Discuss Detroit » Archives - Beginning January 2007 » WSU graduation - FB stadium « Previous Next »
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Emu_steve
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Username: Emu_steve

Post Number: 275
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Sunday, May 06, 2007 - 8:35 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I saw their graduation photos in the Freep.

How did Wayne turn their oldish looking football stadium into the sea of green (with yellow/gold accents) seating?

That stadium looks neat.

One would be surprised at the number of stadia at powerhouse programs whose stadium seating looks downright ugly when seen empty.

Some of the bench seating looks terribly weather worn.
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Jhartmich
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Username: Jhartmich

Post Number: 27
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Sunday, May 06, 2007 - 10:24 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I thought Wayne State did an outstanding job. I graduated last year with a Master's and was the first class in 80-some (?) years to have commencement at the football field.

One thing that changed this year was the number of tickets available to graduates. Last year it was 6: mom, dad, two sets of grandparents. This year it was 5 tickets. Students grumbled because someone might have to stay home (assuming all are alive and wanting to attend).

Hats off to WSU - they did a good job.
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Emu_steve
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Username: Emu_steve

Post Number: 276
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Sunday, May 06, 2007 - 10:34 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

JHart:

Was the FieldTurf in place and the stadium painted (or whatever they did) when you graduated?

I've seen photos of the WSU stadium from years ago and it looked pretty drab.

Now it looks really neat.
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Andylinn
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Username: Andylinn

Post Number: 398
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Sunday, May 06, 2007 - 10:43 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

i was there in support of my sister's masters. stadium looked wonderful, and the president's speech was well done, but here's my note (in comparison to u-m's graduations this year and last)

with a graduating class of 6-7k, there is NO reason whatsoever to read EVERYONEs name. this just seemed to cause everyone to leave early. no one wants to watch 2-3 hours of name reading. they're there for the ones they love not for the other 5,999 names... this has to be the only major school in the state to do this. they read names instead of having either a keynote speaker or a member of the student body give an address. maybe it's just me but i'd rather see bill clinton.

still, it was a classy ceremony, and i'm super proud of my sister, and happy for all of the graduates. GOOD JOB!
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Patrick
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Username: Patrick

Post Number: 4378
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, May 06, 2007 - 11:18 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yeah, they did that at my brother's graduation at Xavier. Everyone's name was read off but there were maybe 1000 grads maximum and even that was a lot.
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Emu_steve
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Username: Emu_steve

Post Number: 277
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Sunday, May 06, 2007 - 11:51 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Andy:

The Freep article has the number of grads much lower:

"finally spotted her son and daughter-in-law among the 2,471 graduates."

BTW, how many graduations does Wayne do a year? Do they do May and Dec.?

(I received an undergrad degree from WSU many years ago. I finished my course work in April, I guess, but the ceremony was in June, I believe. I already had my first professional job - I worked that day and left early for the evening ceremony. The graduation was at Cobo Arena and if not for a picture I'd not remember who was there with me. My mother had just died and my father was in the hospital; my disabled sister didn't attend. Not exactly a story line for a newspaper article).

(Message edited by emu_steve on May 06, 2007)
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Charlottepaul
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Username: Charlottepaul

Post Number: 969
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Sunday, May 06, 2007 - 12:34 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

At Detroit Mercy, they read all the names of the graduates, but our entire university is about 6k-7k, with much fewer in any given graduating class. It seemed to me that any school much larger than Detroit Mercy would be too many names to read off at one combined ceremony. My guess would be that for Wayne State it would make more sense to have each school have a separate ceremony.
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Cassie1717
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Username: Cassie1717

Post Number: 60
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Sunday, May 06, 2007 - 10:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

They graduated 6,451 people on Saturday, and that includes all the schools and all the degrees. The med school and the law school have their own separate ceremonies. The MDs have 2 (one at the Fox Theatre, the other at Ford Field), and I think the JDs only get one.
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Jhartmich
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Username: Jhartmich

Post Number: 28
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Sunday, May 06, 2007 - 10:27 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

As Cassie said, they graduated 6,400, approx. 2400 came to the ceremony.

I agree that the name thing can get a little long, but hey, big deal. It's only one day of the year. Students gave years of hard work, deal with it. If you want to leave, you can.

TO answer another question: No, the astro turf was not there last year. It looked much better this year and I LOVED the TV monitors.

I still feel it was good. I'm not trying to compare it to Stanford, UCLA, or UofM but it was fine for me.
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Emu_steve
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Username: Emu_steve

Post Number: 278
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Monday, May 07, 2007 - 4:50 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks, Jhartmich.

BTW, were there enough seats for guests even if 2,400 came to the ceremony? I assume there were about 6,000 stadium seats for guests which is about 2 1/2 per grad.

I believe the new FieldTurf was installed during the summer.

I'm still trying to figure out how they painted the seats, etc. (I've seen photos of the stadium of a few years ago and now it looks great).
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Jdkeepsmiling
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Username: Jdkeepsmiling

Post Number: 255
Registered: 01-2006
Posted on Monday, May 07, 2007 - 10:07 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Can anyone post before/after pictures here for us who have not seen the new stadium.
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Emu_steve
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Username: Emu_steve

Post Number: 280
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Monday, May 07, 2007 - 10:39 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

http://www.d2football.com/stad iums/waynestate(mi)/t24/

Ooops, choose GLIAC and then Wayne.

The stadium before they painted the seats or whatever they did, looked like s*it.

The photos are a mix of before and after including the Field Turf and doing the seats and aisles.

Now it looks really neat.

p.s. Wayne needs to boost their attendance and build stands on the eastside of the field. That would be nice for a D-II athletic program. (If Wayne has a big season this year maybe attendance will increase significantly).

Next time I'm in MI I plan to take a good walking tour of WSU and the athletic facilities.

(Message edited by emu_steve on May 07, 2007)
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Eastsidedame
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Username: Eastsidedame

Post Number: 117
Registered: 12-2006
Posted on Monday, May 07, 2007 - 5:31 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Andylinn: Geez...Bill Clinton at a WSU commencement? When did that happen? What were some of the better keynote speakers you guys remember?

We had Coleman Young in 1979...he got applause by saying things like tuition is too high. That was a pretty depressing ceremony....more like a funeral. Glad to hear the stadium got a facelift, though. Our alumni dollars at work, I see. Nice!
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Emu_steve
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Username: Emu_steve

Post Number: 282
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Monday, May 07, 2007 - 6:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Eastside,

I don't think Clinton ever did a WSU commencement. It was a suggestion, I think.

POTUS did give the commencement at Eastern late during his 2nd term. Might have been 2000. Eastern's Convocation Center was packed. I believe I have the newspaper accounts and photos of that event.

For any poster who was at commencement Saturday, was the stadium completely full?



(Message edited by emu_steve on May 07, 2007)
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Spiritofdetroit
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Username: Spiritofdetroit

Post Number: 466
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Monday, May 07, 2007 - 6:33 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Bill Clinton was at UM's commencement this year. I think thats what was being referred to.
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Detroitstar
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Username: Detroitstar

Post Number: 582
Registered: 01-2006
Posted on Monday, May 07, 2007 - 6:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Clinton did the MSU spring commencement back in the 90's. The ceremony was held at Spartan Stadium and there were 25K+ in attendance.
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Rocket_city
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Username: Rocket_city

Post Number: 252
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Monday, May 07, 2007 - 8:20 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I graduated from Wayne on Saturday, and I was very impressed with whoever planned the logistics of the ceremony. It looked pretty intense in terms of keeping everything flowing, but it went extremely well.

I originally wasn't going to walk, but decided to and would recommend any future grad to participate if they have second thoughts. WSU does a good job...just another plug of heightened impressions from this university.

One thing that was a bit unfortunate though...my school is Liberal Arts and Sciences and we were one of the first schools to receive certificates. But a lot of people didn't return to their seats and, over time, a lot of the chairs became vacant (as did the grand stands). I would have felt somewhat cheated if I was one of the later schools to be called up.

Also, the weather was near perfect and the Midtown area offers so much in the way of picture taking afterwards. I also went down to the riverfront in my cap and gown. :-)

I love Detroit!!
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Eastsidechris
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Username: Eastsidechris

Post Number: 109
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Tuesday, May 08, 2007 - 1:17 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I received my Master's from Wayne on Saturday. It was a very classy production, but I'll admit that my family and I left soon after I received my fauxploma (just a rolled up sheet of paper stating that I'd get my real one in a few weeks, and that I needed to start shelling out money to the alumni association). The plan was to stay for the whole ceremony, but even in the mid-60's, the sun beating down on us made those black robes pretty uncomfortable, and the prospect of sitting around another 2 hours to hear names of people I didn't know wasn't too enthralling. So, I found my family in the stands and we took off.

PS--The video screens at each side of the stage was a really nice touch.
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Fareastsider
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Username: Fareastsider

Post Number: 376
Registered: 08-2006
Posted on Tuesday, May 08, 2007 - 2:05 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I graduated Saturday to and left after my name was called glad I was one of the first one up!
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Emu_steve
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Username: Emu_steve

Post Number: 285
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Tuesday, May 08, 2007 - 2:26 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

curious if there are any published photos of what the stage, video screens, etc. looked liked?

When is the next South End due?

Or WSU' website?
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Eastsidedame
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Username: Eastsidedame

Post Number: 120
Registered: 12-2006
Posted on Tuesday, May 08, 2007 - 11:54 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My last name starts with "Z"; it's disrespectful to leave before everyone's graduated, Fareastsider. Very uncool and unDetroit of you. Fortunately they call by college order, then alpha. Maybe they should call names in order of GPA! Alpha always puts the same people at a disadvantage. It's no less discriminatory than anything else not based on merit.
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Mrsjdaniels
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Username: Mrsjdaniels

Post Number: 222
Registered: 08-2005
Posted on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - 4:54 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

rocket-city, I personally thank you for the compliment.

I, in fact, planned the new the new ceremony at the WSU field when we switched over last year.

it is a team effort of entire special events staff and a slew of volunteers. I was on maternity leave during the planning for this year and took another University position prior too but my working title was "Presidential Special Events Manager/Associate Director for Commencements"

this might be the first time that I heard kudos from one who did not attend as a worker.
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Emu_steve
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Username: Emu_steve

Post Number: 317
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - 5:24 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Neat story.

BTW, Mrs. D. can you shed a little light on how WSU improved their stadium back in '06 (I believe)?

I saw some older photos where the seats looked just terrible, weather beaten and then bingo the whole stadium looks great.

Without the improvements to that stadium they wouldn't wanted to have held the commencement there.
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Belleislerunner
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Username: Belleislerunner

Post Number: 305
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - 6:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

You know what would be really sweet - If WSU came up w/ a cool fight song and actually played it. Even after graduating I wouldn't be able to recognize it if I heard it - and I hit up my share of football games.
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Mrsjdaniels
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Username: Mrsjdaniels

Post Number: 223
Registered: 08-2005
Posted on Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - 3:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Emu_steve...glad you asked...because I help to pay for those improvements so that we could host the commencement.

it wasn't a big issue for football because they'd get 1000 people if they were lucky.

We sent Enviromental/Safety out to scope the lay of the land...turns out we need to reinforce the stadium seating, add additional railings, fix the restrooms...and more. structural mostly.

The field was turned to turf. and we updated the track and added decorative brick seating around the entrances. The men's football locker room received MAJOR UPGRADES...major.

there is still work to do but that is what has happened recently
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Emu_steve
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Username: Emu_steve

Post Number: 327
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Wednesday, June 06, 2007 - 3:57 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

BTW, maybe I should change my 'handle'.

I signed up when a company was compiling the SBA (School of Business Admin) alumni directory. Bingo I get a SBA alumni directory a week or two ago.

Then last night I received the WSU '07 alumni directory UPS (I didn't expect that).

So maybe when I ask WSU questions I can be 'WSU_Steve".
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Rb336
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Username: Rb336

Post Number: 108
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Wednesday, June 06, 2007 - 4:05 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

There is currently a bid out there for repairs to the grandstand foundation and some sitework at the stadium

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