The mosaic is another CMU-Q tradition. Painted by the Class of 2024, this year the mosaic was created virtually.
The mosaic is another CMU-Q tradition. Painted by the Class of 2024, this year the mosaic was created virtually.

Largest first-year class begins studies at CMU-Q

Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, a Qatar Foundation partner university, welcomed the new cohort of students in a virtual convocation ceremony. There are more than 120 students in the Class of 2024, the largest enrollment in campus history.

Michael Trick, dean of CMU-Q, highlighted the many traditions of Carnegie Mellon and the Qatar campus during the ceremony. “Class of 2024, there is no need to tell you that a virtual convocation is a first for us, but I believe it is important to carry on our traditions.”

Trick shared some of the traditions of a typical convocation ceremony at CMU-Q, including the significance of academic dress, bagpipe music and the Carnegie Mellon tartan weave. “Traditions are the touchstone for a community, and they represent our values and our priorities.”

More than 270 people logged in from around the world to celebrate the formal introduction of the first-year class to the CMU-Q community.

While the COVID-19 pandemic precluded a traditional in-person orientation and welcome, the move to virtual activities has resulted in some surprising, and positive, outcomes.

CMU-Q’s Summer Edge Program is available each year to prime students for the coursework in their first term as university students. The virtual Summer Edge saw four times the attendance of past in-person sessions, as students from fifteen countries logged in for the two-week program.

First-year orientation took place as a series of virtual workshops, panels and social events over the two weeks before classes. CMU-Q recruited more than 70 current students to organize and run the welcome event that introduces the new students to the community and one another.

Trick spoke to the students about their virtual introduction to the community: “Class of 2024, I have been following your class closely, and I think this experience is already bringing you together. I predict that these challenges will shape you, bring out the best in you, and make you stronger, more empathetic and thoughtful students and young professionals.”

CMU-Q students will begin the year in remote mode, and the university will incrementally move to a hybrid mode as it is safe to do so.

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