Gordon College Confers 482 Undergraduate and Graduate Degrees

With the official Commencement ceremony sidelined until the fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Gordon community found creative ways to honor the Class of 2020 leading up to and on what would have been graduation day: Saturday, May 16. Even without the traditional pomp and circumstance, 369 undergraduate degrees were conferred in the arts, sciences and music, and 113 graduate degrees in education, music education, leadership and financial analysis. All graduates will receive their diplomas in the mail and are invited to participate in the postponed 128^th Commencement ceremony during Homecoming and Family Weekend, October 2 and 3, 2020. 

In a brief video address today, President Michael Lindsay said, “20 weeks ago, let alone 20 years ago, we could never have imagined that we would be celebrating such an important milestone in your life remotely and over this distance instead of having you here on campus . . . but we didn’t want this day to pass us without giving a particular word of congratulations and making it official.”

Lindsay drew from a metaphor used by Gordon College founder A. J. Gordon: a tree, like a student, “gathers up into itself all the growth of former years and makes them part of its present substance.” In other words, Lindsay said, “Over the years we are shaped deeply by the people who speak into our lives. I pray that in the days, weeks and years ahead you’ll have many occasions to think about the amazing people here on the Gordon campus who made a difference in your life.”

Some of those very people—professors, mentors and friends—offered their own words of congratulations to the Class of 2020 following Lindsay’s address.

View a Message to the Class of 2020 >