2. About the data
• A total of 624 ASU graduate students from May 12 ceremony
were asked the following survey question:
What did you ‘most enjoy’ and ‘recommended improvement’ at the
graduation ceremony?
• The responses were in a free-response format and the
resulting data was analysed using text analytics software.
4. PAGE 4
Generally, the survey respondents expressed positive sentiment for the Commencement
ceremony for Most Enjoy part.
Overall Most Enjoy by ASU Graduates
49
6
45
Distribution of feedbacks in %
Positive Negative Unknown
6. PAGE 6
• The Keynote speech was liked , although it was little too long.
• Favorite speech by Wendy Koop & Dr. Crow .
• Dr. Crow was mentioned in 9% of replies while Wendy Koop in 2%
• She spoke to the point. Human rights and equality for our generations.
• Dr. Crow’s speech was applauded by many. His speech was energetic and he
believed what he said. Thus, inspiring the graduates.
Mostly talked were Wendy Koop and
Dr. Crow.
8. PAGE 8
• Like -24%
• Excellent- 8%
• Recognized- 5%
• Good- 4%
*includes both the exact words and their synonyms.
Most Frequent Positive Words
9. PAGE 9
“The feeling of having completed my
successful undergraduate career and
being able to share and celebrate that
exciting accomplishment with loved
ones.”
Like
“Listening to President Crow's speech was
powerful and impactful. He gave an
amazing speech that left me feeling
energized and inspired.”
Excellent
“Highly rated nationally and mostly
good professors”
Good
“The nicest part of the program was
standing up and being recognized for my
work or the program I was in.”
Recognized
Most Frequent Statements
Online students from other states
and far away from Kentucky,
Wisconsin and Virginia found solace
in the ceremony and were rejoiced
by meeting other graduating
students.
11. PAGE 11
Positive Feelings
• The positive feelings were centered to the beautiful night, fireworks, inspiring
speeches, amazing videos in the presentation and good time spent with family and
friends, Chase field was an amazing venue too.
• Venue was comfortable and also the place was giving positive feeling as graduates
met old friends from their 1st year, people socialized with new students and sat
around where nobody was from the same school.
• “I enjoyed being able to be a part of such a large university at once. I was allowed
to enjoy the celebration with my friends from different schools within ASU instead
of just people in my core classes.”
12. PAGE 12
• Dr. Crow and faculty were very thoughtful about the whole ceremony, the speeches
inspired many to chase big dreams. Supportive and made graduates feel proud of
them being the ASU alumni.
• Learning about the progress of ASU over the years and how it is globally recognized
university.
• The speakers pointing to the capabilities of the graduates to go fort and improve
themselves and the world
Positive attitude
14. PAGE 14
• “Unable to see my son unless the camera was scanned by (better camera work)
some schools complained (Liberal Arts) we were left out from camera crew as we
never saw ourselves on the big screen. “
• “I mostly enjoyed the recognition of the class as a whole that graduated. I wished
the speakers would have followed the same guidelines that the speakers for the
college of health solutions followed on Friday the 13th. Their speeches were more
focused on the graduates than their own accomplishments.”
Improvements:
15. PAGE 15
• “I liked when they addressed the graduates. However, there were not
enough camera views of the liberal arts and sciences graduates. It made it
feel less person because I could not see myself on screen.”
• “A sense that I defied all odds to come back and finish college. Being a
former addict I overcame all obstacles. Also the passing of my girlfriend
early in the semester was hard to get through but I made it a goal to do it
for her.”
Miscellaneous
16. PAGE 16
• The ballpark had enough seats but graduation was so informal, students were
disengaged, could not hear half of the speakers. Fireworks were awesome and
singers and the video. It could have been better.
• “Saying I could be there. The atmosphere and caliber of students we were
surrounded by was disappointing. There were various drunk students around us, and
students smoking during the ceremony and they were not apprehended until 15
minutes before the end.”
• “I enjoyed the whole program overall; Getting out of the arena was very easy
compared to other commencements I have attended (*cough UA)”
Negative feeds -3%
17. PAGE 17
Correlation For Most Enjoy:
### Speech
3. President
Crow’s
Speech
1.
Academics
2. Student
graduation.
### Feeling of
accomplishment
Atmosphere.
18. PAGE 18
Most Spoken
#### Academics:
Student graduation
Family. Chase-field.
Atmosphere.
President
22. PAGE 22
Overall Recommended Improvements
By Graduates:
52
46
2
Distribution of feedback in %
Negative Positive Unknown
Generally, the survey respondents expressed negative sentiment for the
Commencement ceremony for Recommended Improvement part.
23. PAGE 23
• Better– 15%
• Speaker- 13%
• Too long- 10%
• Ceremony- 9%
*includes both the exact words and their synonyms.
Words Used Frequently
25. PAGE 25
“Better keynote speaker & a better
parking.”
Better
“Find a speaker that has more of a motivational
message and talks less about themselves, their
accomplishments and gives a speech that is
more applicable to all majors.”
Speaker
“More interaction with the audience,
more participation of graduates in the
ceremony.”
Ceremony
“I think the speaker should be
a little shorter. It seemed to be
long and people stopped
paying attention.”
Too Long
Most Frequent Statements
“Have more volunteers on hand to help
guide students on where to go. I was lost
for a while trying to find my seat. Chase
Field was awful to in and out of. Paying for
parking wasn't fun.”
27. PAGE 27
• Some complaints for the Moeur awards. Students expect them to be called
on stage and felicitated by Honorary guests.
• Speakers were poor not everyone could hear it clearly, thus there was little
less involvement in the ceremony.
• “Ceremony looked like the celebration of ASU rather than celebration of the
students who worked hard to get their degrees.”
For Positive Functioning.
28. PAGE 28
• “Our college had a group of drunk students who were seated in the wrong area and
were a complete distraction and were disruptive to the entire college.” (Make sure
no drinking & smoking is permitted, install alcohol detectors & better security
checking)
• Deploy volunteers who can keep discipline in the crowd, during important times of
the ceremony people complained they didn’t pick up the crux due to talking of
fellow grad students.
Some Discipline
29. PAGE 29
• “Very few students respected the speaker, and it became clear to me why
more serious students do not typically attend the commencement
ceremony. It was treated like a football game rather than a formal
ceremony - girls in bikinis, people running up and down the aisles during
the speaker's talk, and people showing up drunk. It would make me never
want to attend another commencement ceremony again.”
• Students treated this event like a football game or a party rather than a
ceremony.
Positive Competence
31. PAGE 31
• Make more student oriented than ASU oriented, the keynote speech also
could be more about in general rather than focusing kids to go in for
teaching as a profession.
• Understand when to end speeches as after conferring degrees people are
busy enjoying.
• Some light on the activities of students involved during their academic
days.
• Graduation night happens once in a life for many people. It can be made
more showmanship by some laser show, more cool videos.
Positive Attitude
32. PAGE 32
• “Make sure students receive a map of where their specific college/schools are. As a
volunteer, I received a lot of questions of where students should go. Also, I
recommend sending information out regarding designated guest sections- many of
the questions came from parents/family/friends on where they should sit.”
• “Recognize Re-entry students that are older like myself. It seems everything is
geared towards 22 year old students.”
• During the ceremony keep the students involved. Keep proactive speakers. Guest
speakers sounded advertising her role.
• Downtown Phoenix is a crowded place make special traffic arrangements for
people driving to the venue. New people will have less good memories navigating
to the Chase stadium, on top of parking issues.
Improvement Suggested.
34. PAGE 34
• “Please have better entrance and exit strategies setup. It got ridiculously crowded
and it could have been a huge disaster had there been an emergency.”
• It could have been set up better as there was less space for parents and more for
students.
• Screening for drinking, offensive signs, anything that can cause be injurious.
Registration
35. PAGE 35
• Overall people were disappointed by the exit and entry process as it lacked some
proper planning. Taking into consideration the number of people at the venue a
strategic way must be implemented to vacate the stadium rather than allowing
anybody to walk out from any gate (similar idea for entry).
• Risk of an emergency must be taken into consideration while vacating the Stadium
and make sure sufficient gates are open to speed up the process. With volunteers
arranged at specific locations to help form a proper line.
• Make sure graduates have designated gates for entering close to their allotted
seating arrangements for respective schools.
Entry & Exit.
36. PAGE 36
• Implement a organized seating arrangement in advance, which includes the areas
for students, parents, specially abled. Also, provide every student with this pictorial
chart in advance via e-mail along with the timings and parking instructions and
make it available at the venue too.
• Arrange different gates for audience, students, elders and specially abled. This will
ensure comfort for the later.
• Have better parking options, as students were upset for paying the same, although
they had parking passes of ASU.
Suggestion
38. PAGE 38
• Disciplined ceremony with proper seating arrangements with systematic entry & exit
protocol.
• “Improve the topic of the first commencement speech if that will continue.”
• “More available seats for elderly and handicapped so that families have the chance to
sit together and feel comfortable saving seats for special members.”
• Better traffic navigation and parking facility consider the safety factor of the audience
at the venue.
Recommendations
40. PAGE 40
• Sort the student of a degree together and also within these sort them as per the
specialization. Before students named are called for, announce the degree program
and a few words on it, then the specialization with few words and start with
respective students. Do it for all the programs and all the specialization so the
audience can also know what studies were these students part of.
• Wendy Koop words on the 5 week program for starting teaching was a bit offensive
to those attending the 4 years teaching program at the Mary Lou Fulton Teacher’s
College, as their work seemed to be considered void.
• Online students feel little ignored as they are new to the people who already have
their groups, so some workshop before commencement for these students to gel
among with ASU and themselves.
About Degree Felicitation
41. PAGE 41
Strong Correlation For Recommended
Improvements:
###
Academics
student
graduation:
2. Length.
3. Family
4. Keynote
speaker
5. Guest
speaker.
1.Students
graduation
graduating
students
42. PAGE 42
Some Crucial Ones
### Students
graduation
graduating
students
1. Students
graduation
2.
Commencement
Students graduation Drunk students
Stadium seating Seating
### Family
