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Commencement

Congratulations to our graduates and their families. Below is information on Ohio Northern's annual commencement ceremonies and related activities.

  • Click here to ask a question about commencement or email commencement@onu.edu
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2025 Commencement dates

Ohio Northern will hold three in-person commencement ceremonies the weekend of May 17 and 18, 2025. All three ceremonies will take place in the 葫芦影业 Sports Center Field House. Tickets will not be required for the commencement ceremonies.

The College of Law Commencement will take place Saturday, May 17, at 10 a.m.

The College of Pharmacy Commencement will take place Sunday, May 18, at 9 a.m.

The Undergraduate/MSA Commencement will take place Sunday, May 18, at 2 p.m.

Doors open 90 minutes before each ceremony. All seating is first come first served with seating available for those with physical impairment. As a courtesy to all guests in attendance, we ask that seats not be held for others.

The processional starts approximately 15 minutes before the ceremony. Those not seated at that time will need to wait to enter the Field House until the procession has concluded in order to be seated.

  • Commencement Law Image

    A commencement ceremony for the College of Law will be held Saturday, May 17, at 10 a.m. A live stream will be available beginning at 9:30 a.m. on .

    Saturday, May 17

    8:30 a.m. Sports Center Open Sports Center Guests should arrive by 9 a.m. and be seated by 9:30 a.m.
    9 a.m. Processional Assembly Gymnasium, Sports Center Graduating students assemble.
    9:15 a.m. Processional Assembly Gymnasium, Sports Center Faculty assemble.
    9:30 a.m. Musical Prelude Field House, Sports Center  
    9:45 a.m. Academic Processional Field House, Sports Center Guests must be seated at this time or they will need to wait to enter the Field House until the procession has concluded in order to be seated.
    10-11:30 a.m. Commencement Field House, Sports Center LIVE STREAMING AVAILABLE
    11:30 a.m. Recessional Field House, Sports Center  
    Reception After Graduation A dessert reception for graduates and their guests will be held in the Pettit College of Law Building about 15 minutes after the Commencement Recessional.
           
  • Commencement Pharmacy Image

    Join us for the Pharmacy Commencement Ceremony (Bachelor of Integrated Health Science and PharmD) on Sunday, May 18, at 9 a.m. in the 葫芦影业 Sports Center Field House. A live stream will be available beginning at 8:30 a.m. on .

     

    Sunday, May 18

    7:30 a.m. Sports Center Opens Sports Center Guests should arrive by 8 a.m. and be seated by 8:30 a.m.
    8:00 a.m. Processional Assembly Gymnasium, Sports Center Graduating students assemble.
    8:15 a.m. Processional Assembly Gymnasium, Sports Center Faculty assemble.
    8:30 a.m. Musical Prelude Field House, Sports Center  
    8:45 a.m. Academic Processional Field House, Sports Center Guests must be seated at this time or they will need to wait to enter the Field House until the procession has concluded in order to be seated.
    9-11:15 a.m. Commencement Field House, Sports Center LIVE STREAMING AVAILABLE
    11:15 a.m. Recessional Field House, Sports Center  
    Reception After Graduation A reception for graduates and their guests will be held in a tent near Robertson-Evans {Pharmacy Building) about 15 minutes after the Commencement Recessional.
  • Photo of 2 graduates

    A ceremony for the undergraduate students (Arts & Sciences, Engineering, Business, and including MSA) will be held on Sunday, May 18, at 1:30 p.m. inside the 葫芦影业 Sports Center Field House. A live stream will be available beginning at 1:45 p.m. on .

     

    Sunday, May 18

    12:30 p.m. Sports Center Open Sports Center Guests should arrive by 1 p.m. and be seated by 1:30 p.m. 
    1 p.m. Processional Assembly Gymnasium, Sports Center Graduating students assemble.
    1:15 p.m. Processional Assembly Gymnasium, Sports Center Faculty assemble.
    1:30 p.m. Musical Prelude Field House, Sports Center  
    1:35 p.m. Academic Processional Field House, Sports Center Guests must be seated at this time or they will need to wait to enter the Field House until the procession has concluded in order to be seated.
    2-4:30 p.m. Commencement Field House, Sports Center LIVE STREAMING AVAILABLE
    4:30 p.m. Recessional Field House, Sports Center  
    Reception After Graduation

    Receptions for graduates and their guests will begin in each college about 15 minutes after the Commencement Recessional. Locations of the receptions are:

    Arts & Sciences - Middle Gym, Sports Center
    Business Administration - Dicke Hall
    Engineering - South Gym, Sports Center

    45 Minutes after Graduation Order of the Engineer and Pledge of the Computing Professional Ceremonies The Order of the Engineer and the Pledge of the Computing Professional will take place 45 minutes after the completion of the commencement ceremony in the Field House, Sports Center.

葫芦影业 2025 Commencement Speakers

Undergraduate/MSA Commencement
For more than 40 years, Brenda Reichelderfer has been a global leader in business and engineering, driving success at businesses in 17 countries while paving the way for women in STEM.

Reichelderfer earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from 葫芦影业 in 1980. In the course of her career, she furthered her expertise with executive leadership programs at Duke University and MIT鈥檚 Sloan School of Management, as well as a Six Sigma Green Belt certification from the University of Michigan.

Her engineering, management, and operations acumen propelled her to executive leadership at ITT, Inc., a three-billion-dollar manufacturer of critical engineering components.
Read News Article
Photo of Brenda Reichelderfer
Law Commencement
Benedikt Bogason is a Supreme Court Justice and President of the Court in Iceland, where he serves his country with unwavering integrity and honor.

He earned his Candidate Juris degree from the University of Iceland in 1990 and embarked on a distinguished career in public service. He served as Director of Legal Affairs at the Ministry of Justice, Chief Judge of the District Court of West Iceland, and District Court Judge, before his appointment to the Icelandic Supreme Court in 2012. He was elected President of the Court in 2020.

In addition to his judicial responsibilities, Justice Bogason is a professor of law at the University of Iceland, where he has been a part-time faculty member since 1993. He has authored books and articles on the general principles of the law of obligations, civil procedure, and other topics, enriching legal discourse.
Read News Article
Photo of Justice Benedikt Bogason
Pharmacy Commencement
Dr. Ada Stewart is a servant leader who has devoted her life鈥檚 work to healing and uplifting others鈥攑articularly the underserved and marginalized鈥 as a pharmacist, family physician, mentor, and advocate.

She earned a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from 葫芦影业 in 1985 and began her career as a pharmacist in Cleveland. Hearing about the compassionate care of a local family physician who treated the whole person, and enduring the loss of loved ones to breast cancer, heart disease, and other illnesses, inspired her to further her commitment to medicine and pursue at medical degree from the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences.

Since 2012, Dr. Stewart has been a family physician with Cooperative Health, in Columbia, S.C., where she is a lead provider and HIV specialist. She has advocated for patients and communities at the highest levels.
Read News Article
Photo of Ada

Commencement programs

All 2025 Commencement programs are available to download as .pdf files.

COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES聽CELEBRATE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

葫芦影业 celebrates an important milestone in the lives of its students during commencement exercises each May. The dates and times of these ceremonies are listed above.

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葫芦影业 students experience graduation
Pharmacy students at commecement
Commencement Crowd
Graduates walk on campus
Commencement at Ohio Northern
Law graduate holding his child following ceremony
Handshake in front to the 葫芦影业 University seal
葫芦影业 engineering graduate
Ohio Northern graduation candidate
  • 葫芦影业 holds all Commencement ceremonies indoors in the 葫芦影业 Sports Center Field House.

     

     

  • The 葫芦影业 Sports Center is located on W. Lincoln Ave. Please drive to the King Horn parking lot entrance off of W. Lincoln Ave. and parking attendants will direct you to available spaces.

     

  • Tickets will not be required for the commencement ceremonies.

  • Doors open 90 minutes before each ceremony. All seating is first come first served with seating available for those with physical impairment. The processional starts approximately 15 minutes before the ceremony. Those not seated at that time will need to wait to enter the Field House until the procession has concluded in order to be seated. All guests, regardless of ceremony, are requested to remain in their seats throughout the ceremony.

    SATURDAY, MAY 17, 2025
    10:00 a.m. | Pettit College of Law Commencement 

    • Law commencement guests should be at the Field House by 9 a.m. and in their seats by 9:30 a.m.
    • A reception for graduates and guests will be held in the college following the ceremony.

    SUNDAY, MAY 18, 2025
    9:00 a.m. | Raabe College of Pharmacy Commencement

    • Pharmacy commencement guests should be at the Field House by 8:00 a.m. and in their seats by 8:30 a.m.
    • A reception for graduates and guests will be held in a tent near the Robertson-Evans Pharmacy Building following the ceremony.

    2:00 p.m. | Undergraduate/MSA Commencement

    • Undergraduate/MSA commencement guests should be at the Field House by 1:00 p.m. and in their seats by 1:30 p.m.
    • A reception for Arts & Sciences graduates and guests will be held in the King Horn Middle Gymnasium following the ceremony.
    • A reception for Engineering graduates and guests will be held in the King Horn South Gymnasium following the ceremony.
      • The Order of the Engineer and Pledge of the Computing Professional will take place 45 minutes after the completion of the commencement ceremony in the Field House, Sports Center.
    • A reception for Business graduates and guests will be held in Dicke Hall following the Ceremony.
  • The University has arranged for each graduate to be photographed receiving the diploma. Graduates will receive information about the photographer prior to the ceremony and have the opportunity to purchase the picture after commencement from an online portal. Sign up information for  will be provided to graduates prior to the commencement ceremony.

    Photographs of graduates in the procession must be taken as the procession is moving into the Field House since students will not recess. For the convenience of guests wishing to take their own photographs, a posted area is provided on the north side of the platform (audience left) for this purpose. In this area, a picture of the graduate after they come off the stage and before they are seated can be taken. Guests are requested to plan their entrance into the area approximately three to five graduates ahead and then return to their seats immediately after. At all other times, guests are asked to remain in their seats throughout the ceremony.

    Graduates also are encouraged to take photos on our beautiful campus. Some popular places include the Ohio Northern sign in front of Lehr Memorial, the campus boulevard entrance near Dukes Memorial, the fountains in front of McIntosh Center and Freed Center, The H.S. Lehr statue, and on the Tundra. 

  • May 17
    A reception for law graduates and guests will be held in the college following the ceremony.

     

    May 18
    Receptions for graduates and guests will be held following each ceremony.

    • Pharmacy 鈥 Tent west of Robertson-Evans Pharmacy Building by the Rho Chi statue
    • Arts & Sciences 鈥 Middle Gym, King Horn
    • Engineering 鈥 South Gym, King Horn
    • Business/MSA 鈥 Dicke Hall
  • Parking for persons with special needs will be provided near the Field House. Security personnel will direct guests to parking. Special seating will be provided for those with physical impairments. Please contact an usher for assistance if needed. 

  • No babysitting and nursery service will be available.

  • A nurse will be available in the training room of the Field House during the commencement ceremonies. Ushers are available for assistance.

  • Yes, the hours during commencement are as follows:

    Law Commencement (May 17th): 11am-1pm 
    UG/Pharm D/MSA (May 18th): 10am-1pm

  • Yes, Dining Services offer catering and pick-up-and-go options. Please email catering@onu.edu with a few details about what you are looking for and your contact number, and they will be glad to give you a call to discuss options.

     

Mortar Board flowers

Order Flowers

Mortar Board is a national honorary that recognizes seniors for scholarship, leadership and service. This organization holds an annual flower sale to honor all graduates. This is a special day, and Mortar Board would like to provide parents and families of graduates with the opportunity to pre-order flowers for their graduate. This service is for your convenience and allows you to pick up flowers the day of Commencement. You won鈥檛 need to worry about traveling with flowers or finding a florist that morning. Please consider pre-ordering flowers for your student to make their graduation one to remember!

Flowers will be available for pick up prior to the opening of the 葫芦影业 Sports Center Field House until the end of the last commencement ceremony of the day. Flower pick up is located outside of the Field House entrance.
  • Awarding academic degrees to signify reaching a certain level in a branch of learning goes back at least eight centuries, even prior to the creation of universities. In the twelfth century, large bodies of students would gather together in one place, as they did in Paris and Bologna. In such a scholarly milieu, some naturally decided on a career in teaching.

     

    Their first step was to become baccalaureus, a step which preceded by several years permission to teach. Following more years of study, the student was admitted to a select circle of teachers through a series of special initiation rites. The installation in a teaching post followed practices of Roman Law among students in Paris. Some vestiges of the ceremony are seen in today鈥檚 commencement exercises, namely the investment with a square cap. The new master would embark upon his teaching career with his first lecture, his inceptio, meaning commencement.

     

    From these origins has come our commencement, a special academic ceremony for the purpose of awarding degrees, which begins and ends with an academic procession. As a descendant of clerical processions of the churches, it is carried out with great dignity and impressiveness. All participants wear the academic regalia appropriate to their highest degree. Faculty members process in order of their academic rank, with senior full professors first, followed by their colleagues of successively lower rank. The procession is formed in ranks of two except for special dignitaries or honorees who may walk alone. The entire procession is headed by a senior faculty member bearing an ornate institutional banner and another serving as grand marshal and carrying the institutional mace, a traditional emblem of authority of the bearer.

     

    The high point of the commencement program is the awarding of degrees. Placing a hood on the shoulders of the graduate is the time-honored gesture denoting the investiture of the degree. Since this practice is most often retained solely for advanced degrees in contemporary commencement exercises, today鈥檚 bachelor鈥檚 degree recipients symbolize the hooding through the simple act of moving the tassel on the cap from the right to the left side. Only a few institutions maintain the practice 鈥 as we do at 葫芦影业 鈥 of the candidate receiving their diploma at the commencement ceremony.

     

    Evolving culture and customs have changed the details of awarding degrees. Yet it remains a rich and memorable experience for participants and witnesses, a ceremony sensitive to tradition and conveying great significance in the lives of the new graduates.

  • Academic attire dates back at least to the 14th century. Its origin is attributed to ecclesiastical influence, to the need for warmth in unheated rooms used by medieval scholars, and to avoidance of 鈥渆xcess in apparel鈥 by wearing a long gown. Ultimately, there developed distinctive caps, gowns and hoods denoting the institution that granted the degree, the field of learning in which the degree was earned, and the level of the degree 鈥揵achelor, master or doctorate.

     

    American universities, unlike those of England and Europe, have adopted a standard code of academic costume in which the cut and material of the gown, the color of the tassel on the cap, and the pattern and colors of the hood all have special significance.

     

    Bachelors鈥 gowns are closed at the throat and have long, pointed sleeves. Masters鈥 gowns may be worn open or closed and have long, oblong sleeves, square and closed at the end, the arms coming through slits near the wrist. Doctors鈥 gowns, worn open or closed, are faced with velvet and have full, bell-shaped sleeves. Each sleeve carries three bars of velvet, called chevrons. Trustees, presidents and marshals of colleges or universities may wear caps and gowns that are especially designed and colored.

     

    Academic caps are usually mortarboards, though soft caps are also worn. The cap is black; the tassel is black or the color appropriate to the discipline or field of study, or, for a doctor鈥檚 cap, it may be gold.

     

    The hood gives color and real meaning to the academic costume. The color of the lining identifies the university granting the highest degree held by the wearer. The color of the trim indicates the field of learning in which the degree is received.

  • Arts, Letters, Humanities, White Law, Purple  Philosophy, Dark Blue    
    Commerce, Business, Drab  Library Science, Lemon Physical Education, Sage Green    
    Education, Light Blue   Music, Pink   Public Service, Peacock Blue 
    Engineering, Orange Nursing, Apricot Science, Golden Yellow
    Fine Arts, Brown Pharmacy, Olive Green     Theology, Scarlet

     

     
       

     

     

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419-772-2000

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