Cryptohedonology : Thomas D. Gutierrez
In June of 2022, as the Chair of the Academic Senate at Cal Poly, I was given the opportunity to deliver remarks at Cal Poly’s 2022 spring graduation on behalf of the faculty for each of the six college ceremonies. Since serving in this role starting in July of 2020, I’ve really enjoyed giving graduation speeches during both Fall and Spring commencements.
The Chair of the Academic Senate also has the honor of marching with the ceremonial Mace at the head of the processional and recessional. The Mustang News wrote a nice article with a section summarizing the history of the Mace at Cal Poly. The current mace was designed and created by Professor Emeritus Crissa Hewitt in 2001. The commencement pamphlet states “The tradition of the academic mace dates from the Middle Ages when two ancient instruments, the royal scepter and the battle mace, were combined to
For several of the ceremonies, I was also given the honor of distributing the graduation participation certificates to the students as their names were called (they don’t give the diploma’s out at commencement). It was really an amazing experience to see each student’s face as they basked in the joy of their special moment.
Cryptohedonology : Thomas D. Gutierrez