The Graduate, Doctoral & College of Professional & Liberal Studies Commencement Ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 11, 2013 at 9:00 am on Maguire Campus.

Arrival and Vesting of Graduates

Graduates must arrive no later than 7:30 AM for registration and vesting. Registration and vesting will be in Campion in the Fishbowl.  Use the entrance across from the chapel, go downstairs and to your right.  Academic attire is required for this ceremony. Please vest by wearing your cap and robe. Do not wear your hood, but carry it with you. 

Arrival of guests

Families and Guests should be seated in the main tent by 8:30 am.

Registration

At registration each student will receive a name card that will be used to announce his or her name during the ceremony. Students with last names that are difficult to pronounce are encouraged to write a phonetic spelling on the card to assist the reader.

Academic Procession

Shortly after 8:00 AM , the faculty marshals will request that all graduates line up for the procession. There will be two procession lines per program: one for the School of Arts & Sciences and one for the Erivan K. Haub School of Business. Students should carefully ensure they are in the correct set of lines by program and college, but do not need to be concerned with alphabetical order.

The procession will step off promptly at 8:30 AM. Upon arrival in the main tent, the faculty marshals for each school will lead the procession to the graduate seating area, and direct participants to an open row.

Program of Ceremony

Components of the ceremony include: the singing of the National Anthem, an invocation, speeches and remarks from classmates and administrators, a major address and honorary degree presentation, the conferral of degrees, the announcement of graduates, and a concluding blessing. For commencement speaker information, click here.

The Doctoral Hooding and Conferral Ceremony

At the appointed time in the program, the appropriate dean will present students receiving Doctoral degress in Education to the College President by inviting them to stand and approach the stage. Each candidate will then walk on to the stage and meet the faculty member who chaired his or her dissertation committee. The two will move center where the College President will confer the degree on the candidate. At this time, the chair of the dissertation committee will hood the graduate and present the degree certificate. The graduate may then continue to the opposite end of the platform to exit the stage and return to his or her seat.

Conferral and Presentation of Masters and College of Professional & Liberal Studies

Following the conferral and presentation of the Doctoral degrees, the appropriate dean will present the degree candidates from each school to the College President, who will officially confer the "said degrees" on the graduates. Following this conferral, the dean will instruct the graduates to "don their hoods". This is the time for graduates to put on the hood they have carried with them.

Upon direction from the faculty marshals, graduates will approach the stage for the presentation of degrees. Graduates must have their name card with them at this time. Each college will be called separately, and each name will be read individually. Following the reading of each name, the student is asked to proceed quickly to the center of the stage, shake hands with the Colleg President, receive the rolled certificate, exit at the opposite end of the stage, and return to his or her seat.

Conclusion and Recessional

Following the benediction, the stage party and faculty will lead the procession to conclude the ceremony. The faculty marshals will instruct graduates to leave the seating area and follow the procession to the Cardinal Avenue parking lot.

Rain Plan

This ceremony is scheduled as a "rain or shine" event. Severe inclement weather may, however, prevent the full academic procession from taking place. In the event of severe rain, graduates should go directly to the main tent to receive their name cards and be seated in the ceremony staging area. Information on the status of the procession is available by calling the university's weather line at 610-660-3333.

Graduate, Doctoral & College of Professional & Liberal Studies at a Glance
Maguire Campus
Saturday morning,
May 11, 2012