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Commencement: By the numbers

Graduation ceremony statistics show more people watching live Web stream

Daniel A. Anderson / University Communications

UC Irvine graduate indicates she's ready to take on the world - even if it means executing a few karate moves - after receiving her diploma June 12.

UC Irvine’s 2009 commencement season is behind us, and while graduates and their families revel in their accomplishments, campus personnel take stock: How did it go? What are the trends?

Here, courtesy of the Office of Student Affairs, are some facts and figures:

• 4,560: Number of students who walked.

• 36,000: Estimated number of guests attending.

• 66 minutes: Shortest ceremony, School of Humanities.
• 91 minutes: Longest ceremony, School of Engineering and School of Information and Computer Sciences.
• 47 minutes: Time it took School of Social Sciences speed-readers to announce 798 names. That’s 17 names per minute, or about one name every three seconds. Whew!
• 45,000: Number of hits on commencement Web site in the last week. Top sites, in order, were Web stream, ceremonies and directions/parking.
• 1,632: Number of visits to live Web stream – up fivefold from last year.
• 33: Number of countries from which visitors watched. After the U.S., the top country was India; visitors also hailed from Hong Kong, Mexico, Argentina, Germany and Italy, with one visit each from Vietnam, Netherlands, Spain, Poland and Singapore.
• 281: Number of cities from which visitors watched.
• 8: Number of times the national anthem was sung.
• 3 minutes: Average length of time it took performers to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
• 4 feet: Length of inflatable alligator confiscated during Social Sciences II ceremony.

— University Communications