Graduation Ceremony 2017

„It’s over – It’s done!”

22.11.2017 von

The Dean, Prof. Dr. Max Mühlhäuser, opened the graduation ceremony. Picture: Patrick Reymann

On November 17th 2017, the graduation ceremony for Master's and PhD students of the Department of Computer Science took place. The graduates were bid farewell to start a new stage in their life.

The Maschinenhaus is filled with an elegantly dressed audience as the guitar duo alma starts the graduation ceremony with an atmospheric musical piece. The students used to spend much time in these kind of lecture rooms. Family members and friends are now able to see their loved ones on this important day in one of these rooms while receiving their certificates.

Dean Prof. Dr. Mühlhäuser greets the guests at the opening ceremony and introduces the Department and its research core areas. He underscores the Department's excellent network from which the graduates can benefit and reminds the listeners that Darmstadt becomes more and more the centre of Computer Sciences. TU Darmstadt's Vice President, Prof. Dr. Ralph Bruder, congratulates the graduates and emphasises that they are graduating at one of the „leading Computer Science departments in Germany with an excellent international ranking.“ He emphasises that the graduates have studied at a university, where candour, curiosity and tolerance are of utmost importance and therefore, they should use their technological skills thoughtfully by making a positive impact in the world.

Honouring of the Master's and PhD students

Then the moment has come: the graduates step forward in groups. While Dean Prof. Dr. Mühlhäuser is warmly congratulating everyone individually and is reading out the title of their Master's theses, the Dean of Student Affairs, Prof. Dr. Marc Fischlin, hands over the certificates. During the applause, the audience notices the joy and relief on the graduates' faces as the moment, for which they have worked so hard in the last few years, has finally arrived.

Honouring members of the Departmental Students`Representative Committee

On this day, the Department heavy-heartedly has to bid farewell to some very dedicated active Departmental Students` Representatives (Fachschaft), who are among the graduates. Dean of Student Affairs Prof. Fischlin honours on behalf of the Computer Science Department Anna-Katharina Wickert, Jannik Vieten, Johannes Alef, Thomas Arnreich and Michael Koch for their relentless commitment and remembers how they organised and supervised, amongst other things, orientation weeks for new students and how they engaged in teaching and programme committees, while also saving barbecue parties in their function as pitmasters. The Departmental Students` Representatives themselves remember with humour how they have had to deal with error messages in TUCaN and how they have spent hours and hours in lectures and exams, but they also highlight the team work and support they have experienced through fellow students. To bid the five members farewell, Nadja Geisler hands each of them farewell trophies over in the name of the committee and remarks: „It is a very sad day for us“.

A Meme to Say Goodbye

At the end of the ceremony, the musicians play a melancholic blues and before Dean Mühlhäuser invites everyone to a champagne reception, he makes the audience laugh by skipping his closing words and projecting a popular internet meme instead, which reads: „It's over – It's done.“ And indeed, it is done and the next stage of life can start, which can be a PhD programme, a job in the economy or simply a vacation.

After the ceremony, the graduates and their guests chat about their future plans during the champagne reception and make use of the popular Cap and Gown photo shoot, organised by the university's Alumni Management in order to make this day unforgettable.

The Department of Computer Science wishes its graduates all the best for their future!