Purdue Offering On-Demand Commencement For Summer Grads

(WEST LAFAYETTE) — More than 1,400 students will hear their names called during Purdue University’s summer commencement.

Originally scheduled for Aug. 8, the on-demand commencement will be posted online for graduates and their families to access starting Aug. 3. This is the second Purdue’s commencement will be offered on-demand due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Purdue alumna Marjorie Magner, a founding member and partner of Brysam Global Partners, will be the keynote speaker.

Magner helped form Brysam, a specialized private equity firm that invests in consumer financial services, in 2006. Before that, she served as chair and chief executive officer of Citigroup’s Global Consumer Group, where she was responsible for serving customers through retail banking, credit cards and consumer finance. 

Magner received her Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from Brooklyn College and a master’s degree in industrial administration from Purdue’s Krannert School of Management. She received an honorary doctorate in management from Purdue in 2004.

She was named to Fortune’s list of Most Powerful Women in Business from 2001-2004, as well as Forbes’ list of the World’s Most Powerful Women, and U.S. Banker’s list of the Top 25 Non-Bank Most Powerful Women in Finance. She earned the New York Stock Exchange Governance Services’ inaugural Leadership Award for a Non-Executive Chairman in 2014.

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Marjorie Magner

About 1,412 students are eligible for degrees, with 450 undergraduates, 959 graduate and three professional program students eligible to participate in the ceremony. Purdue also will present a posthumous Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering to the family of Trever L. Col.

The on-demand commencement also will feature a student responder, Aaron B. Benjamin of Haddonfield, New Jersey. He is receiving his doctoral degree in biochemistry from the College of Agriculture. Benjamin was an active member of the Purdue Graduate Student Government, where he was a member of the life team, treasurer and representative to the RecWell Advisory Board. He also was an officer to the Biochemistry Graduate Student Organization. While in biochemistry, he served as a teaching assistant and mentor to three graduate and nine undergraduate students. He has had research published in Organic Letters, Biochemistry and the Journal of the American Chemical Society for his work on synthesis and crystal structures of various compounds.

August 2020 graduates will receive a special “commencement in a box” that includes a diploma cover, the commencement program, any earned honors cords and medals, and some Boilermaker goodies. The box also includes information on how to download the ceremony, which they can watch with their families at a time that works for them. Assembly of the boxes began on Monday (July 13) at the Purdue Armory.

Graduates also received directions to Purdue’s Commencement 2020 website. The site contains information, links and videos to numerous aspects for graduates and families to celebrate the momentous journey. Items that can be accessed on the site are digital downloads of signs and banners, digital wallpapers and filters, and live social media feeds. The on-demand commencement video will be posted there and will include special messages from Purdue’s deans.

Each student will have their name called and receive their diploma cover. Graduates are encouraged to take photos of themselves and their families watching the ceremony or afterward and post to social media using the #PurdueWeDidIt hashtag.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to today’s toughest challenges. Ranked the No. 6 Most Innovative University in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at purdue.edu.