Centre News

The 2011 Centre College commencement ceremony will be
streaming live from the College’s website on Sunday, May 22, at
3 p.m.

The stream will allow those not able to attend the ceremony in
Newlin Hall to view the graduation from nearly any computer
purchased in the past five years.

For the first time ever, this year’s Centre College commencement ceremony will be streaming live from the College’s website. The event will take place on Sunday, May 22, at 3 p.m.

“This is a great alternative, immediate way for family and friends who perhaps are unable to physically be on campus to see their grandsons/nieces/cousins/best friends walk across that stage in Newlin Hall,” says Jami Powell, interim director of the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and coordinator of academic technologies and media resources.

Powell, along with CTL event coordinator and technician Patrick Lowe, have worked to enable the streaming to be viewed from nearly any computer purchased within the past five years.

Powell adds that although CTL has never streamed a video like this, “Patrick has invested significant research and time in making this project a technical success. Thanks to his hard work, we’re confident our streaming setup is ready to provide a high-quality audio/video experience for the off-campus viewer. And just as important to the viewing experience is ease of accessibility. We’re excited to offer online commencement viewing on just about any platform out there—Windows, Mac, Linux, iPad, iPhone, Android, IE, Chrome, Safari, etc.”

The requirements involve the Adobe Flash Player and are very minimal for both Mac computers and PCs. The following are some basic specs: Microsoft Windows: Windows 7, Vista, XP, Intel Pentium 4, 2.33 GHz, Athlon 64 2800+ or faster processor (or equivalent); Mac OS 10.4, 10.5, 10.6; 128MB of RAM; 128MB of graphics memory; Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, Opera, AOL. For more detailed technical specs with version numbers, click here.

“All that geek speak up there means one key thing: versatility!” Powell says. “Using pretty much any PC or Mac bought within the past five years, with basically any flavor of web browser available, you can watch the stream.”

Those wishing to access the stream from a mobile device do, of course, need to have a data service plan or reliable WiFi connection. Although Centre will make every attempt to provide the most diverse streaming experience possible, the College is unable to guarantee absolute compatibility with all mobile devices.

For details about this year’s Commencement speakers, click here.