Arrival and Pre-Ceremony Information
Student check-in at 3M Arena at Mariucci is from 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. You will begin lining up no later than 12:30 p.m. Enter via the lobby on the southwest corner of the building at 1901 Fourth Street and proceed downstairs.
Visit the check-in tables to pick up your stage card. Keep it with you! You must have this card in order to cross the stage.
After you have picked up your stage card, gather by the signs designating your college and degree objective (e.g. CSE Master’s or CLA Doctoral). The procession lines will form by degree. In addition, doctoral students will be lined up in roughly alphabetical order by program.
Leave valuables at home or with family members. There is no secure coat check area available backstage. Please silence all cell phones and other electronic devices.
Regalia Instructions
Wear your cap and gown to 3M Arena at Mariucci. There is limited space to change in the arena. You are responsible for obtaining your own cap, gown, and hood from the U of M Bookstores. Extras will not be available at the arena.
The cap is worn with the pointed end to the front and parallel to the ground. The tassel is worn on the left side throughout the ceremony.
Master's students wear their hood throughout the ceremony. Watch this YouTube video on how to wear the hood.
Doctoral students are hooded onstage. Walk in the procession with the hood draped over your arm. Make sure the loop cord on your hood is unbuttoned!
Processional
The procession will form in two lines and come from behind the stage. Doctoral students will be lined up on the left side of the backstage area behind the faculty, and master’s students will be lined up on the right behind the flag bearers. Promptly at 1 p.m., the mace bearer and flag marshals will begin the procession. Please remain standing until all the graduates have processed to their seats. Marshals will assist in seating you in the designated area on the floor. Master’s degree candidates will be seated on the left side as you face the stage, and doctoral candidates will be seated on the right.
Degree Presentation
Marshals will direct you to the stage, row by row, when the presentation of degree candidates begins. Master’s students will process to the stage first, grouped by college; doctoral candidates will follow in the same order.
When your name is announced, cross the stage to shake hands with the Dean. If you prefer not to shake hands, place a hand over your heart or keep your hands at your sides.
Hooding Ceremony for Doctoral Candidates
Doctoral candidates are hooded before they cross the stage to shake hands with the Dean. As you approach the stage, make sure the loop cord on your hood is unbuttoned!
When doctoral hooding begins, faculty from your college will be lined up at the rear of the arena. When you are released from your seat, join up with your advisor as you walk by and continue to the stage together. If your advisor is hooding multiple students, you will walk to stage as a group. If you requested a specific faculty member to hood you, it’s highly recommended that you reach out to them prior to the ceremony to confirm their participation.
Don’t go on stage without your advisor! If your advisor is not present or you did not request a specific faculty member to hood you, ushers will escort you to a faculty hooding marshal before you go on stage.
Staff will direct you to an open hooding station. Hand the hood to your advisor by the narrow velvet end. After you are hooded, shake hands with the Dean and return to your seat.
Recessional
When the ensemble has begun to play the recessional music and after the mace bearer has left the stage, marshals will release you row by row starting at the back. You will proceed up one of the four sets of stairs at the rear of the arena to the concourse level. Arrange to meet your guests on the concourse; you will not return to the backstage area.
Tell your family and friends who are unable to attend commencement that they can watch the ceremony LIVE online at 1 pm Central U.S. Time (2 p.m. Eastern) at z.umn.edu/asewebcast25.