This year, one of our alumni who works with Diane Sawyer helped us to bring her here. Commencement is a yearlong planning process. Some events we have less than one week's notice. Building dedications and ground-breaking ceremonies can start as much as a year in advance. It all depends on how large the event is.
Some events are even a couple of years out.
We like to plan with advance warning. A building dedication or groundbreaking is often the biggest event a unit will experience during the year, or for that matter in several years. For us, however, it is one of many large events for the year. We not only have to juggle our own timelines, deadlines and priorities, but those of other units as well. I enjoy meeting colleagues in units across campus and working with them in the planning of their events.