Commencement - May 2009
Eligibility
You are eligible to participate in Commencement if you have graduated since last May or expect to finish your degree requirements this May.
- If you have 8 or fewer hours remaining and expect to complete your Master's degree requirements in August 2009, you may participate in Commencement; however, your name will not appear in the printed Commencement Program.
- Recipients of doctoral degrees must have deposited their dissertations in the Graduate College Thesis Office by May 8 in order to participate in any campus Commencement ceremony.
On Commencement Day (May 17, 2009)
Candidates for Master's degrees and Advanced Certificates should report to the Assembly Hall no later than 10:10 a.m. for the morning ceremony, and no later than 1:40 p.m. for the afternoon ceremony.
Doctoral candidates should report to the Assembly Hall tunnel off Fourth Street by 9:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. for their respective ceremonies. Please do not bring anything with you into the Assembly Hall. You are not allowed to carry anything in the procession and there's no secure place to leave it in the tunnel.
Check the Commencement Office Web site for additional information.
Checklists
Master's Students:
In order to participate in the campuswide Commencement ceremony, you must:
- Order academic attire - a mortarboard, gown, and a hood.
- Indicate you plan to participate in the campuswide Commencement ceremony at the Assembly Hall when ordering academic attire.
- Obtain guest tickets from the Illini Union or the Assembly Hall
- Pick up your academic attire.
Doctoral Students:
- Deposit dissertation in the Graduate College Thesis Office by May 8.
- Register for campuswide commencement ceremony by May 11
*Online registration for commencement is now closed. If you have not yet registered, please call the Graduate College at (217) 333-4610.* - Order academic attire by April 20.
- If you wish to designate a hooder, you need to complete a “Hooder and Faculty/Staff Commencement Registration and Academic Attire Order Form”, which is available at the Graduate College. The person hooding you must have an earned doctorate. If you hope to have your adviser or another individual hood you, ask them if they are able to participate prior to the April 20 order deadline for academic regalia. If you designate someone to hood you at the campuswide ceremony, it is essential that he or she order rental academic regalia. UI faculty and staff should be receiving a form to order regalia by early April. The University pays for their regalia rental. If you want someone outside the University to hood you, that person will need to pay a rental fee for the non-University hooder regalia.
- Obtain guest tickets from the Graduate College
- Pick up your academic attire. If you order regalia for your non-UI hooder, you will need to pick it up as well.