UA celebrates community campus graduates

The University of Alaska canceled in-person commencement ceremonies as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the university’s community campuses held their own virtual ceremonies to celebrate their graduates, while others like the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ community campuses will participate in UAF’s virtual commencements.

KRC Nurse Pinning — KPC’s Kenai River Campus also held a nurse pinning ceremony in their parking lot in front of their resident moose. Photo courtesy of Gary Turner.

"Kenai Peninsula College put together a virtual commencement committee of ten people representing various specialities who worked extremely hard over a month putting together the production,” said Gary Turner, Director/CEO of Kenai Peninsula College. “KPC's two campuses, Kenai River Campus in Soldotna and Kachemak Bay Campus in Homer always hold separate commencements, but we combined them into one for this virtual commencement. We broadcasted on the KPC web site, KPC YouTube channel and KPC Facebook page. As of last week, we had 1,500 views on the Facebook page and 400+ views on YouTube. Viewers were grads, alumni and community members." Virtual celebrations included elements of the traditional fanfare like remarks from UA leadership, student speakers and recognizing honorary degree and emeritus recipients. The modified celebrations include a slideshow featuring graduates’ photos and a personal message to virtually honor their achievements.

UA’s virtual community campus commencements and celebration websites include:

University of Alaska Anchorage Kodiak College: https://koc.alaska.edu/student-support/student-services/commencement/.
University of Alaska Anchorage Kenai Peninsula College: https://kpc.alaska.edu/commencement2020.cshtml. The commencement can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z-3hvbiavk
KPC’s Kenai River Campus also held a nurse pinning ceremony in their parking lot in front of their resident moose.
University of Alaska Anchorage Prince William Sound College: https://spark.adobe.com/page/dU05Q7veUtIxg/.
University of Alaska Anchorage Mat-Su College: https://matsu.alaska.edu/commencement2020.cshtml.
University of Alaska Fairbanks: 1-3 p.m. on Saturday, May 23 on Facebook. More information is available at www.uaf.edu/commence/.
University of Alaska Fairbanks Community and Technical College honored nursing program graduates with a drive through pinning ceremony. Read the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner story here.
University of Alaska Fairbanks Kuskokwim Campus took to the airwaves to honor their graduates. Listen to the KYUK radio story here.
University of Alaska Southeast Sitka and Ketchikan Campuses: uas.alaska.edu/commencement.