Commencement Program Production Timeline

Commencement programs are an official university document and keepsake for our graduating students and their families. Academic units who have an in-house professional designer will be responsible for the design of interior pages and making edits or revisions. If an academic unit does not have a professional designer on staff, a designer from University Communications (UC) or another campus department will be assigned to support your design needs.

To provide a high-quality product for all programs, the following timelines and responsibilities are outlined below and all academic project coordinators are expected to follow as stated below:

Key Dates for Academic Units (2025)

  • March 6: UC presents the program production process, schedule, and cost estimates to academic project coordinators.
  • March 13: Units and UC collaboratively finalize key roles for each program.
  • March 17: UC hosts designer training to review visual guide, cover designs, design templates, and the submission process (recorded).
  • March 31: Academic project coordinators should ensure they have access to Cognos.
  • April 2: UC provides interior program template and shares recorded training to academic project coordinators.
  • April (early): Many 2025 graduate names will be available from the Cognos report; academic project coordinators can begin pulling and verifying student names. This report should be pulled again in early May.
  • April 11: UC hosts virtual office hours from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for coordinators with questions about interior program work.
  • April 14: Academic project coordinators finalize printing details (program cover option, quantity, billing index, delivery location).
  • April 28: Cover designs that include foil are due to UO Print Services.
  • May 12: Cover designs that do not include foil are due to UO Print Services.

Academic Units with In-house Designer

  • April 2: UC provides Interior Program Template and shares recorded training to academic project coordinators.
  • April 28: Cover designs that include foil are due to UO Print Services by this date. Covers that do not include foil are due to UO Print Services by May 12.
  • May 14: Units draft, copyedit, and finalize program design, then send PDF to uobrand@uoregon.edu for review. UC will review content and provide edits (if any) no later than May 22.
  • May 29: Final print files due to the University Printing Services by 4:00 p.m. Physical proofs should be requested by May 27.
  • June 13 (or earlier): Final programs will be delivered by University Print Services to the location.

Academic Units Needing Design Support

  • April 2: UC provides interior program template and shares recorded training to academic project coordinators.
  • April 14: Academic project coordinators finalize printing details (program cover option, quantity, billing index, delivery location).
  • April 28: Cover designs that include foil are due to UO Print Services by this date. Covers that do not include foil are due to UO Print Services by May 12.
  • May 9: Finalized interior program document is submitted to UC designer through shared folder (linked on unit name). Formatting and spelling of student names is the responsibility of academic units.
  • May 9-12: UC will review submitted word documents and discuss edits with project coordinator (if any).
  • May 13-22: UC will finalize program design using approved interior program document and send PDF to the academic project coordinator for final review by May 23.
  • May 27: Program design will be closed. Any edits from the academic project coordinator need to be addressed before this date. Notes should be recorded as comments in the PDF and resubmitted to designer.
  • May 29: Final print files due to the University Printing Services by 4:00 p.m.
  • June 13 (or earlier): Final programs will be delivered by University Print Services to the location.

Contact

If you have any questions about this timeline, the design templates, training, or other needs, please contact Mel Chambon with University Communications.