Procession Directions
Faculty line-up will begin at 12:40 p.m. The procession will form in two lines and come from behind the stage. Faculty will be separated by college and lined up on the left side of the backstage area, followed by the doctoral candidates. Master’s students will be lined up on the right. Promptly at 1 p.m., the mace bearer and flag marshals will begin the procession. If you are able, remain standing until all the graduates have processed to their seats.
Please ensure your cell phones are on silent and remain out of sight during the ceremony and be mindful that this event is being live-streamed and photos are being taken throughout the ceremony.
Graduates will process across the stage in the following order: master’s students - CLA, CSE; then doctoral students - CLA, CSE. If you want to congratulate master’s degree students, you can greet them as they come off the stage on the right side of the arena after the photography station.
Doctoral Hooding Instructions
Faculty members will be seated on the arena floor near the graduates and will walk on stage with the doctoral student(s) they are hooding. When doctoral hooding begins for your college, you will be escorted to the back of the arena to line up and wait for your student(s) to approach. Students will be grouped by college and then in roughly alphabetical order by program (e.g. College of Liberal Arts: American Studies, Anthropology, Art, etc.). After your student(s) reaches you, you will walk on stage together, perform the hooding, and then you may leave the stage and return to your seat while your student shakes hands with the Dean.
Important, if you are hooding more than one student, remain in line and don’t go to the stage until ALL of your advisees are with you. You can hood multiple students once you are on stage, but you should only come to the stage once.
There are two hooding stations at the center of the stage. They are marked by risers that you can use to hood taller students. The graduates should not climb the risers! Staff on stage will direct you to the first open station when it’s your student’s turn.
Hooding procedure:
- There is a loop-cord on the hood. Graduates should arrive on stage with the cord unbuttoned. If not, you will have to unbutton it before you can put the hood on.
- Holding the narrow end of the hood, carefully place the hood over the student's head with the velvet side up and the button loop pointing downward. Be sure to reach out enough to avoid hitting the student's face and cap. Use the risers if needed.
- Next, quickly fold out the back of the hood to display the colors, congratulate the student, and leave the stage. If you are hooding multiple students, remain on stage until the last one is completed.
- Watch this YouTube video about how to hood your student
Recessional
At the close of “Hail! Minnesota” and once the Dean has concluded the ceremony the ushers will direct you, row by row, to the outer aisle leading you backstage to remove your regalia and collect your belongings. You will not leave the auditorium via the main aisle with the graduates.
The ceremony is expected to conclude by 3:30 p.m.