MyWestern
Academic Calendar
Bookstore
University Catalog
Athletic & Recreational Venues
MyWestern
Academic Help
Library
Health & Wellness
Campus Map
Events
Western Colorado University will hold its 113th commencement ceremony at the Mountaineer Bowl on Saturday, May 9, at 10 a.m., when nearly 400 undergraduate and more than 170 graduate students will walk across the stage to receive a diploma.
The ceremony will be streamed live in the University Center Theater and available through a link on the University’s website, allowing family and friends, as well as the broader community, to share this special day with the students.
“As athletes and artists, grocery clerks and trail crew members, these students have been an essential part of our community,” Western’s President Brad Baca said. “Commencement is a moment to honor their accomplishments and recognize the impact they’ve had both on campus and in the Valley.”
With guests visiting for the ceremony, there will be noticeably more people in the towns and on the roads during Commencement weekend. Restaurants and hotel rooms will be full, and on what might otherwise have been a quiet shoulder season weekend, the Valley will be busy again.
Most Western students will prepare to leave campus during the first week of May. The weekend’s festivities will start on Friday, May 8, with the presentation of the Alumni Awards for Excellence in the West Wing of the Leslie J. Savage Library and continue through the reception following the commencement ceremony.
This year’s keynote address will be delivered by Cam Smith (’18), a 13-time U.S. national champion and a five-time North American champion in ski mountaineering, who took fourth in the sport’s debut at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
“I think it’s really cool to be the commencement speaker,” he said. “Western really gave me these opportunities and raised me as a person, and raised me as an athlete. It’s a huge honor and a really neat full-circle moment for me.”
After commencement, Western’s summer session begins, and the campus will be quieter until faculty and students return the week before classes begin on August 24. Then, things will get loud again on August 28, when Western celebrates its 125th anniversary with a block party featuring live music, local food vendors, artists, and a beer garden on South Main Street in Gunnison.
Related Stories
