TSU Looks To Move Spring Commencement Indoors If Rain

Ceremonies could take place in Gentry Complex Saturday, May 10

NASHVILLE, TN (TSU News Service) Tennessee State University 2014 Spring Commencement Ceremony could move indoors due to the strong possibility of rain this Saturday.

The National Weather Service is predicting a 70-100 percent chance of thunderstorms and rain through Friday night, with showers and thunderstorms in the area Saturday morning. If commencement is moved, the ceremony will still start at 9 a.m. but will take place in the Howard C. Gentry Complex instead of Hale Stadium. Both Hale and Gentry will be set up for graduation. However, the weather will determine which venue will be used.

Moving to the Gentry Complex will also require two ceremonies, one for Undergraduates and one for Graduate Degree Students because the facility, the school’s largest capacity seating building, cannot accommodate both groups and their invited guests with a single commencement.

Approximately 850 undergraduates students are expected to walk across the stage, while just under 300 graduate degree students will participate. Undergraduates should still arrive at 7:30 a.m. and Graduate Students should arrive at 10:15.

If the ceremony is moved to the Gentry Complex, Undergraduate degrees will be conferred at 9 a.m. with Graduate degrees conferred following immediately. Officials are asking all Undergraduates and their invited guests to leave Gentry Center as soon as the Undergraduate Ceremony is over to provide seating for Graduate Degree Participants and their families.

Parking will remain the same. General parking will be available in parking lots throughout the campus. Shuttle services will be provided to transport guests from parking lots to the Gentry Center. Parking lots are:

Lot J – Engineering parking lot

Lot K – Power Plant parking lot

Lot L – Tiger Bell and 37th

Lot P – Queen Washington parking lot

More information on commencement can be found at http://www.tnstate.edu/records/commencement/.

Department of Media Relations
Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331

About Tennessee State University

With nearly 9,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant university offering 38 undergraduate, 22 graduate and seven doctoral programs. TSU has earned a top 20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one of the top universities in the country by Washington Monthly for social mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.