The all-campus commencement ceremony at the University of California, San Diego will be discontinued beginning in 2002 in favor of the five separate undergraduate college commencement ceremonies, according to UCSD Chancellor Robert Dynes.

The separate college commencement ceremonies has been the tradition at UCSD. A pilot program to try out an all-campus graduation ceremony was begun in 1997.

“After engaging in this pilot project for four years, and after garnering feedback from the campus community and consulting with the Associated Students, I have decided to discontinue UCSD’s all-campus commencement ceremony,” Dynes said. “Our longstanding tradition of separate undergraduate college commencement ceremonies is a meaningful way for our new graduates to celebrate with their classmates and loved ones, and that tradition will continue to cap off each academic year at UCSD.

”President Bill Clinton was the first all-campus commencement speaker in 1997, followed by House Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1998. Irwin Jacobs, founder and CEO of Qualcomm Inc., delivered the address in 1999, and poet and writer Maya Angelou was scheduled as keynote speaker in 2000, but cancelled due to medical reasons. Last year’s all-campus commencement speaker was Patch Adams, M.D., founder and director of the nonprofit Gesundheit! Institute and the subject of a 1998 film, Patch Adams.

Dates for individual commencement ceremonies at UCSD’s five colleges this year are: Thurgood Marshall College, June 15; Roger Revelle College, Eleanor Roosevelt College, and John Muir College June 16. Earl Warren College has not yet set a date. UCSD’s Sixth College will admit students for the first time in the fall of 2002.