will be speaking at the spring graduation shortly after.
Students who are eager to find out the identity of this year’s speaker can rest assured knowing that the director of commencement, Martha O’Donnell, does not even know who the commencement speaker will be.
“This happens occasionally,” O’Donnell said. “It may take [the Chancellor’s office] a while to get all the details into place.”
In recent years, the commencement speaker was announced earlier in the semester. In 2013, it was announced by mid-March.
However, it is not necessarily out of the ordinary for the commencement speaker to be announced so late. In 2007 and 2008, the speaker was not announced until April. In 2012 and 2014 the speaker was not announced until March.
Although Office of Registration and Records is still waiting to find out who the speaker is, the Chancellor’s Office has already made the decision.
“The commencement speaker has been selected,” said Ashley Jacobs, executive assistant in the Chancellor’s Office. “We’re just waiting for the press release.”
Mick Kulikowski, the national media coordinator and assistant director for news at NC State News, will be issuing a press release to announce the name of the chosen commencement speaker. The exact date of the release has not been shared.
The commencement ceremony will take place Saturday, May 9.
