Commencement Planning 101

Posted: May 21, 2009

It’s only one day out of the year, but the planning for Mount Holyoke’s commencement festivities rivals the lead-up to President Obama’s inauguration. Michael Buckley, superintendent of general services for facilities management, has it down to a science in his 68-page, single-spaced master plan that goes to staff and administrators all across the campus.

Among other things, in the days leading up to commencement, Buckley’s crews will be:

• positioning roadhorses and posting dozens of signs to mark parade routes, no parking zones, and other temporary traffic directives
• deploying miles and miles of blue, white, and yellow rope at strategic spots on campus
• clearing birds’ nests from the top of the Amphitheater stage, as per request of the President’s Office
• washing down all the “healthy, good looking Adirondack chairs” and setting them out “in groups that afford our customers an opportunity to enjoy the serenity of our campus, without creating too many mowing obstacles”
• storing commencement programs in “an incredibly safe, dry place”
• putting little white lights on the Field Gate and the two Mount Holyoke signs
• filling the potholes on Mary Woolley Circle so that returning alumnae don’t suffer ankle sprains and other injuries
• making sure the fire truck is in good running order
• working out details on the movement of canoes to the Lower Lake
• and setting up 3,500 folding chairs in the Field House, just in case…

Related LInks:

Commencement 2009

Facilities Management