Commencement Ceremony

Ceremony Options

Graduation is a time for celebration! Students may choose to attend the annual commencement or plan their own celebration.

Students may place an order for their official transcripts by logging on to their ecampus using their student ID and password. It is recommended that students wait approximately 24 hours after their conferral date to place their transcript order to ensure that their conferral date has been uploaded to their transcript.

The Difference Between Commencement and Conferral

Commencement is the physical ceremony that takes place annually. Commencement dates, times, and locations may vary from year to year, and we encourage students to contact the University Events Office for more information.

Conferrals occur on February 1, April 1, June 1, August 1, October 1, and December 1 each year. The conferral date can also be referred to as a graduation date and is the date that the university officially awards a student's degree and will appear on their diploma. There are no physical events for conferrals at this time. For questions regarding conferral dates, please email [email protected].

Annual Commencement

To give students the optimum potential for networking with other students, alumni, faculty, and staff, the university holds one commencement ceremony each year in May or June for the entire graduating class of the previous year.

Students who graduate with an associate, bachelors, masters, or doctoral degree between August 1 of the previous year and June 1 of the current year will be invited to attend commencement (For example, the ceremony for the Class of 2020 includes graduates from the Aug. 1, 2019; Oct. 1, 2019; Dec. 1, 2019; Feb. 1, 2020; Apr. 1, 2020; and Jun. 1, 2020 conferrals.).

We will release the date and location of the ceremony as soon as possible each year on the commencement website, and students who have graduated or applied to graduate in one of the conferrals listed above will receive an initial announcement email. In January, we will send formal email invitations to those who are eligible to attend.

A Student's Own Celebration

If students are unable to attend the annual ceremony, they may request assistance in planning a personal celebration. We have a number of different opportunities for graduates to celebrate their accomplishments, including a live stream of the annual ceremony, a private ceremony, or a joint recognition ceremony.

Live Stream

The ceremony will be streamed so that those unable to attend can watch live! We encourage students to meet with fellow graduates in their area and celebrate together. The live stream link will be made available as we near the ceremony date and can be accessed from our AMU or APU ecampus login pages.

Private Ceremony

In a private ceremony, students may choose to have an official – a commander, supervisor, etc. – conduct the celebration. Upon request, we will provide a ceremonial diploma and an optional ceremony script that will assist the presenter during the ceremony. For inquiries or more information, please visit our webpage.

Joint Recognition Ceremony

Many military installations around the United States and abroad hold joint recognition ceremonies to honor graduates in and around their communities. These ceremonies recognize graduates from a number of universities who have a presence on their installation. Joint recognition ceremonies are hosted and performed by the military base, but, in most cases, the university will have a representative there to support our graduates.

Most installations invite active duty and retired military personnel to attend along with civilians in the area. Each ceremony has different requirements and our university has no control over those requirements.

For more information on joint recognition ceremonies, students should contact an education manager in their area.