College of Arts and Sciences’ commencement ceremony to be held May 4

Florida State University will hold four spring commencement ceremonies for the first time in its history in an effort to accommodate increasing participation by graduates and their families in recent years.

The College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Motion Picture Arts and the College of Social Work will have a combined ceremony at 2 p.m. Friday, May 4, at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, 505 W. Pensacola St. The commencement speaker will be Julie Dunn Eichenberg, an executive at Turner Content Distribution.

Eichenberg, who graduated from Florida State in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in marketing, has spent the past 21 years at Turner, rising to vice president of Brand Distribution at Turner Content Distribution, the domestic distribution and marketing arm of the company. She currently serves as chair of the FSU Foundation Board of Trustees and is a member of the board for the Seminole Torchbearers. In 2017, Eichenberg was inducted into FSU’s Circle of Gold.

In all, more than 6,400 students will receive degrees this spring: 5,232 bachelor’s graduates, 998 master’s graduates and 227 doctoral graduates. More than 5,300 graduates are expected to participate in spring commencement. Florida State University President John Thrasher will preside over each of the four ceremonies at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, 505 W. Pensacola St.

Florida State will present special recognition to students and student-veterans who have earned academic honors, including induction into the Garnet and Gold Scholar Society.

Last year’s spring commencement set a record for attendance with more than 5,200 graduates participating in three ceremonies. As a result, university administrators decided to add a fourth ceremony this year to better meet the high demand for tickets and limited parking.

“This is a wonderful problem to have,” Thrasher said. “Our students are more engaged than ever, and they want the tradition of commencement to be part of their Florida State experience. We love celebrating this important milestone with our graduates and their families.”

The addition of the fourth ceremony is expected to reduce the length of each ceremony by roughly 45 minutes to an hour. Organizers estimate each of the four ceremonies will conclude in just over two hours. Graduates can request two extra tickets if they need more than their six-ticket allotment, and the additional ceremony is projected to ease traffic and parking issues.

For information on all four commencement ceremonies, visit www.registrar.fsu.edu/graduation.