by Kathryn Farris & Hannah Cron | May 9, 2021 | News, News Slider
This year’s commencement, flavored by COVID-19 precautions, marked not only the graduation of Lipscomb’s class of 2021 but also one of President Randolph Lowry’s final major events as president of the university. Lowry announced earlier this year that this summer he will begin transitioning to the role of chancellor. While an in-person graduation was able to happen for the first time since December 2019, several changes were made to ensure the proceedings were COVID-safe. All 2020 graduation ceremonies were done remotely because of the pandemic. Rather than having one large ceremony as was usual in the pre-COVID days, graduates were divided by college across four separate ceremonies on Friday and Saturday (May 7-8). Masks were worn during each ceremony, and all graduates were seated several feet apart to allow for social distancing. “Resilience” of the Lipscomb community throughout the past year was a consistent theme in the ceremonies. In his final speech in the role, Lowry thanked the students for their commitment to Lipscomb. “I was thinking in this COVID world, in this particular moment, what is it that I as the president would suggest you take with you? I want to suggest just one thing: I hope from this experience at Lipscomb University you take a sense of character,” said Lowry. “I thought if there was any group of students around that will come back, will come to this institution and follow the protocol, will understand why we are trying to be respectful of everyone — it was Lipscomb students, because you have character.” President Lowry also reflected upon his shared experience with the graduates. “I feel a...
by Taylor McKnight | Nov 23, 2020 | COVID-19, News, News Slider
Editor’s note: Prior to the announcement that graduation ceremonies will be held virtually, rather than in-person, university officials had their fingers crossed as they planned to do it live. Here is the story published about those plans and precautions prior to the decision to be safe and go virtual: Graduation — the moment students and their parents anticipate from the outset of the college journey — will look different this winter. It is still scheduled for December 19 in Allen Arena, but because of COVID, attendance will be limited, leaving out the parents. And, given the surge of the virus, there still is a chance it will be moved online, as it was last spring. In the spring, graduates didn’t have the opportunity to walk across the stage. For the first time in the university’s history, they hosted a virtual graduation. Students and their families watched the ceremony online. This semester Lipscomb is trying — despite the COVID pandemic — to give students the opportunity to walk across the stage. Because of the concerns about crowds and social distancing, the ceremony will be limited to faculty and graduates only. Parents, family members, and friends will have to watch the graduation ceremony through live stream. Provost Craig Bledsoe describes the pains taken to make sure graduation is safe during this era of the killer virus. “Knowing the restrictions we have, our plan is to have a graduation that resembles, looks like, feels like, what a regular graduation would look like for students,” he said. “Graduation will be physically distanced as much as possible, with guidelines we’ve been given by the...
by Mckenzi Harris | May 4, 2020 | Galleries, News, News Slider, Student Spotlight
Lipscomb’s 129th graduation ceremony looked quite different than was expected when the school year began in August. Allen Arena, which typically hosts the celebratory event, sat empty on Saturday when the COVID-19 outbreak forced the university to host its first virtual graduation. From the charge to the alma mater, Lipscomb faculty and students combined live and pre-recorded clips to create an all-new commencement ceremony experience. President Randy Lowry opened the commencement ceremony with a video pre-recorded in Allen Arena. “Well this isn’t exactly like I imagined it,” Lowry said. “Here I am standing in Allen Arena, and if this was a normal moment: Students you would be here with me. You would be dressed in caps and gowns, and there would be five thousand people surrounding us as this amazing moment took place. We would march in, we’d hear the bagpipes; the faculty would follow a little bit later. You’d be on the stage walking across, I’d shake your hand, and you would have your college degree, your graduate degree. You would have completed this moment, and the celebration would be wonderful. “The reality is we all know that this is a different time. And we’re giving up something:We’re giving our Allen Arena moment in order to protect others,” said Lowry. One of the many faculty members joining Lowry in conducting the online ceremony, Dean of Community Life Prentice Ashford gave out the Stephen Marsh Award. “Steve was a 1977 Lipscomb graduate and the son of one of our former board members, Lee Marsh,” said Ashford. “He was a Christian example in every aspect of his life as a...
by Kailey Schuyler | Apr 2, 2020 | COVID-19, News Slider, Uncategorized
President L. Randolph Lowry informed the entire Lipscomb Community, during a Live Virtual Conversation, that graduation will be held virtually for May Commencement. This came after an email from the Graduation Office was sent to all May and August Graduates informing them that all graduation activities will be held online. “I am sorry to announce that we will not have a traditional graduation in May,” said Lipscomb President L. Randolph Lowry. “We simply don’t believe that we will be allowed, even, to have that kind of crowd on campus.” All events concerning graduation will be moved to virtual meetings. This includes: baccalaureate, college, and department celebrations, and conferring of degrees. Virtual baccalaureate will take place on Friday, May 1 for a final time of worship with Lipscomb for the seniors. College and department celebrations will have virtual celebrations. The graduate office email states, “Since we cannot be together in person in May for our usual dinners and celebrations, each college and department will plan a virtual celebration for you and your classmates,”. The email also touched on the conferring of degrees, stating, ” We will virtually confer your degrees as planned on May 2. Many of you have jobs and graduate school plans following graduation and we know it is very important for you to have your degrees,”. Those who plan to complete their degrees in May or August do have a chance to participate in an on-campus commencement. “We are going to invite everyone who completes their degree work in May or everyone who completes it in August to join us in December. Actually the 19th of December, where...
by Erika Plunkett | Mar 20, 2020 | BREAKING NEWS, COVID-19, News Slider
Following the White House’s recommendation that gatherings of 10 or more people be canceled or postponed, Lipscomb University officials made the decision to extend online instruction for the rest of the spring semester in the wake of growing concern over the coronavirus. “This difficult and unprecedented decision – one being faced by colleges and universities throughout the country – was made with the health, wellbeing and safety of our students, faculty and staff in mind,” said President Lowry in an email sent Wednesday afternoon. In addition to the extension in remote learning, on-campus residence halls will no longer be available to students unless they have no other option for housing. Not only will on-campus residences be closed, but students will also not be able to return to Lipscomb to move out their remaining belongings until the university puts together a procedure to streamline this process. For those students whose only choice is to return to campus, life will be much different as a mandatory curfew will be put into place and many on-campus locations will be closed. “Dining options on campus will be significantly limited, primarily to grab-and-go options at one location, and recreational opportunities will be unavailable, including those in the Student Activities Center,” said Dr. Lowry. While Lipscomb had already announced the cancellation of all university events through April 30th, adding to the list of cancellations is that of spring commencement, which was set to take place on May 2nd in Allen Arena. Degrees will still be conferred, but graduates will be unable to walk across the stage to reduce the number at gatherings of 50 or...
