Ceremony for December graduates 

The Recognition Ceremony for December Graduates at Cornell, a special event for graduating students and their families, will be held Dec. 15, 10 a.m. to noon in Barton Hall. Doors open at 9 a.m. Tickets are not required.

The ceremony, featuring remarks by President Martha E. Pollack, will begin with a formal procession and music by the Cornell Wind Symphony. The ceremony will be live streamed. An informal reception with light refreshments will immediately follow the ceremony at 11:30 a.m. More details are available at the commencement site.

Winter Solstice Garden Tour

Cornell Botanic Gardens’ annual Winter Solstice Garden Tour is Dec. 21 at noon, featuring storytelling on the role of plants in seasonal folklore and in celebrations of the shortest day of the year. There is a $5 suggested donation; meet inside the Nevin Welcome Center.

The one-hour guided walk with staff and volunteers through the Mullstein Family Winter Garden will include an expert gardener discussing the plants and how they cope with the cold. After the tour, enjoy some hot wassail inside the welcome center.

Last chance: Animation, photography, moons

Fall exhibitions closing Dec. 23 at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art include “The Character of Characters,” a five-channel video installation of animated Chinese calligraphy and drawing by A.D. White Professor-at-Large Xu Bing, part of the 2018 Cornell Council for the Arts Biennial.

Also ending: “Object Lessons: Photography at Cornell, 1869-2018” and Howardena Pindell’s 1980 video “Free, White and 21.”

“Moon,” ending Jan. 13, features paintings, poetry, prints and decorative arts from the museum’s collection, all exploring themes related to the moon in Japanese, Korean and Chinese art.

The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; admission is free. It will be closed for the holidays from Dec. 24 through Jan. 1.

Other exhibits ending soon on campus feature work by art students.

“Three Rows of Exclamation Points,” a group show of thesis work by bachelor of fine art students, ends Dec. 15 in Olive Tjaden Hall’s Tjaden Gallery and Experimental Gallery. “Don’t Forget Us: The Plight of the Hemlock and Ash Trees,” through Dec. 31 at Cornell Botanic Gardens’ Nevin Welcome Center, includes stone, plate and photo lithographs by students in Gregory Page’s Introduction to Print Media class.

Soup & Hope returns

Ithaca College President Shirley Collado will share some of her life experience, lessons learned and her passion for education at the first Soup & Hope event of the new year, Jan. 17, 2019, at noon in Sage Chapel.

The series is open to the public and features speakers and stories of hope, with free hot soup and rolls provided by Cornell Dining. Bring a soup bowl and a friend.

Over the past 11 years, more than 50 speakers– encompassing Cornell staff, faculty, students, alumni and people from the greater Ithaca community – have touched, inspired and motivated campus and community members attending the annual winter series.

Soup & Hope continues Jan. 31 with Bill Alberta, M.S. ’77, retired associate director of Cornell Career Services and founder of the Cornell Elves Program.

Make things

The mannUfactory Makerspace in Mann Library hosts an Open House, Jan. 17, 3-4 p.m., for new students and their families.

The event offers open time at the makerspace as a fun introduction to making objects in the library, from buttons to 3-D printing and virtual reality environments.