For Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud, commencement is the best day of the year.

“Commencement is my favorite day of the year for the simple reason that it’s so wonderful to see the families and supporters of the students and their joy, which is a large part of what it’s all about,” Syverud said. “It’s also wonderful to see the students graduating and them feeling good about it.”

The 2014 ceremony, which will be held on May 11, is the first for Syverud at SU. Syverud, who took office on January 13, came to the university from Washington University School of Law and will be going into his first SU commencement with a beginner’s mentality.

“This time preparing for commencement is primarily just learning where I’m supposed to be and when,” he said.

A team of more than 100 people helps prepare for commencement, he said.

“My attitude this first time through is I’m going to do what they tell me to do,” he said. “My main job at commencement is to show up for things, to be there for people, to host the honorary degree recipients. I give a very short address and basically join in celebrating people.”

While Syverud has only been at SU since January, others have been preparing for the ceremony since the conclusion of last year’s commencement. He said following the prior year’s ceremonies, a group of people convenes to go over what can be improved and how to plan for the next year. The preparation and examination after the event involve all the staff who worked commencement, administration and the Department of Public Safety, Syverud said.

Most of the work Syverud does with DPS is crowd control and helping people get to where they need to be, he said.

“A lot of people who come to commencement have never been on a college campus before, so we want every single one of them to have a positive celebratory experience and that involves not only the DPS team, but really it’s all hands on deck,” Syverud said.

For Syverud’s individual preparation, he’s relied on communication with students and attending various SU functions.

“I’ve been helped by trying to go to as many things as possible and to understand just what Syracuse is and all the different parts of Syracuse that make it such a transforming experience for different seniors,” he said.

Though he’s only been in office for four months, Syverud said he has still developed a connection with the seniors by meeting with a quarter of them individually. Members of the graduating class are leaving shortly after Syverud arrived on campus, but he said he hasn’t met a single senior he wouldn’t want to get to know better once they’re alumni.

Syverud said he feels he has met 25 percent of SU seniors so far, and said he understands how broad the experiences of the graduating seniors are.

“When I‘m going to look out over the people graduating, I’m not going to see an undifferentiating mass of people in the same color robes,” he said. “I’m going to see lots of individuals whose Syracuse experience has been defined by a particular school, or a particular major, or a particular activity.”

Syverud said commencement brings a sense of family to SU and happiness is shared among all those in attendance.

“Commencement is what we’ve all been working toward as a family for four years or longer,” Syverud said. “The faculty, the staff, the students and their families, and it’s the one point all year where everyone’s in the same place at the same time, so it should be uninhibitedly joyful.”

Published on May 8, 2014 at 2:30 am

Contact Justin: jmatting@syr.edu | @jmattingly306