In June of 1950, Memorial University held its first convocation, which was a fairly simple affair. Led by engineering professor Dr. Jack Facey (who would later perform the role of convocation marshal for 46 years), the students and faculty moved from the Parade Street campus across to St. Patrick’s School hall for the conferring of undergraduate degrees. The university presented its first graduate degrees in May 1956 and its first honorary degree in May 1960.

The ceremony for the first honorary degree, presented to Monnie Mansfield, who had been Memorial’s registrar for 30 years, served as a dress rehearsal for the most elaborate convocation the university has ever held – that for the opening of the Elizabeth Avenue campus in October 1961. Overseeing the arrangements were Dr. Facey as the marshal of convocation, responsible for the organization, direction and decorum of the occasion, and Dr. G. M. Story as the public orator, responsible for the delivery of the orations about the honorary graduands, a special feature of Memorial’s convocations. Nineteen honorary degrees were conferred on a galaxy of local, national and international dignitaries. That day, the public orator and his deputy each had to deliver as many as 10 orations, each a concise and rhetorically lively account of the rationale for conferring the degree.

From 1961 to 1968, convocation was held in the gymnasium of the Physical Education building. With the opening of the St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre, Memorial in effect acquired a new convocation hall, which became the regular site of the ceremonies after 1970. Designed partially on the ideas of former Premier Joseph Smallwood, the back of the stage with its descending staircase was developed specifically for Memorial’s convocation. Fall Convocation was inaugurated in 1970 to accommodate increasing numbers of graduates and to support the three-semester academic calendar.

In May 1992, 23 graduates received degrees in the first regular session of convocation held at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, Memorial’s Corner Brook Campus (now Grenfell Campus).

The ceremonial trappings of convocation were developed in the early 1960s. Memorial’s academic robes are based on those of Oxford University. Chancellor Lord Thomson donated the silver mace – the symbol of the university’s authority and the presence of which signals the official opening of convocation – in 1961. Former university marshal Bert Riggs donated the marshal’s staff in 2021.

Campbell Macpherson, Newfoundland and Labrador’s third lieutenant-governor, presented the original chancellor’s chair and lectern in 1963. Other complementary birch wood furniture pieces were subsequently commissioned from the St. John’s firm of Clarmanis and Son Ltd.: the chairs bear the university’s coat of arms and are hand-carved and painted in bas-relief. Dr. Facey gifted the signing table to the university in 1996.

In 2002, plans were made to create a second suite of convocation furniture so that a complete set would permanently reside at each of the St. John’s and Corner Brook campuses. Ian Steward, a retired Memorial University designer, undertook the design of the new suite, which reflects the culture and traditions of the province; Paterson Woodworking of Upper Amherst Cove was commissioned to construct the set. Dr. Edward Roberts, the province’s 11^th lieutenant-governor, presented the first piece: a black walnut table with a fish-splitting motif.

Honorary graduate Dr. Alan Perry donated the kneeler in 2005. Dr. Roberts and his brother, Douglas, sponsored the signing table and bench, completed in 2005, as well as the chancellor’s chair and the four companion chairs, which were completed in 2006. They also donated the two speakers’ lecterns, which were completed in 2007. The Roberts’ contribution was made in memory of their father, Dr. Harry D. Roberts, a graduate of Memorial University (’31), an honorary graduate of Memorial, and a member of the Board of Regents for many years.

The desire to share the ceremony beyond the audience seated in the convocation hall led to television coverage of the ceremonies beginning in the 1970s and, more recently, livestreaming.

Other university units that play a role in convocation include the Office of the Registrar and the School of Graduate Studies, which ensure that students complete their programs and are certified for their degrees; Student Life, which co-ordinates the event logistics and assists the graduands with preparations for the ceremony and its celebrations; Centre of Innovation in Teaching and Learning, which produces the ceremony’s technical elements, including the live stream for friends and families watching at home; the Division of Marketing and Communications, which creates and crafts a celebratory visual identity for convocation materials and promotes and celebrates the event on the university’s channels; and Alumni Engagement, which welcomes and guides graduates into the Memorial University Alumni Association.

Convocation has been a day of pride for thousands of students and more than 600 honorary graduates, resulting in more than 100,000 alumni worldwide. While Memorial’s convocation, as a ceremonial occasion, has grown from the practices and procedures of older universities, after three-quarters of a century it has become a distinctive event for all who attend, be they distinguished guests or faculty, honorary graduates or our students who are, as they should be, the focus of the event.