May 2010 commencement for graduate and undergraduate students is moving to Kelly/Shorts Stadium because of renovations and construction taking place at Rose Arena.

And with 30,255 seats, that means there are no tickets or limits on family and friends.

Rose Arena, the previous location for commencement, will not be available because of $21.5 million in renovations, which started Sept. 26, to create the CMU Events Center.

“It is important to know tickets will not be required for the May 2010 graduation ceremony,” said Director of Public Relations Steve Smith. “I would anticipate a larger crowd than usual because there are no limits on the number of family members or friends that would be able to participate.”

Each student was limited to six tickets for family and friends when graduation was split into three ceremonies at Rose Arena in previous years.

With the move, two ceremonies will take place in May. The first ceremony is at 4 p.m. May 7 in Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium for 80 doctoral students. The auditorium holds 1,250 people.

The second ceremony will take place at 2 p.m. May 8 at Kelly/Shorts Stadium for graduate and undergraduate students. Smith said there are approximately 3,700 graduate and undergraduate students expected for commencement in May.

Executive Assistant to the president Mary Jane Flanagan said other venues on campus could not hold the capacity of students in addition to the people they want to bring.

She said commencement is predicted to last about two-and-a-half hours to allow time to announce all the graduates’ names.

Rain or shine

Smith said graduation at Kelly/Shorts Stadium will take place, rain or shine.

“The planning and logistics for the May 2010 commencement is still at its very, very early stages,” Smith said.

Texas senior Barron Miles does not have any problem with the change of location except for the “rain or shine” part.

“I don’t like the fact about the rain,” Miles said.

He is not the only one.

“If it rains, I am not going to be happy,” said Three Rivers senior Ashley Rice.

There are still ideas in place about how to make graduation better for May 2010 in case it does rain, Smith said.

“People would be able to bring umbrellas into the stadium with them, which they cannot do for football games,” he said.

Flanagan said the scheduled time for graduation will change, if necessary. She said if the time needs to be pushed back an hour because of weather, it can — the time of day allows flexibility.

Smith said Kelly/Shorts Stadium hosted commencement ceremonies from 1975, when it opened, to 1991.

When graduation was held in Rose Arena, Director of University Recreation Services Stan Shingles said it held about 4,500 after the end of the arena was used for the stage.

Flanagan said the staging for graduation will be similar to the setup of the Rose Arena graduation. The stage and students will be set up on the turn with the stage at the north end, facing toward the south. Parents, family and friends will be sitting in the three sections of the stadium seats.

The first ceremony held in Rose Arena after the renovations and construction are done is December 2010, Smith said.

E-mail the author: Kelli Ameling