Commencement

If you have any questions, please contact commencement@etown.edu.

These items can all be purchased through Balfour.

You can order regalia from Oak Hall. Orders must be placed by April 14 and will arrive approximately 3 weeks from the date of purchase.

Diploma Frames can be purchased through the College Store in-person or online. More options and personalization can be purchased at the Church Hill Classics site.

Yard signs can be ordered online through the  Etown College Store .

Personalized Commencement gifts can be ordered through Print Services.

All graduates are required to have full regalia including a cap, gown, and tassel to participate in Commencement, which can be purchased online. The deadline to purchase regalia is April 14, 2023. Garments under regalia should be business casual or business. Shoes should be comfortable and due to the high probability of rain in the week prior to Commencement, shoes with a spiked heel are not recommended.

Families are encouraged to arrive in time to attend Baccalaureate on Friday, May 12 at 7 p.m.

You can arrive for Baccalaureate as early as 6:30 p.m.

Vehicles carrying our guests with a need for special accommodations may enter Alpha Drive and drop off passengers at the top of The Dell. Please be aware that the drive will be barricaded, and all vehicles carrying passengers with the need for special accommodations must stop and request access from the Campus Security personnel stationed at that location. On the morning of Commencement, access to Alpha Drive for this purpose only will be available before 9:45 a.m.

After dropping off passengers, the vehicle should follow Alpha Drive to the stop sign at Mount Joy Street. At the stop sign, please make a left and then proceed along Mount Joy Street to Cedar Street. At Cedar Street, please make a left and park in the lot behind Myer Hall. In addition to this lot, vehicles with the appropriate tags may use any spaces on campus that are designated as accessible parking spots.

In the event that the ceremony is relocated to the Bowers Center, passengers needing special accommodations may be dropped off near the Bowers Center, and the vehicle may be parked in any available spots in the nearby lots. Our campus map denotes the locations of these lots. If additional is required, Campus Security can be reached at 717-361-1263.

Graduates are asked to notify the College ahead of time should any guests require mobility accommodations by emailing commencement@etown.edu  .

Tickets are not needed if the ceremony is held in The Dell. Family and friends may sit in the designated seating area (first come, first served) or bring their own lawn chairs or blankets to sit in the shaded areas of The Dell. The only reserved seating in The Dell is for attendees needing special accommodations and our graduates. Please note that seating provided by the College is not in a shaded area.

In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held inside and each graduate is eligible to claim three guest tickets. Graduates should specify if any guests require special accommodations by emailing commencement@etown.edu.

Tickets are only necessary if the ceremony is moved indoors because of severe inclement weather. Unfortunately, the Bowers Center has limited seating. In the unlikely event that we would need to move the ceremony inside, we would have overflow seating in Leffler Chapel and Performance Center and Gibble Auditorium located in the Masters Center for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering, for anyone without a ticket.

Indoor viewing locations for the Commencement livestream will be available in Leffler Chapel and Performance Center and Gibble Auditorium located in the Masters Center for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering.

Restrooms are available in Schlosser Residence Hall and Myer Residence Hall at the top and bottom of the Dell respectively.

The Commencement Ceremony normally lasts about two hours.

Only those graduates who have achieved a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.60 are noted as graduating cum laude, 3.75 as graduating magna cum laude, and 3.90 as graduating summa cum laude. Latin honors will be noted in the Commencement program based upon official grades calculated prior to the start of the spring semester.

The designation of any Honors in the Discipline or SGPS Honors will be recorded on the student’s official transcript upon successful completion of all degree requirements.

Within the School of Graduate and Professional Studies (SGPS), those students who have met the GPA requirements for Latin honors, but lack the 60 residential credits in a bachelor’s degree required for those designations, will have their transcripts reflect the award upon successful completion of all degree requirements.

Diplomas will not be included in the diploma case handed to graduates on stage. Rather, the case includes a commemorative Elizabethtown College photo. Diplomas will be mailed to students following the ceremony, once final grades are calculated.

• Graduates participating in Commencement will need to depart their college housing by 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 13.
• Non-graduating students will depart by 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 11, or 24 hours after their last in person final.
• RA's will depart by 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 14.