Honoring Fall 2021 and 2020 graduates, commencement ceremonies are back on campus for first time since 2019

CLEVELAND (December 1, 2021) – Cleveland State University has announced that Frank G. Jackson, mayor, City of Cleveland, and David M. Reynolds, chair, CSU Board of Trustees and Key Private Bank executive and national director of channel management and client acquisition, will speak to CSU graduates at the university’s commencement ceremonies on Sunday, December 12.

For the first time since 2019, Cleveland State University will hold on-campus commencement ceremonies on Sunday, December 12 at the Wolstein Center. Two ceremonies will take place, one for Fall 2021 graduates and the other for 2020 graduates who previously participated in virtual ceremonies due to the pandemic. Mayor Jackson will address Fall 2021 graduates at the morning commencement, and Reynolds will speak to 2020 graduates in the afternoon.

Mayor Jackson, a lifelong Clevelander who received his bachelor's, master's and law degrees from CSU, has served four terms as mayor – the longest in the history of the city. Mayor Jackson began his career in elected office as a city councilman representing Cleveland’s Central neighborhood and later as City Council president. Reynolds has served on CSU’s Board of Trustees since 2017, at the appointment of former Ohio governor John Kasich. He was elected to the chair position in May 2021. In his role at Key Private Bank, Reynolds leads the strategic development and national implementation of wealth management and client acquisition strategies by ensuring collaboration alignment between wealth management and other lines of business.

CSU will confer more than 1,200 degrees at the Fall 2021 ceremony, starting at 9:30 a.m., with the following CSU colleges participating: College of Graduate Studies, Monte Ahuja College of Business, College of Education and Human Services, Washkewicz College of Engineering, School of Nursing, College of Sciences and Health Professions and Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs. The afternoon ceremony, honoring more than 500 graduates from 2020 who are coming back to campus, will include the aforementioned colleges, with the addition of CSU Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

For more information on the Fall 2021 commencement, go to csuohio.edu/commencement.