Graduations Cap Tumultuous Semester for 6,700 CSUN Students : Commencement: Honors convocation Sunday begins four days of ceremonies and celebrations.

Climaxing a semester that began with the shattering jolt of a destructive earthquake, more than 6,700 Cal State Northridge students will be eligible to participate in commencement ceremonies that begin Sunday with an honors convocation followed by three days of graduations.

Officials at the battered campus had briefly considered a return to the single campus-wide graduation that was the norm through 1990. But in the end, officials--prodded by students--opted to keep the approach that began in 1991 with each of CSUN’s eight academic schools hosting its own graduation.

The honors convocation, to fete nearly 1,000 outstanding students, will be the closest to a campus-wide celebration that CSUN will have to mark its surviving the earthquake. The temblor caused an estimated $325 million in damage, the costliest loss ever for a U.S. university. The ceremony will be 2 p.m. Sunday outside the University Club on Nordhoff Street.

“While faculty, staff and students have experienced both stress and a sense of loss in adapting to a ‘makeshift’ university, they have faced this challenge with dignity, humor and devotion to education,” CSUN President Blenda J. Wilson wrote in her introductory message in the campus’ commencement program.

“The achievement of the 1994 spring semester will always be a wonderful testament to the resiliency and strength of this campus. Indeed, the performance of the entire university community during this crisis has been a source of great pride to me. . .,” wrote Wilson, who plans to shake hands with every student being honored at the ceremonies.

Sunday’s event will feature a keynote address by Andrew Young, the former civil rights leader, United Nations ambassador and mayor of Atlanta. He currently is vice chairman of Law Companies, the Atlanta-based engineering and environmental services firm that CSUN hired to coordinate its damage assessment efforts after the Jan. 17 earthquake.

The following is the roster of school graduation ceremonies:

* School of the Arts, 8 a.m. Monday outside the University Club. Main speaker: artist June Wayne. Eligible students: 451.

* School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 10:30 a.m. Monday at the North Campus Stadium. Main speaker: Dean Ralph Vicero. Eligible students: 1,221.

* School of Education, 4 p.m. Monday outside the University Club. Main speaker: Susan Wasserman, a distinguished teaching award winner. Eligible students: 378.

* School of Engineering and Computer Science, 8 a.m. Tuesday outside the University Club. Main speakers: William Green, a deputy manager at Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and two graduating students. Eligible students: 481.

* School of Business Administration and Economics, 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the North Campus Stadium. Main speaker: Dean William Hosek. Eligible students: 1,295.

* School of Humanities, 4 p.m. Tuesday at the North Campus Stadium. Main speaker: Ruben Martinez, a host of KCET television’s “Life and Times” series. Eligible students: 941.

* School of Science and Mathematics, 8 a.m. Wednesday outside the University Club. Main speaker: Thomas Humanic, a CSUN graduate who now teaches physics at Ohio State University. Eligible students: 363.

* School of Communication, Health and Human Services, 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the North Campus Stadium. Main speaker: Olympic medalist Florence Griffith-Joyner. Eligible students: 1,598.