Dear Class of 2021 Graduates,

Vanguard University is pleased to announce a combined in-person Baccalaureate Service and Commencement Ceremony on Friday, May 7th, on the outdoor lawn at Mariners Church in Irvine, California. The program will include two ceremonies at 10:00am and 2:00pm and will allow up to 3 guests per household. The event will be live-streamed for guests and families to join remotely. Here are the scheduled ceremonies:

10:00am
Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Division of Theology
Division of Education, Arts & Humanities

2:00pm
Division of Business and Communication
Division of Natural, Physical and Health Sciences

All eligible graduates are required to register in advance and will agree to adhere to all safety protocols for participation. Details regarding registration, safety protocols, and ticketing requirements are forthcoming. Please understand that programming is subject to modifications or changes due to COVID-19 and in accordance with state and local guidance.

To order your regalia today at Jostens, Click here

Special promotions offers are available here.

• Please contact your academic coordinator to confirm you have submitted your graduation application.
• Once approved to graduate you will receive a confirmation email from the Registrar’s Office. You must have all requirements cleared for graduation before April 19th to participate.

Please refer to the degree list here to determine your division and ceremony time.

All eligible grads must RSVP to attend the in-person ceremony. The registration link can be found here. You will need your Vanguard email and password credentials to access the Marching Order registration site. Deadline to RSVP is Friday, April 16th.

• Order your regalia online at Jostens here. Shipping may take up to 4-6 weeks. To avoid a delay please make every effort to order by April 1, 2021.
• Regalia can also be ordered in-person or by phone through the Vanguard Bookstore. There is a select amount of regalia available. Please call in advance to order from the Vanguard Bookstore: 714-966-6722.

• Only 3 family members per household will be able to attend.
• Each guest will have an electronic ticket and all tickets are non-transferable.
• Also, infants and toddlers count towards the total guest count for each graduate's household.

• The event will be live streamed to our Commencement Home Page on Friday, May 7, 2021.
• We are working on additional viewing areas. Details are still pending.

Graduates that are registered for the in-person ceremony will receive more information regarding their electronic tickets after April 20th.

• No additional tickets are available.
• Due to capacity requirements, we are not allowing additional occupancy in the outdoor venue.
• All tickets are non-transferable. Any student caught soliciting or selling tickets online will have all tickets revoked.

There are only two approved Vanguard branded stoles for Commencement:

• VU100 Graduation Stole – You can order online from Jostens with your regalia or order through the Vanguard Bookstore.
• Vanguard Cultural Stoles – Kente, Serape, Native American, and Asian Pacific Islander will be available in the Bookstore in mid-April. The costs for each stole is $35.
• No other stoles are permitted.
• Academic honor cords are permittable for approved academic honor societies.  Please contact your department coordinator for availability.

Graduation caps shall be worn in academic processions and during the ceremony of conferring degrees. Men should remove their caps during prayer, playing of the alma mater, during the baccalaureate sermon and commencement address. Please look to the President for cues for removing and replacing the cap. Mortarboards are properly worn flat on the head with the pointed under-cap pulled onto the wearer's forehead. It should be parallel to the ground, not tilted back on the head, so the tassel can fall straight down the wearer's face. 

Decorating caps is permitted as follows: Modest personal embellishments are allowed on the cap but MUST lay flat and not exceed the height of the center cap button to not block/distract line of site for others. Embellishments cannot extend over the edge and must be appropriate. Lights are not permitted. Violations of these guidelines will result in removal of cap.

Tassels: Baccalaureate eligible candidates can wear navy tassels on the right front side of the cap before degrees are conferred and shift to the left in unison as the President instructs during the ceremony. Master's eligible candidates can wear tassels on the left side of the cap. The color of the tassels for master’s degrees are determined by the academic program color.

Click here to view the Graduate Guidebook in the student portal.

• We will honor graduates in the May 7th Baccalaureate-Commencement Service if he/she does not want to attend an in-person event.
• Graduate will need to confirm this request in the RSVP form to notify the Commencement Office that he/she does not wish to participate in person.
• Graduate will be able to submit a headshot and still have name read aloud during the ceremony. All graduation items will be mailed to address as list on the diploma mailing.

No, there will not be an in-person Grad Fest on campus.

• When final grades are posted, all eligible graduates will be evaluated for the conferral of their degrees. After the evaluation is complete, conferred student will receive a confirmation email sent to their Vanguard email address notifying them that their degree has posted. Conferred graduates can expect a diploma within 4-6 weeks from this email confirmation.
• Diplomas are batch printed and sent by Parchment. Conferred graduates will receive an email from Parchment with a link to their electronic diploma copy and, a confirmation notice that their diploma has been mailed to them.
• Please ensure all contact information remains up to date on your academic record.

Please complete the Change of Address Form and submit to records@vanguard.edu.

We have diligently been working with Mariners Church, our commencement venue, for an in-person event which allows for guests to attend. Due to their ongoing church event calendar, we were approved for Friday, May 7th to host an in-person commencement. We in no way want to distress our graduates or student families, but in an aim to create an equitable commencement experience due to COVID-19, we had to officially change the date of commencement to Friday, May 7th.

Our intent as a Commencement Council is to provide a celebration experience that reflects the intimate connected academic student learning experience you had before it was altered by COVID-19. Adjusting our traditional Commencement for elements in a Baccalaureate worship service will create both the intimacy we desire for you and your faculty and, enable us to hold our ceremony at Mariners Church with up to 3 guests. The Blueprint for a Safer Economy allows places of worship to gather outdoors with modifications which we have been careful to adhere to.  

The program elements in the in-person Baccalaureate-Commencement will include a processional, welcome, scripture reading and invocation, student communion and commissioning, commencement address from the President, and diploma presentation where graduates will cross the stage. The program will conclude with the benediction and recessional at approximately 1 hr and 30 minutes in length.