President George W. Bush's address to Texas A&M's fall graduating class will launch a new commencement format for the university.

Beginning with Bush's Dec. 12 speech, one keynote speaker will address all graduates at the same time, followed by individual ceremonies where graduates are handed diplomas.

"In addition to giving all degree candidates the opportunity to hear an address by a nationally or internationally prominent leader, the degree-granting exercises will be shortened, which has been a long-term goal supported by students, faculty, staff and the administration," said A&M President Elsa Murano in a statement announcing the change.

The university expects to grant degrees to about 3,000 students over the course of three ceremonies Friday and Saturday. Graduates are not required to attend the 10:30 a.m. Bush commencement speech.

A ceremony for Galveston campus graduates is set for Sunday in Galveston.

It will be Bush's first commencement address at the university since he was governor, said Blair Jones, a White House spokesman. The president addresses two or three graduating classes a year, the spokesman said.

Alice Reinarz, assistant provost for enrollment, said the degree-granting ceremonies would be more convenient for students.

"The shortened length is a byproduct," she said. "The real interest is to make students more the focus. Each ceremony had its own keynote address. Between that and the intro of the dignitaries and various other honorific presentations, a lot of time was spent on students just waiting."

President Bush will speak at Reed Arena, which will have a nearly 11,400 capacity for the event. Each degree candidate can bring two guests.

Friday is the last day students can pick up tickets for the Bush commencement convocation. After that, university officials will determine how many seats will remain for community members. Tickets are not needed for the degree-granting ceremonies.

"Not many people get to say they have a sitting president that went to their graduation ceremonies," said Matt Hawkins, a kinesiology major whose graduation ceremony is Dec. 13. "It's pretty exciting. It represents the quality of education we have here and our reputation."

Bush's talk pushes back the degree-granting ceremony for the George Bush School of Government and Public Service; Agriculture and Life Sciences; and Mays Business School to 7 p.m. Friday. It had been scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday.

Murano invited the president to the university. She made pitches to Bush and his father, former President George H.W. Bush, who delivered his first foreign policy speech as president at the university in May 1989 and has his presidential library in College Station.

She talked with President Bush in Washington when he spoke to a gathering of U.S. Agency for International Development. Bush had appointed Murano to sit on a board that advises the agency's director on agricultural issues. Murano talked to the elder Bush during a recent A&M football game. The university then sent a formal letter of invitation to the White House and got confirmation from the White House's scheduling office in early November.

IN SHORT

* Friday is the last day for students to pick up tickets for President Bush's Dec. 12 commencement convocation. Tickets must be reserved at http://graduation.tamu.edu prior to pickup at the Memorial Student Center box office.

Three degree-granting ceremonies are planned over two days following the Bush speech at 10:30 a.m. in Reed Arena:

* Dec. 12, 2 p.m.

Architecture; Dwight Look College of Engineering; Science; Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

* Dec. 12, 7 p.m.

George Bush School of Government and Public Service; Agriculture and Life Sciences; Mays Business School

* Dec. 13, 9 a.m.

Education and Human Development; Geosciences; Liberal Arts

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