Western New Mexico University will graduate 267 of its students this fall. Of those, 173 graduates will walk across the Fine Arts Center Theatre stage during the fall commencement ceremony on Friday, December 13, 2019, at 2 p.m. They will receive their diplomas then shake hands with WNMU President Dr. Joseph Shepard and with former WNMU Dean of Students and Mustang basketball coach James R. Smith, who is the fall commencement speaker and will be presented with an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.
Doors to the Fine Arts Center Theatre will open at 1 p.m. Overflow seating will be provided in the Global Resource Center auditorium and in Light Hall Auditorium. The program will be streamed live at both locations for the benefit of fall WNMU graduates’ extended family members and friends.
Diplomas being granted at the fall 2019 commencement ceremony include those for 23 associate degrees, 125 bachelor’s degrees, 117 master’s degrees, 22 certificates and 46 graduate certificates.
Leading up to the graduation itself, individual WNMU programs and departments will hold individual pinning ceremonies and honors inductions.
The public is invited to join the 16 WNMU nursing graduates for a pinning ceremony on Thursday, December 12, at 2 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center Theatre.
More than one third of the nearly 100 fall social work graduates will also be pinned on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Besse-Forward Global Resource Center. The School of Social Work will also hold its Phi Alpha Honor Society induction ceremony for nearly 50 recipients at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday in the Besse-Forward Global Resource Center.