{"id":29443,"date":"2026-05-07T09:49:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T13:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/?p=29443"},"modified":"2026-05-07T09:59:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T13:59:46","slug":"marshall-university-to-celebrate-spring-2026-commencement-with-two-ceremonies-may-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/2026\/05\/marshall-university-to-celebrate-spring-2026-commencement-with-two-ceremonies-may-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Marshall University to celebrate Spring 2026 Commencement with two ceremonies May 9"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Marshall University will celebrate its Spring 2026 Commencement with two ceremonies at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, May 9, at the Marshall Health Network Arena.<\/p>\n<p>A total of 1,588 graduates will be recognized during the day\u2019s ceremonies. Of those, 52.1% are first-generation college graduates, underscoring the university\u2019s continued commitment to access and student success.<\/p>\n<p>The graduating class reflects a wide range of experiences and backgrounds, with representation from 12 countries, 33 states and nearly every county in West Virginia. The class also spans generations. The oldest graduate is 79 years old, while the youngest \u2014 seven students \u2014 are just 19.<\/p>\n<p>Jim Thornton, announcer for Wheel of Fortune and a Huntington native, will be the featured speaker for both ceremonies.<\/p>\n<p>Guests attending commencement should be aware of enhanced security measures at the arena, including a clear bag policy. Attendees are encouraged to review all guidelines in advance.<\/p>\n<p>For full details on commencement, including security information and the schedule of colleges and programs assigned to each ceremony, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/commencement\">www.marshall.edu\/commencement<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Please note the ceremony will be livestreamed at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/livestream\">www.marshall.edu\/livestream<\/a> for those who are not able to attend in person.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marshall University will celebrate its Spring 2026 Commencement with two ceremonies at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, May 9, at the Marshall Health Network Arena. A total of 1,588 graduates will be recognized during the day\u2019s ceremonies. Of those, 52.1% are first-generation college graduates, underscoring the university\u2019s continued commitment to access and student success. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":239,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-releases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/239"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29443"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29448,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29443\/revisions\/29448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}