Faculty/Academic Staff Participation

The 141st Commencement of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will be held on Sunday, May 13, and all academic staff are invited to participate in the faculty procession at the campuswide ceremonies.

Academic Attire

Appropriate academic attire is required of all participants and will be provided at no cost to University academic staff. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign graduates wear custom regalia designed specifically for the campus. Academic attire consists of a blue mortarboard, blue gown and, in the case of a graduate degree, a hood. Faculty members renting regalia whose highest earned degree is from the Urbana campus will wear custom regalia. All other faculty members ordering rental regalia will wear a black gown, black mortarboard and hood representing their institution. Faculty members who have a degree from the Urbana campus and own their own regalia may rent the custom regalia or wear their own regalia.

To register for the ceremonies or to order academic attire, participants must complete and return a Faculty/Staff and Hooder Commencement Registration & Academic Attire Rental Order Form. The Committee on Commencement will send this form in late March to those whose unit does not hold a separate convocation ceremony. For those whose unit holds a convocation ceremony, their unit will contact them regarding how to order their academic attire and register for the various ceremonies. Contact the Committee on Commencement via email if you have not received information about participating in ceremonies by April 1. To ensure proper degree representation, academic attire must be ordered by April 6. Participation instructions for the campuswide ceremonies will be sent in early May. If participants wear their own academic attire, the campus will reimburse any dry cleaning expenses incurred.

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Instructions for Campuswide Ceremonies

Commencement staff will be present at the Assembly Hall on May 13 to review the following directions with all participants.

All academic staff participants:

  1. Do NOT bring valuables to the ceremony; no locked storage space is available.
  2. Do NOT plan to carry bulky purses, cameras or other paraphernalia in the procession.
  3. Please DO follow the guidance of the procession organizers who are trained to make sure everything runs smoothly.
  4. Please note that there will be a gust of wind as you go through the doorway into the arena; hold your mortarboard.
  5. As you approach the A-section seats, the left line will use the steps on the left while the right line will use the steps on the right. Please allow the procession organizers to direct you to the correct row. Rows will be filled from both sides. An usher will distribute programs as you approach the seats. An arena diagram and further instructions will be emailed to you in May.
  6. At the close of the ceremony, faculty participate in the recession and follow those seated on stage.

Non-hooding academic staff:

Gather in the specially-marked section for non-hooding faculty in the Fourth Street Tunnel. You will line up in two lines and follow the hooding faculty in the procession. Persons who want to sit together should line up one behind the other in the same line, not across from one another. Procession organizers will make sure you are in the right place at the right time.

Hooding academic staff:

  1. Gather by the appropriate posted college sign of the doctoral candidate you will be hooding. You will line up in order of the doctoral candidates to be hooded. The procession organizers will give you the list of candidates as you arrive. A carefully designed system to govern the hooding process is in place. Simply follow directions to form the proper marching, seating and hooding order.
  2. After being seated in the arena, wait for the procession organizer to send your row to the stage via the left aisle to hood your candidate.
  3. When you hear the name of your candidate, use the steps on the side of the stage. Stand on one of the X?s marked on the stage floor. Your candidate has been told to proceed across the stage to meet you. Do not approach your candidate, but rather make him/her come to you. A stage diagram will be emailed to you in May.
  4. If you are hooding more than one candidate, stay on the stage and move out of the way and behind the line indicated on the stage floor until your next candidate is called.
  5. When you finish hooding your last candidate, escort him/her off the stage by using the stairs on the front of the stage and return to your seat via the right aisle.

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