Commencements set at UA

Ceremonies will be first without masks since pandemic start

FAYETTEVILLE — Commencement ceremonies set for Friday and Saturday at the University of Arkansas will be the first since the start of the covid-19 pandemic to allow UA degree recipients to appear on stage without a face covering.

A total of 4,416 students are scheduled to take part in ceremonies being held in Bud Walton Arena and Barnhill Arena.

Bobby Estell, known to listening audiences as Bobby Bones, will be awarded an honorary degree at UA’s all- university commencement, set for 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Bud Walton Arena. Graduate degrees recipients will be honored at the ceremony.

Bones hosts a nationally syndicated radio program, “The Bobby Bones Show.” In 2017, he became the youngestever inductee into the National Radio Hall of Fame, and he’s also won awards from the Academy of Country Music.

He will appear in person and is expected to give brief remarks, UA spokesman John Thomas said.

At UA’s fall commencement ceremonies in December, university policy required students to wear face coverings indoors whenever six feet of social distancing wasn’t possible.

Video of December ceremonies showed a large percentage of students — though not all — with masks on when appearing on stage to accept congratulations for receiving their degree.

The university began the spring semester with indoor masking requirements, but they were scrapped on March 1.

Ceremonies will kick off on Friday at 3 p. m. at Bud Walton for students earning undergraduate degrees in UA’s Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. A second ceremony Friday is set for 3:30 p.m. for students in UA’s Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food & Life Sciences.

A total of five ceremonies are scheduled for throughout the day on Saturday.