May 04, 2022

Media advisory: Coverage of SIU Carbondale commencement ceremonies

Reporters, photographers and news crews are invited to cover one or more of Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s commencement ceremonies May 6-7, celebrating the academic achievements of more than 1,800 spring semester 2022 graduates. 

There are three separate ceremonies. The SIU School of Law commencement is Friday, May 6, at Shryock Auditorium. On Saturday, May 7, Banterra Center will hold two commencement ceremonies. 

The commencement schedule, along with honorary degree and Distinguished Service Award recipients are: 

Friday, May 6 

  • 1 p.m. — SIU School of Law. Carolyn B. Smoot, retired First Judicial Circuit Court judge, is the keynote speaker. 

Saturday, May 7 

  • 9 a.m. — College of Agricultural, Life, and Physical Sciences; College of Health and Human Sciences; SIU School of Medicine (SOM Ph.D. and master’s degrees only). Carolyn Taft Grosboll, a two-degree SIU Carbondale alumna and recently retired clerk of the Illinois Supreme Court, will receive a Distinguished Service Award. 
  • 1:30 p.m. — College of Arts and Media; College of Business and Analytics; College of Engineering, Computing, Technology, and Mathematics; College of Liberal Arts; School of Education. Sculptor and artist Richard Hunt will receive an honorary Doctor of Public Arts degree, and Cho-Yee To, an emeritus professor at the University of Michigan, will receive an honorary Doctor of Educational Leadership degree. Roland Burris, former Illinois attorney general and U.S. senator, and John S. Jackson, a visiting professor at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute with more than 50 years of service to SIU Carbondale, will each receive Distinguished Service Awards. 

For more information, read a press release about the honorary degree and Distinguished Service Award recipients. Thelma Mothershed-Wair, who was also expected to receive a Distinguished Service Award, is unable to attend. 

The May 7 ceremonies will also be livestreamed at commencement.siu.edu/videos. 

If you are interested in covering any of the ceremonies, please contact Kim Rendfeld, director of communications, by 4:30 p.m. Friday, May 6, (by 9 a.m. if covering the law school exercises) at 765-426-3650 (cell) or kim.rendfeld@siu.edu.