Dear OSU Community Members,
We are writing to share our plans for Oregon State University’s 2021 Commencement in Corvallis and at OSU-Cascades.
We continue to carefully monitor the status of the COVID-19 pandemic locally, throughout Oregon, nationally and internationally. While more people are being vaccinated every day, we do not believe it is possible within anticipated state and local health guidelines to plan any large in-person events as early as June. For many reasons, including the ability of family and friends of graduating students to plan possible travel and lodging, we believe it is important to announce a decision now regarding 2021 Commencement. Due to continuing public health concerns related to COVID-19, the 2021 Commencement ceremonies for both the Corvallis and Bend campuses will be conducted virtually. While extremely disappointing, this decision was made with health and safety as the university’s top priority.
Although virtual, we commit to enable engaging, student-led Commencement events with personal touches that will allow graduating students to be featured if they choose to participate this way. Our sincere hope is that someday in the future, we will be able to invite both 2020 and 2021 graduates back for in-person celebrations in Corvallis and Bend. We cannot commit to when that might be, but we look forward to those events!
In the coming months, graduates invited to participate in the Corvallis ceremony on June 12, 2021, or the OSU-Cascades ceremony on June 13, 2021, will receive more information about how to prepare for the virtual event, including details about ordering diplomas. Invited graduates include those who completed their degrees in the 2020-2021 academic year (summer term 2020 through spring term 2021), as well as those who will complete their degrees in summer term 2021. For more information, visit the Corvallis campus and OSU-Cascades 2021 commencement webpages, and follow Oregon State on Facebook and Instagram.
Thank you for continuing to be resilient members of Beaver Nation.
Sincerely,
F. King Alexander
President
Edward Feser
Provost and Executive Vice President