Shenandoah University will celebrate its 2021 Commencement at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 22, and Sunday, May 23.
The ceremonies will take place in the commencement tent behind Brandt Student Center.
This year, there are a total of 1,409 graduates!
- 208 graduates for August 2020
- 353 for December 2020
- 848 candidates for graduation for May 2021
University Commencement Schedule
View a full calendar of all hooding and pinning ceremonies, Baccalaureate, and graduation events.
Saturday, May 22 | 10 a.m.
Includes graduates from the:
- School of Business
- Shenandoah Conservatory
Special guest
U.S. Senator Mark Warner will receive a Presidential Medal. Senator Warner was elected to the U.S. Senate from Virginia in November 2008 and re-elected to a third term in November 2020. He serves on the Senate Finance, Banking, Budget, and Rules committees as well as the Select Committee on Intelligence, where he is the chairman. From 2002 to 2006, Warner served as governor of Virginia. An early investor in the cellular telephone business, he co-founded the company that became Nextel and invested in hundreds of startup technology companies that created tens of thousands of jobs. He currently lives in Alexandria, Virginia.
Saturday, May 22 | 3 p.m.
Includes graduates from the:
- School of Health Professions: 3 p.m.
- Eleanor Wade Custer School of Nursing: 3 p.m.
- Bernard J. Dunn School of Pharmacy: 3 p.m.
Special guests
Representatives from Valley Health will receive a Presidential Medal. Valley Health is a not-for-profit health system of hospitals, urgent cares, physician practices, and services dedicated to meeting the medical needs of West Virginia, Maryland, and northern Virginia. Valley Health, in partnership with Shenandoah University and Lord Fairfax Health District, helped to create the COVID-19 mass-vaccination site at Shenandoah. Through the partnership, more than 70,000 shots were delivered and more than 35,000 people fully vaccinated.
Sunday, May 23 | 10 a.m.
Includes graduates from these programs in the College of Arts & Sciences:
- Exercise Science
- Psychology
- Undergraduate Public Health
- Criminology & Criminal Justice
Special guest
Lydia Thomas will receive an honorary degree. Thomas is the former president and chief executive officer of Noblis, a nonprofit science, technology and strategy organization working at all levels of government, in private industry and with other nonprofits including in national and homeland security; public safety; transportation; health care; criminal justice; and energy and the environment. In 2002, Dr. Thomas was appointed by President George Bush to serve as a founding member of the President’s Homeland Security Advisory Council, and she continued to serve in this role for President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. She was twice-appointed to serve as a member of the Virginia Research and Technology Advisory Commission and was also appointed to the Virginia Governor’s Higher Education Summit Steering Committee. In 2008, Thomas was appointed to the Governor’s Commission on Climate Change. She is currently a director for Mueller Water Products, Inc., Washington Mutual Investors Fund, the United States Energy Association, the Northern Virginia Technology Council, and the Conference Board, and is an emeritus member of the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, a not-for-profit research and development organization headquartered in Massachusetts.
Sunday, May 23 | 3 p.m.
Includes graduates from the:
- College of Arts & Sciences
- Division of Education and Leadership
Special guest
Brent Tarter will receive an honorary degree. Tarter is a member of the American Historical Association; the Association for Documentary Editing; the Organization of American Historians; the Southern Association of Women Historians; the Southern Historical Association; and the Virginia Historical Society. In 2006, he and Shenandoah University historian Warren Hofstra founded the Virginia Forum, the first annual conference on Virginia history. In 1982, Tarter and Sandra G. Treadway became the founding editors of the multivolume Dictionary of Virginia Biography. He was also a senior editor in the Library of Virginia’s publications division from 1982 to 2010 and assistant division director from 1996 to 2002.
Support your Graduate virtually!
All University Commencement ceremonies will be streamed live on the university’s Facebook page. You can also join live on Zoom.
- Watch the May 22, 10 a.m. ceremony on Zoom
- Watch the May 22, 3 p.m. ceremony on Zoom
- Watch the May 23, 10 a.m. ceremony on Zoom
- Watch the May 23, 3 p.m. ceremony on Zoom
Check out our Facebook Profile frames for SU Graduates, SU Parents, and Congratulations for SU Graduates.
Direct message (DM) us your photos and videos to @ShenandoahUniversity on instagram for a chance to be reposted.
Use the new Shenandoah University GIFs, including a graduation cap, on any platform that allows you to add gif stickers. Just search “Shenandoah University” when searching for your GIFs.
When posting about graduation on social media, please use #ShenandoahGrad— we will feature and repost photos and videos with this hashtag!
