Honors Convocation is one of the oldest traditions at Buffalo State. This recognition of academic excellence is held each spring semester. Students with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 after earning 60 credit hours are invited to attend the Honors Convocation with family members and a faculty guest. Transfer students are eligible after completing 30 credit hours at Buffalo State.
Students who achieve a cumulative 3.50 GPA or higher and have completed a minimum 60 credit hours at Buffalo State (30 for transfer students) by the close of grades in January are invited to attend the April ceremony. Eligible students receive an email invitation and instructions at their Buffalo State student email addresses in March.
Please know that the invitation to graduating seniors to wear the gold honors cord at Commencement is separate and different from your Honors Convocation invitation. The Gold Honors Cord section of the Commencement website provides information.
We ask that you consider the limited seating in the auditorium and availability of parking on campus in the number of guests you invite. Student honorees are encouraged to each invite a faculty member if they wish, and the guest faculty member’s name will be listed with the student honoree’s name in the program. The deadline for students to respond is April 1, and is listed in the invitation they received to attend.
On the day of Honors Convocation, plan to meet your guests by 2:50 p.m. outside Rockwell Hall Auditorium so you can enter and sit together in the theater. All guests are invited to stay for light refreshments following the event from 4:00-5:00 p.m. The building is barrier-free accessible.
General parking will be available in any of the student or faculty parking lots that day for guests without a Buffalo State parking permit. Rockwell Hall parking lot, located off Iroquois Drive and behind Rockwell Hall, has been reserved for persons with disabilities or special needs. Please do not park in fire lanes, driveways, or parking reserved for persons with disabilities (unless authorized).
An elevator entrance to Rockwell Hall is located on the Iroquois Drive side of the building, accessible from Parking Lot I-30. Please refer to the Parking Map.
Various seating locations are available for wheelchairs and patrons unable to climb stairs. Please ask an usher to direct you when you arrive. All restrooms in the building are wheelchair accessible.
When you arrive, please sit with your guests in the auditorium. During the ceremony, you and all the honor students will be called to rise as a group at your seats. You will be presented with a pin, which you may ask one of your guests to pin on you. Please remain standing until you are asked to be seated. Your other guests remain seated.
The Marketing and Communications Office at Buffalo State will send you email notification that your achievement can be seen online at https://buffalostate.meritpages.com. You are welcome to share it using social media and email at your discretion. In addition, Marketing and Communications will send a news release to your hometown paper. The releases are not individual; you will be grouped with other students who have the same community newspaper. An individual release will be sent only when a student is the only student in a community paper’s zip code. The Buffalo News and other major daily papers do not publish these types of announcements. Questions regarding news releases can be directed to the Marketing and Communications Office at (716) 878-4201.
Individual certificates recognizing your achievements will be available in the lobby of Rockwell Hall following Honors Convocation. While this will be announced during the ceremony, those of you who do not attend are welcome to pick up your certificate in the Academic and Student Affairs Office, Cleveland Hall 519, or request to have it mailed to you by contacting the Academic Affairs Office, (716) 88-5550, martinc@buffalostate.edu.
