Contact:	Lourdes McKenna, (505) 277-5304 Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821
May 7, 2002 UNM DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS GRADUATES INDIVIDUALIZE COMMENCEMENT CEREMONIES Graduates in the Economics Department at the University of New Mexico will individualize their commencement ceremonies this year thanks to MarchingOrder, a software program that allows students to post their names, hometowns and or personal messages on a giant screen as they pass through commencement exercises. UNM is one of first two schools in the country to utilize the software. The program will also be used at the University of Pennsylvania. The convocation for the Department of Economics is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. in the Economics Courtyard. James Jimenez, a distinguished alumnus and city administrator for Rio Rancho, will be the guest speaker. MarchingOrder is a web-based software tool to be used for graduation ceremonies to assist with the process of collecting, organizing, and maintaining critical information for each graduate. The system features a tool to allow students to display certain personalized information on a screen by the stage as they are individually recognized. Prior to graduation day, students will submit the information to the Department of Economics. During the ceremony, the individual information is accessed through a bar code and projected on a 25-by-65-foot screen. “The Department of Economics is excited to be in on this groundbreaking technology,” said Richard Santos, department chair. “This program is an excellent tool to assist with making our graduation ceremony one of the more advanced programs.” A prototype of the system was initially designed by David Badler, a student the University of Penn at the Jerome Fischer Program in Management and Technology for the Penn School of Engineering and Applied Sciences graduation. “The decision to use MarchingOrder was a simple one,” said Lourdes McKenna, administrative assistant at the UNM Department of Economics. “Once we saw how novel an idea this was, we were eager to improve our graduation ceremony using this innovative software program.” The program is being funded by the University of Pennsylvania Business Services with assistance and advice from PenNetWorks and P2B Ventures, Inc. # # #

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