Dear Columbia College family,

We cannot wait to celebrate with you during Commencement Week! This message contains lots of logistical information regarding how to navigate campus on Class Day and Commencement.

Please feel free to review our archived messages as a refresher for what to expect next week. We will be in touch with final details prior to the ceremonies, including photography, what to wear and more.

All the best,

Sue Jordan
Associate Director of Family Engagement
Student and Family Support
Columbia College | Columbia Engineering
Email: gradzone@columbia.edu
Phone: 212-854-2446

Getting to Columbia

Whether you are traveling to campus for Class Day or University Commencement, we strongly encourage you to take public transit or a car service. The University will also offer shuttle services for University Commencement on Wednesday, May 16. Street parking and parking garages are very limited.

Queuing for Class Day

The gates will open for Columbia College Class Day at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 15. Guests should queue at the campus gates on Broadway from 114th Street to 116th Street and on 114th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. See the map for entrances and seating at Class Day. Tickets are not required and seating is general admission.

Finding Your Graduate After the Class Day Ceremony

Students will recess from the ceremony to upper campus to receive a gift from Dean Valentini. Please plan to meet your graduate in the area between Uris, Havemeyer and Mathematics Halls, near the lion statue.

Professional photographers from GradImages will be stationed outside of Havemeyer Hall near the lion statue to take pictures of graduates and their guests. You will be able to identify these photographers by the red vests they will be wearing. You may purchase the images they capture after the ceremony, along with the images of your graduate during the ceremony, at GradImages.com.

Attending University Commencement

Tickets are required for University Commencement on Wednesday, May 16, so please make sure you receive the tickets from your student before the day of the ceremony! Each ticket has a unique code that must be printed in order for staff to scan at the entrances.

Gates will open to guests at 8:30 a.m. Please plan to queue at the entrances to campus on 114th Street. Maps of available entrances and seating for the ceremony are available on the Commencement website.

Accessibility and Disability Seating

As a reminder, guests with limited mobility, individuals needing assistance or those in need of sign language interpretation should enter campus through the gates at 116th Street and Amsterdam Avenue on Class Day. An additional entrance will be available at 115th Street and Amsterdam Avenue for Commencement.

Remote Viewing

If you or other friends and family members are unable to join us in person for Commencement Week festivities, tune in to the live webcast for each ceremony.

Saying Congratulations

There is still time to submit a congratulatory ad in the Commencement Week edition of the Columbia Daily Spectator and The Columbian yearbook. Placing an ad is a wonderful way to commemorate your grad's accomplishments and to support student publications! Please submit your ad(s) by Sunday, May 13.