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Fall 2024 University Commencement

What to expect the day of the ceremony

Checking in and picking up name cards

  • Upon arriving each student will be provided with a "name card," which contains your name and any information that will be read about you when you walk across the stage.
    • Most students who registered ahead of time should have a pre-printed name card waiting for them.
    • Students whose name cards are missing will be able to fill one out by hand at their check-in area, volunteers will be there to help.
  • Keep your name card with you. You will need to hand it to someone as you walk across the stage.
  • Please only pick up your own name card, as students picking up name cards for their friends can lead to confusion.

Student line up

  • After picking up your reader cards, students will wait to process onto the floor of the Arena.
    • Undergraduate students wait in the bleachers directly behind their check-in tables. The sections are labelled with the names of the various schools and colleges, and other than sitting with the rest of your school/college, undergraduates may sit in any order.
    • Graduate students wait in the area near their check-in tables until called to line up by Marshals
  • Students will process onto the event seating area together, as directed by the Marshals.

Degree recognition

  • Once seated on the Arena floor, please wait until you are directed by the Marshals to stand up and process across the stage.
  • Shortly before the stage professional photographers will take your portrait in front of a formal University banner.
  • When you approach the stage a volunteer will take your name card, and this is how the readers on the stage will know which name to call.
  • After walking across the stage, continue to follow the instructions of the Marshals, and sit back down until the end of the ceremony.

Ceremony end

  • After you walk, please return to your seat and remain there until the end of the ceremony.
  • The ceremony is expected to end by but may run longer or shorter.
  • Please remain through the full ceremony, even after you walk, out of respect for the remaining graduates.
  • The Marshals will cue you when the ceremony ends and it is time to leave the arena floor.

Late arrival

  • If, by some unforeseen circumstance you are late, please report to the area in which you were instructed to, and there will be a volunteer to lead you to a Marshal who will get you seated on the floor.
  • Late seating is not guaranteed, depending on where we are in the ceremony.