"Hail To Thee Our Alma Mater"
Debbie Lum
Office of Special Events and Ceremonies
After attending dozens of USF commencement ceremonies, Debbie Lum can listen to Pomp and Circumstance and remain stoic. It’s the playing of the USF Alma Mater, however, that touches her every time.
“Even if I’m at a football game, there’s something about the Alma Mater that affects me,” she says. “But during commencement, that’s the moment when I stand back and look out at all of the students and I think about how every one of them has a unique story that has brought them to this moment. It’s so important to me to ensure that all USF commencement ceremonies are respectful, dignified and worthy of those collective stories.”
And after 12 years, Lum’s best estimate would put the number of USF graduates she has seen honored at commencements near 50,000.
Lum was involved in commencement as a volunteer for more than eight years prior to assuming her current position as commencement coordinator in 2004. As coordinator, she directs a total of nine ceremonies on USF's Tampa campus. She also assists with the six ceremonies each year at USF St. Petersburg and on USF's two regional campuses in Sarasota/Manatee and Lakeland. It’s a job with huge peaks, she says, but really no “off season” with commencement ceremonies held three times a year — spring, summer and fall.
From flowers to farewells, Lum handles it all. Scheduling. Communications. Logistics. Programs. Protocol. Speakers. Honorees. Volunteers. Staging. Chairs — each placed in exactly the right location on the platform. And there’s the epitome of USF commencement tradition, the mace — the ceremonial staff used for all USF commencement ceremonies, which is processed in with pomp and pageantry.
While the details of each ceremony are enough to overwhelm even the most meticulous list-maker, Lum thrives on it and says her role at USF couldn’t be more gratifying. “Commencement is such a happy time, for students and families, but also for our faculty and trustees. Our deans, especially, beam as their graduates walk across the stage and shake President Judy Genshaft’s hand.”
Over the years, Lum has adopted a few “tricks of the trade” to help keep up her stamina throughout the marathon of ceremonies. Those tricks include a fresh pair of shoes for each ceremony to soothe aching arches.
A small price to pay, she says, to honor all of those “collective stories.”
-- Mary Beth Erskine, University Communications & Marketing