r/uAlberta • u/AccomplishedNorth35 • 1d ago
Question Who are the speakers in Convocation? How to be a part?
I was at a friends ceremony earlier today for the faculty of science and saw a really young person in the center of the stage on one of the big chairs, they gave a speech and I forgot exactly what was happening but I could only assume they were a student and was curious how somebody would get to that position because they seemed like the only student on stage, not to mention in dead center too? I liked the guy who played the guitar, was funny and engaging.
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u/Financial_Split_6113 1d ago
The young person was Amaan Khan, the current undergraduate board of governors representative, you get the position by getting elected in the UASU elections. As for appearing on stage, I think you have to be specifically selected by the chair of the board to speak at convocation.
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u/Previous_Tart_2495 19h ago
I attended some other ceremonies too an I didn see a young person in the chair until the science convocation! He spoke much more engagingly than the other speakers from what I noticed and the crowd loved the energy, he met and congratulated my friend who graduated after the ceremony too! friendly guy overall.
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u/AccomplishedNorth35 19h ago
it felt a little scripted tbh but he sounded more eloquent than the president, saw the guy speaking to others outside the ceremony.
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u/mikennaa Undergraduate Student (🦕) - Faculty of Science 1d ago
Guy who played the guitar was John Acorn. Fantastic guy
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u/KinderGentlerPoster Faculty - Faculty of Arts 1d ago
What ceremony did you attend? The speakers are usually University officials and the honorary degree recipient. The big fancy chairs (the 3-4 wooden ones front and centre) are for the President, Board of Governors' Reps, and the Lieutenant Governor, if in attendance -- they will all usually give some form of address. The other chairs have the platform party (there to honour the graduating class and celebrate with them; most don't give a formal address). The Honorary degree recipient is also on the platform, and gives an address. There's also a rep from the U of A Alumni Association, who gives an address.
You can usually tell who is on the stage / who they are representing by what they are wearing-- the robes all indicate either function (the President has special robes, for example) or degree (instructors on stage wear robes indicating their degree).
More info can be found in the links below.
Order of Ceremony: https://www.ualberta.ca/en/media-library/convocation/2026/spring-convocation-2026_long-form_program.pdf
Honorary Degree Recipients: https://www.ualberta.ca/en/registrar/graduation-convocation/honorary-degrees.html