Columbia College Chicago will celebrate the accomplishments of the graduating class of 2022 at its annual Commencement exercises. A total of four in-person Commencement ceremonies will take place on May 14 and 15, 2022 at the Auditorium Theatre, located at 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive. The ceremonies will be available at colum.edu/commencement for on-demand streaming and there is no registration required for viewing.

To ensure the health and safety of those who are present, anyone attending a Commencement ceremony must comply with the Theatre’s current COVID-19 protocols. These protocols were revised recently and could change again; the college will communicate future updates to students and families as it becomes aware of them.

During the Commencement ceremonies, the college will also confer honorary degrees on journalist and alumnus Danny Fenster ’09 and LGBTQ+ community leader Modesto Tico Valle. The honorary degree recipients will address graduates and their families at the college’s four Commencement ceremonies, with Fenster speaking at two ceremonies on Saturday, May 14, and Valle at two ceremonies on Sunday, May 15.

The day prior to Commencement on May 13, Columbia's student-powered festival Manifest will bring the campus community together in Chicago's South Loop for its first in-person festival since 2019. Come experience the work of Columbia’s graduating students, including musical performances on the Mainstage, gallery exhibitions, dance and theatre performances, sketch comedy, and much more.

Columbia College Chicago’s Manifest Urban Arts Festival has been celebrating student creativity since its inception in 2001. Heralded as a student-powered festival because Columbia students drive its production each year, the annual tradition brings the campus community together in Chicago’s South Loop to celebrate Columbia’s creative spirit and creates long-lasting, memorable relationships, and connections.

For more information and the most up-to-date programming, visit manifest.colum.edu.

Details regarding commencement, including frequently asked questions, can be found on the commencement website.