Commencement 2025

Penn State Dickinson Law’s Commencement is an academic ceremony, and professional standards for dress and decorum apply. Regalia ornamentation is generally not permitted; however, the following exceptions apply:

Military Cords — law students who have honorably served, are serving, or are commissioned to serve in the United States military will be awarded red, white, and blue cords

Dual Degree Cords — law students enrolled in a dual-degree program at Penn State University will be awarded cords representative of their achieved academic plans

Stoles — law students involved in recognized student organizations have the opportunity to wear one, pre-approved stole

Stoles or other garments visible at commencement may not display any derogatory or offensive language, nor should they draw undue attention to an individual person or group that would detract from the occasion. 
 

Catherine A. Christian
Partner — Liston Abramson, New York City
Former Manhattan D.A.

Ms. Christian is an MSNBC and NBC News legal analyst. She co-chaired the New York State Bar Association’s Task Force on the Modernization of Criminal Practice, which issued a Report recommending ways to modernize criminal law practice in New York to improve safety, fairness, equality, access to justice, and technological efficiency in the administration of criminal justice. Ms. Christian has also been quoted by the BBC, Politico, Law360, The Hill, The Daily Beast, Alhurra, and Psychology Today. Read more online.

The Office of Student Services is pleased to announce that the following students have been selected by their peers to speak at this year’s Commencement activities:

• 2025 Lee Popp Award Winner and Awards Ceremony Speaker: Noah Yeagley
• 2025 LL.M. Student Commencement Speaker: Ama Oduma Annan
• 2025 J.D. Student Commencement Speaker: Maxwell Allanson-Dundon

Congratulations to all.

Guests can view the ceremony via our livestream. The link will be available at the start of the Commencement ceremony on May 10, 2025 at 1:00 p.m.

The Law School has arranged several room blocks and/or preferred rates at hotels in both Harrisburg and Carlisle for graduates and their guests. Space is limited, so please contact the hotel as soon as possible if you are interested in reserving rooms.  

Hilton Harrisburg
One North Second Street
Harrisburg, PA 17101
717-233-6000
Book online using group/promo code:  93A
If calling hotel directly, reference group code:  93A 
Deadline for discounted group rate is April 18, 2025

Crowne Plaza Harrisburg — Hershey
23 South Second
Harrisburg, PA 17101
717-234-5021
Book online or call (Preferred Group Code is PSD)
Deadline for discounted group rate is April 10, 2025

Penn Harris Hotel by Wyndham
1150 Camp Hill Bypass
Camp Hill, PA 17011
717-763-7117
Book online for Group Rate
Deadline for discounted group rate is April 18, 2025

Comfort Suites 
10 Hanover St. 
Carlisle, PA 17013 
717-960-1000 
Group Name:  Dickinson Law Graduation 
Call for reservations.
Deadline for group room block is April 12, 2025 

The City of Harrisburg features an abundance of parking garages as well as metered, on-street parking. The Law School is not responsible for any vehicle damages sustained or parking ticket citations incurred during law school events, including events related to commencement.

The 5th Street Garage is offering a $10 event rate for our guests. Payment is accepted via credit card only, with payment due upon arrival to the garage. The 5th Street Garage has two entrances: one on 5th Street and one on Aberdeen Street. More information is available online.

Photographers from GradImages will photograph students as they individually approach, cross, and exit the stage. GradImages will contact students with an offer for a free 5” x 7” photo and the opportunity to purchase additional photos. If you need more information concerning photography by GradImages, please visit their website.

Personal video and photography is permitted; however, for the safety and comfort of all guests, everyone must remain in their seats during the ceremony.

Through the student submission of the Commencement Information Form, the Law School collects information on guests who may require additional assistance or accommodations for attendance to the Commencement ceremony (e.g.: wheelchair-accessible seating, sign language interpretation, etc.). The venue has designated (but limited) areas for accessible seating that will be reserved for guests requiring accommodations, and for those guests requiring additional assistance that we are notified of ahead of time. The university does not provide, loan, or rent wheelchairs. If members of your party require accommodations or additional assistance, please contact Kalene Faircloth for additional information.

The Penn State Dickinson Law Merchandise Store is located on the garden level of the Law School and features branded apparel and other items. The Merchandise Store will be open on Friday, May 9 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. If interested in shopping outside of those hours, please make an appointment by contacting Karlisma Souders at krs8@psu.edu.

The Penn State Dickinson Law Supplemental Bar Course is designed to support students while they study for the bar examination. The course is administered in the summer and runs simultaneously with commercial bar review courses. The course is designed to supplement (not replace) a commercial bar review course. This course is for Penn State Dickinson Law graduates only and is FREE to all graduates preparing to sit for the July bar exam. This course is not for credit hours and is optional for all graduates. In July of 2022, 100 percent of students who participated in the supplemental course passed the Pennsylvania bar exam.

Graduates who participate in the course will be supported in the areas of time management, scheduling, study skills and habits, stress/anxiety management, essay and performance test writing, and test taking strategies and skills for the MBE. The course typically begins one week following graduation and consists of three writing assignments (two essays and one performance test) over the course of the summer. Participants will be provided with the deadlines for each writing assignment, may determine their own essay completion schedule, and are accountable for complying with the designated writing conditions for each essay (i.e., open book, untimed, closed book, timed, etc.) assigned for that week. Professor Jackson will grade and provide individual feedback on all essays. Graduates are encouraged to meet with Professor Jackson following the grading of each essay during optional individual weekly conferences (approximately 20 minutes). Register for the supplemental bar course online.

The Office of Academic and Student Services will continue our efforts to support bar exam success by providing Class of 2024 test takers with hotel support. The law school will pay directly for graduates who need a hotel room the night before and the night during the bar exam (not after the last day, to be clear). The law school will reimburse you up to $300 (max $150 per night) for the equivalent. To receive your reimbursement, you must submit the non-employee reimbursement form and receipts to studentsuccess@dickinsonlaw.psu.edu no later than two weeks after the exam. To qualify for the hotel support, graduates will need to:

1. Attend the Essay Writing workshop held during the Supplemental Bar Program and/or watch the recording of the workshop via Canvas (once you watch the recording you must notify Professor Jackson via email);
2. Submit at least one essay for grading during the Supplemental Bar Program;
3. Complete 85 percent of their commercial bar preparation coursework ten days prior to the first day of their bar exam;
4. Complete and submit the bar questionnaire. Professor Jackson will verify with the bar prep companies that students have met this requirement; and
5. In order to receive the hotel reimbursement, students must submit the non-employee reimbursement form and hotel receipts to studentsuccess@dickinsonlaw.psu.edu no later than two weeks after the exam.

Appointments with Professor Jackson can be scheduled online.

AdaptiBar is a bar prep program that diagnoses your subject and timing performance in each area tested on the MBE. The patented, adaptive algorithm automatically presents questions with an emphasis on your weakest subtopics, maximizing your study time. The program purchased by the school is for MBE prep.

To qualify for the AdaptiBar program, graduates will need to:

1. Attend at least one 3L Class bar planning session scheduled by Professor Jackson in the spring semester of your 3L year OR watch the recording of the session via Canvas (once you watch the recording you must notify Professor Jackson via email);
2. Schedule and attend at least one bar planning appointment with Professor Jackson in the spring semester of your 3L year or early summer before bar prep begins to discuss your plans for bar exam preparation;
3. Commit to using the Adaptibar while studying for the bar exam; and
4. Complete and submit the bar questionnaire (will be sent via email).

Please only express interest if you are planning to sit for the July 2024 bar exam. The Law School will only purchase an Adaptibar Program for graduates once. If you sign up for Adaptibar and fail to use the software, the school will not repurchase the program.

Students graduating in May are welcome to continue using the Law Library and its collections during the summer and beyond (subject to public access limitations). Alumni have additional privileges that extend beyond graduation. Specifically, those are:

BORROWING PRIVILEGES AT THE LAW LIBRARY AND OTHER PENN STATE LIBRARIES

Recent graduates retain student borrowing privileges at all Penn State Libraries (including the Law Library) for several months after graduation. At some point in mid-to-late summer, the University updates its student records and converts recent graduates to “Resident-PA” status, at which point borrowing privileges are more limited but collections remain accessible. The University Libraries’ Alumni Library offers benefits targeted specifically to members of the Alumni Association such as complimentary access to selected library databases, Resource Centers for agriculture, business, health, news, and travel, as well as information about featured Penn State collections and events.

LEXIS, WESTLAW, AND BLOOMBERG LAW ACCESS

If you intend to use any one of these databases after graduation — Bloomberg Law, Lexis or Westlaw — you must change your email contact information for that database because your Penn State email account will likely expire before your access to this database does.

Bloomberg Law allows access to graduating students for six months after graduation. Access expires on November 30, 2024. You do not need to do anything to extend your access.

Lexis access will expire on December 31, 2024. During this time, there are no restrictions on how you use your Lexis ID, and you do not need to register for this additional access through the end of the year. Graduates working for a public interest organization may sign up for the Lexis ASPIRE Program, which permits job-related access to Lexis Advance for 12 months of free access to federal and state cases, codes, regulations, law reviews, Shepard’s and Matthew Bender treatises. The ASPIRE Program is for graduates who are engaged in verifiable 501(c)(3) public interest work. To apply, go to www.lexisnexis.com/grad-access. You must provide a letter from you employer to verify that it is a nonprofit organization.

Westlaw offers access to Thomson Reuters products, including Westlaw and Practical Law, for 18 months after graduation. Your “Grad Elite” access gives you 60-hours of usage on these products per month to gain understanding and build confidence in your research skills. While you cannot use it in situations where you are billing a client, you can use these tools to build your knowledge of the law and prepare for the bar exam. In addition, you get access to Knowledge Center Lessons on Westlaw for 18 months after graduation. To continue accessing Westlaw, graduates must register for “Grad Elite” access at lawschool.westlaw.com/authentication/gradelite or by logging into lawschool.thomsonreuters.com.

Please see the following page for details on when your access to Penn State cloud resources changes: What Happens to My Penn State Account When I Leave? This page has a quick reference chart showing what changes occur to what resources and when. There are more details below under the section, “How Soon Do I Lose Access Once I'm No Longer a Student?” These changes occur once you’ve been marked as COMPLETED in LionPATH, which is typically in early June.

• Office365 Applications, including OneDrive storage — 14 days
• GSuite — 14 days
• Online Outlook email — 180 days

If you signed up for Adobe Creative Cloud, please see the following relevant information from the Penn State Adobe FAQ page:

What happens when I graduate?

You will be able to take all of your content with you by migrating your content from your school account to a new personal account. Please be advised that you will not be able to reverse this migration once it is initiated. Visit graduation.adobe.com to get started.

What happens to my account when I leave the University?

First and foremost, make sure to back up all of your Adobe CC data files locally. Once your Penn State Access Account is deactivated, you will no longer be able to log in to the Adobe CC applications with your University email address. If you would like to continue using Adobe CC after your departure, Adobe has several options available for purchase.