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 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

  • Thursday, March 6, 2025: University Communications will join the commencement coordinator meeting to present the program production process and schedule and print cost estimates.
  • Thursday, March 13, 2025: Finalize key roles for each program (academic project coordinator, professional designer, and reviewer).
  • Monday, March 17, 2025: University Communications will offer training to designers to review the visual guide, cover designs, design templates, and the submission process. This training will be recorded and shared with all designers.
  • Mid-April 2025: All 2025 graduate names will be available from the Cognos report. Academic project coordinators can use this knowledge base to ensure they have access to Cognos.
  • Wednesday, April 16, 2025: University Communications will provide an Interior Program Template to academic project coordinators to paste the names of the graduating students. A recorded training will be shared and office hours offered for anyone needing additional support.
  • Friday, April 25, 2025: : Academic project coordinators input printing details (program cover option, quantity, billing index, delivery location, etc.) to the 2025 Commencement Program spreadsheet. 

Academic Units with In-house Designer

  • Wednesday, May 14, 2025: Units submit PDF design to uobrand@uoregon.edu for content review. University Communications will review content, and provide edits to the designer and academic project coordinator no later than Thursday, May 22, 2025.
  • May 2025 (Date to be determined): Honors and distinctions for cum laude, magna cum laude, etc. will be available in Cognos by this date. Professional designers should edit files accordingly to include these honors and distinctions.
  • Thursday, May 29, 2025: Final print files due to the University Printing Services by 4:00 p.m. Please note that physical proofs require 1-2 additional days. Final print file due date means proofs are approved and programs move into production.
  • Final programs will be delivered by University Print Services to the location you indicated no later than June 13, 2025.

Academic Units Needing Design Support

  • Tuesday, April 1, 2025: University Communications will provide an Interior Program Template to academic project coordinators to paste the names of the graduating students. A recorded tutorial will be shared and office hours offered for anyone needing additional support.
  • Mid-April 2025: All 2025 graduate names will be available from the Cognos report. Academic project coordinators should begin flowing names into interior word template provided by University Communications. can use this knowledge base to ensure they have access to Cognos.
  • Tuesday, May 6, 2025: Honors and distinctions for cum laude, magna cum laude, etc. will be available in Cognos by this date.
  • Wednesday, May 7, 2025: All interior content, including Latin Honors, must be submitted to University Communications for editing and design by this date.
  • Thursday, May 8 – Monday, May 12: University Communications will provide one round of copy editing submitted word documents.

NOTE: Formatting and spelling of student names is the responsibility of academic units. University Communications will only have the capacity to conduct a proofread of interior content.

  • Tuesday, May 13 – Thursday, May 22: University Communications will transfer final word documents to design template, and return a PDF to the academic project coordinator for content review by Friday, May 23.
  • Tuesday, May 27, 2025:Academic project coordinator must provide any final edits to the appointed designer no later than this date. These edits should be recorded as comments in the PDF provided and resubmitted to the designer.
  • Thursday, May 29, 2025: Final print files due to the University Printing Services by 4:00 p.m.
  • Final programs will be delivered by University Print Services to the location you indicated no later than June 13, 2025

*Cost estimate for foil option for law

Questions

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