NIU announced Tuesday it will merge its summer and fall graduation ceremonies in favor of one December ceremony.

The university will cancel the summer graduation ceremony and all students graduating in the summer are invited to attend the Dec. 11 ceremony.

The Office of the Provost made the decision after consulting faculty and staff, Vice Provost Earl Seaver said.

“For a number of years, members of faculty and staff had raised questions about a need for a summer commencement,” Seaver said.

The cancellation of the summer ceremony is new to NIU, but most Illinois colleges have had the policy for a number of years, Seaver said.

“This was not a cost issue,” Seaver said.

Cost information was unavailable as of press time.

The summer commencement ceremony is the least attended of the three with about 450 students attending the event last summer.

Seaver hopes summer graduates will return to DeKalb for the December ceremony, but realistically, he does not expect all of them to return.

“Most of our students are in our area,” he said. NIU graduates tend to obtain jobs in northern Illinois.

International students tend to graduate in the summer, Seaver said. For them, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to attend a December ceremony.

“If they cancel the ceremony, we would try to fill that weekend with another event,” said Kevin Selover, marketing manager for the Convocation Center.

The merge will not affect students graduating in the spring or who do not wish to attend the ceremony.

“We sent out a mass e-mail to make sure students weren’t freaking out about the change,” Seaver said. A mass e-mail will be sent to faculty.

Though their ceremony has been canceled, summer graduates will still receive their diplomas and transcripts reflecting a summer graduation date, Seaver said.

Students with questions about the adjustment should contact their academic advisers.

For information about NIU’s commencement ceremonies, visit the Convocation Center’s Web site at www.convocenter.niu.edu/commencement/index.html.