MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State University’s 2025 spring graduates and future graduates will receive access to digital diplomas, providing an electronic version of their hard won academic achievement that can be shared for personal or professional reasons.  

The diplomas will be accessible through Parchment, a vendor program used by the Registrar’s Office for providing transcripts and digital badges.  

Digital diplomas for spring 2025 graduates will be accessible beginning May 19, and graduating students will receive an email from Parchment with instructions on how to claim the digital version. Printed diplomas will be available for pick up from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 28-30 in Room 150 of the Student Services and Admissions Center. Any diplomas not picked up during that time will be mailed in June to the student’s diploma address on file. 

Graduates will be able to upload their digital diploma on social media and share it with family and potential employers. 

“I do think a lot of students will like getting that diploma earlier and being able to go ahead and share that out,” said Tyler Henson, assistant vice provost of registration and student records and university registrar. 

The spring 2025 class will be the first group of graduates to receive digital diplomas in addition to the printed version. While the digital diplomas are not currently available for past graduates, the Registrar’s Office is working to make them available, Henson said. 

The diplomas will be free for upcoming graduates, but students will need to create a parchment account to access them.  

Digital badges can boost resumes 

MTSU’s partnership with Parchment also allows students to receive digital badges, or “micro-credentials,” for work in and outside of the classroom.  

A digital badge is issued to a student upon successful completion of a set of courses, program, or other competencies as established by appropriate faculty. Students earn badges for a variety of accomplishments on their own or as their work toward a degree, according to the Registrar’s website.  

Following the growing trend in higher education, MTSU decided to adopt the “micro-credentials” to allow students a chance to add depth to their college portfolios, Henson said. 

The benefits of earning a digital badge are to exemplify skills and achievements earned to employers, colleagues, and peers.   

The most popular badge students receive is for making the dean’s list, which can be shared on LinkedIn and other social media sites. Among colleges, departments and programs currently offering badges include Computer Science, Political and Global Affairs, MT Engage, Career Development Center and others. 

MTSU implemented the badges in 2023 and now offers 27 available badges to earn. Badges can take several months to get approved. A new badge must be approved by a committee before being sent to the Provost’s Office for review.  

“These micro-credentials are really nice, kind of additions to student resumes so they can include those whenever they’re looking for employment, looking to get into graduate school, to show certain skills that they have earned while in college,” said Henson. 

Students who earn a badge will be sent an email from Parchment to claim it after which it can be added to the student’s existing Parchment account or a new account if one has not already been set up. Students can then save all their badges in one place to include on a résumé, share on social media, or attach to a transcript.  

Faculty or staff who would like to propose a new digital badge for their area may do so here: Digital Badge Proposal Form. For more information about badges, please reach out to the MTSU Registrar’s Office at records@mtsu.edu.  

For more information regarding spring graduation, visit https://www.mtsu.edu/graduation/. 

— Jordan Reining (Jordan.Reining@mtsu.edu)