September 27, 2021
New Student Convocation on Tuesday afternoon opens UW’s 2021-22 academic year
University of Washington Associate Professor Wendy Barrington will be the featured speaker at the university’s 38th annual New Student Convocation. Barrington has joint appointments in the Department of Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing in the School of Nursing and the departments of Epidemiology and of Health Systems and Population Health in the School of Public Health.
This year’s hybrid ceremony is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 28, on Rainier Vista, just south of the Drumheller Fountain. Students registering for the Convocation selected one of a limited number of in-person tickets or requested a virtual ticket to watch the hour-long ceremony via live webcast.
Convocation welcomes the entering class and officially marks the beginning of the academic year, with classes starting Sept. 29. At the suggestion of health officials, this year’s ceremony has been moved from Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion to the Rainier Vista lawn. That’s where about 1,200 students will attend in person, while the event is also streamed online to welcome other students, families, friends and the entire campus community.
New Student Convocation is one of only two occasions where university President Ana Mari Cauce, the Board of Regents, the deans of the 16 schools and colleges and the faculty gather for an academic ceremony focused on students. The other event is Commencement. Together, these two events are the seminal “bookend” events of a college career.
The Convocation will open with an academic procession led by University Marshal Joseph Janes, associate professor in the UW’s Information School, carrying the university mace. President Cauce, Provost Mark Richards, members of the Board of Regents, deans, vice presidents, vice provosts and student leaders will march in the procession.
Fast facts:
- Preliminary figures show the incoming freshman class is expected to be about 7,250 students
- Around 4,475 freshmen will be from Washington state
- An additional 1,500 transfer students are expected to arrive this fall, including about 1,300 transferring from Washington community colleges
- UW Bothell and UW Tacoma also welcome their incoming classes, with about 950 and 620 freshmen and about 700 and 850 transfer students expected, respectively. UW Bothell’s Convocation ceremony is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 28, and UW Tacoma’s ceremony is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 29.
