College is an important stage in life and the graduation ceremony is a milestone within this stage. Affected by the pandemic this year, universities may not host commencement ceremonies physically. The commencement ceremony of the university’s 2020 academic year is specially arranged to be held online at the commencement ceremony section of the university’s homepage (URL: http://graduate.tku.edu.tw) at 10 AM on June 12th. All graduates, families, and friends were invited to participate in the whole process without being restricted by the environment. Family members were able to help to turn the tassel for the graduates and share this memorable moment together.
The theme of this year's graduation ceremony is "AI of Tamkang Spreads Wings Towards Internationalization, Enterprises’ Favorite and Sustainable Future." More than 6,300 graduates from 8 colleges, including 58 countries, and about 550 international students, will spread their wings and fly towards a better future. The ceremony took place at HC310 of the Hsu Shou-Chlien International Conference Center and was presided over by President Dr. Huan-Chao Keh and Chairman Dr. Flora Chia-I Chang. The President of the Alumni Association Headquarters Dr. Lawrence Jian-Xiang Lin also used pre-recorded speech to encourage and congratulate students in advance.
Although graduates may not visit the ceremonial site in person, they were able to participate in the commencement online simultaneously and invite families and friends to join. The ceremony broadcast the graduation tribute "Our Memories" at 9:40 AM and the commencement ceremony officially started at 10 AM. All graduates used the MS Teams live stream (URL: http://bit.ly/tku109gralive), Youtube live stream (Website: http://bit.ly/tku109utub), or synchronized by scanning the QR Code.
The ceremony will present four major awards for graduates of the 2020 academic year. There are 62 academic awards, 62 conduct awards, 14 service awards, and 30 sports awards. Dr. Tzung-Hang Lee, Dean of the College of Engineering, Dr. Tzong-Ru Tsai, Dean of the College of Business and Management, Dr. Kao-Cheng Wang, Vice President for International Affairs and the Dean of the College of International Affairs, and Dr. Hui-Ling Pan, Dean of the College of Education, recommended doctoral graduates. Dr. Chii-Dong Ho, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Shi-Feng Chuang, Vice President for Administrative Affairs issued certificates for graduates in the bachelor’s and master’s programs. Certified representatives will turn their tassels remotely and graduates who participated in the ceremony online carried out the tassel turning event by their family members at the same time. Graduates were encouraged to record the tassel turning event and share it on Youtube. The university will choose highlighted scenes to make a commemorative video.
The speech representative from the Department of Japanese Ting-An Su stood out from many students from various countries during the selection of Valedictorian address representatives. The judges affirmed her self-confident expression and stable stage performances. Ting-An Su will resonate with everyone the memories of the four years during their university life, and on behalf of all graduating students, she will recognize and say goodbye to her youthful life in university. Finally, online graduates will be invited to sing the alma mater together. At the end of the ceremony, a list of all recent graduates will be played, marking a successful end to everyone’s study at the Tamkang University and wishing all graduates a bright and wondrous future.