Students to celebrate academic achievements at virtual grad

Charles Darwin University will celebrate the academic achievements of more than 1200 students at virtual graduation ceremonies tomorrow night.

Acting Pro Vice-Chancellor Student Engagement and Success Sam Jacob said social distancing and travel restrictions prevented plans to celebrate major student milestones in person, so CDU opted for an all-digital virtual format.

“Graduation is a significant milestone and we want to make sure that all our students, whether they have studied online or on campus, experience some of the joy of graduating with their families and friends,” she said.

“Staff members from every area of the university have worked to provide ceremonies that honour our graduates, across the country, and across the globe.”

The event will feature multiple ceremonies taking place simultaneously online, with a multitude of guest student speakers including PhD graduand Dr Belinda Davison.

Dr Davison is the Life Course Program project manager at Menzies School of Health Research, which aims to examine the effect of early life events on later health and disease.

She will graduate with a PhD titled “Chronic stress exposure and emotional wellbeing in Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous young adults”.

Other student speakers include College of Education graduand Sharyn Bury, College of Indigenous Futures, Arts and Society graduand BP Bhandari, College of Nursing and Midwifery graduand Rachelle Reyes and Asia Pacific College of Business and Law graduand Gabrielle Hill.

The public is invited to tune into the virtual graduation ceremony on Friday, 18 September from 7pm NT time by visiting this link.  

Once onsite, viewers can choose which ceremony they wish to watch by selecting the appropriate faculty, college or school. 

Ceremony videos also will be available to view following the graduation.