St. Joe’s will virtually confer degrees upon members of the class of 2020 on May 16 using a platform offered by MarchingOrder, a company that provides technology for college and university graduation ceremonies.

The undergraduate, graduate and doctoral ceremonies will be combined and will start at 9 a.m., according to an announcement to the St. Joe’s community from University President Mark C. Reed, Ed.D., and Cheryl McConnell, Ph.D., provost and vice president of Academic Affairs.

“While nothing could ever be a substitute for an on-campus ceremony, we are impressed with the virtual option we have been able to secure and have been working to customize this experience to make it as special as possible for our memorable Class of 2020,” Reed and McConnell wrote in the announcement. 

According to the SJU Commencement website, the virtual ceremony to confer degrees is necessary “given that many graduates will be starting careers, moving on to graduate school or starting service programs following commencement.”

Tyler Mullins, president of MarchingOrder, started the company in 2003. It is now “a team of professionals with backgrounds ranging from software development and management consulting to ceremony planning and on-site execution,” according to their website. 

Mullins said MarchingOrder is not developing new services amid the coronavirus, but adapting traditional offerings for use in the virtual space and providing a way of hosting and delivering their content online. 

“When it became clear that there were going to be postponements and cancellations we were quickly able to determine how to use our existing products and skill sets to do something that would be helpful for schools wanting to provide recognition for the achievements of their graduating class,” Mullins wrote in an email to The Hawk.

As of April 5, there are 112 colleges and universities confirmed for virtual ceremonies with MarchingOrder this spring, according to Mullins. 

MarchingOrder will create a personalized slide for each graduate once they collect their information, and schools can opt to include an announcement of each graduate’s name read by the company’s professional name readers. Slides can also be shared to social media and users can search for graduates’ individual slides using their last name “rather than watching a long slideshow,” according to a virtual ceremony webinar hosted by MarchingOrder.

According to the SJU Commencement website, the virtual ceremony will include remarks recorded by an undergraduate and graduate student speaker, and programs will be available electronically on the website. A printed program will be sent to each graduate following the ceremony. Diplomas will be mailed to students approximately six weeks after the ceremony, as per usual. 

Reed and McConnell said in the announcement that they plan to honor the class of 2020 on campus in early October. Julia McQuade ’20, vice president of University Student Senate, said administrators are creating a committee of students to elicit feedback moving forward in the planning of the event. McQuade said the event will not “look like a traditional commencement ceremony,” but will be “some sort of recognition” for graduates.

“They are committed to having a full day of celebration and are going to make sure that it’s very student driven going forward for the planning,” McQuade said.

Gail Benner, director of PR and media at St. Joe’s, said the university recommends waiting to buy caps and gowns. McQuade said an update should be communicated to students this week.

In an email to faculty and staff, McConnell said student award recipients will be mailed their awards and there will be a recognition ceremony in the fall. The university is also working to incorporate a Baccalaureate Mass into the fall celebration, according to the SJU commencement website.

“We hope that schools will be able to make clear to their students that the Virtual Ceremony is the best that can be offered given the current conditions,” Mullins said in an email to The Hawk. “The idea isn’t to take traditional events away from students, but rather to provide some much-deserved recognition, and hopefully a spark of happiness, while everyone is not able to gather in person.”

Luke Malanga ’20 contributed to this story.