Slippery Rock University announced Wednesday that it will host five in-person commencement ceremonies over two days from April 30 to May 1.

A press release schedule says the ceremony for graduate studies will be at 6 p.m. April 30, the College of Education will be at 9 a.m. May 1, the College of Business will be at noon May 1, the College of Liberal Arts will at 3 p.m. May 1 and the College of Health, Engineering and Science will be at 6 p.m. May 1. Each will be held outdoors at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium instead of the usual site of Morrow Field House to accommodate social distancing.

Although graduating students and guests will have to adhere to coronavirus guidelines at each ceremony, including 6-foot social distancing and face coverings required, they will proceed just like commencement ceremonies that took place before 2020, but will take place in half the time.

“Normally, the Saturday ceremonies would run an hour-and-a-half,” said Robb King, chief communication and public affairs officer at Slippery Rock. “This time, we're going to cut back on the number of people other than students, and cut down on times that are allotted for remarks.”

King said he expects student attendance to be about the same as in past years with about 90% of graduating students signed up to walk, but each student will only receive two tickets for guests to lower attendance. However, additional tickets could be made available if state COVID-19 standards change before the scheduled dates, according to the press release. Each ceremony will also be livestreamed on Slippery Rock's main webpage, which anybody can view.

The press release also says William Behre, university president, will honor his promise to the Class of 2020 and welcome back all 2020 alumni for an in-person graduation ceremony during Homecoming Weekend, Oct. 15 to 17, because the pandemic made them miss out on in-person ceremonies. More details on these plans are coming at a later date, the press release says.