Due to the delay of this year’s commencement ceremony to Aug. 7- 8, awards given to students at the ceremony will follow suit.

“At this point, we don’t have any plans to let the students know before August,” Susan Gore, vice president of Student Life, said.

The delay comes from an email by Dr. Phil Schubert, addressed to the ACU community:

“Students who complete their degree requirements will still have their degrees conferred in May, and we have rescheduled Commencement ceremonies for Aug. 7- 8, 2020.”

Schubert followed the statement by saying, “While this is a difficult decision, especially for our graduates and their families, we know this is the right move for the ACU community.”

The awards given at graduation include:

• Honor Man and Woman: given to students with a 3.25 minimum GPA who exemplify good character and scholarship
• Trustees Award: given based on outstanding achievement that honors the university
• B. Sherrod Scholarship: based on overall contribution to the university and comes with a $500 scholarship to be used for graduate school
• Dean Adams Achievement: based on a student’s cultural growth and development of overcoming obstacles.

Awards are determined from nominations made by faculty and sent out through email.

“After I gather the nominations, there is a Faculty Committee that votes on who actually receives the awards,” Gore said.

The B. Sherrod Scholarship, the only recognition with a financial award, will not be affected by this delay.

“As far as I know, it will be awarded in August,” Shan Martinez, director of technical services and committee member, said.

Although this delay has occurred, this does not take away from joy of reading the nominations.

“The committee members always enjoy reading the nominations to learn about students and their accomplishments. Because so many of the nominations are so impressive, we have our work cut out for us,” Martinez said.

Gore said that even though they plan to tell the winners in August, her and the faculty committee will discuss the possibility of announcing the winners earlier in a meeting on April 29.