Master’s candidates must register online via workflow by 5:00 PM on April 10, 2019, to participate in the Graduate College commencement ceremony. 

Tickets are not required to attend the ceremony. If you have family unable to attend the ceremony, the ceremony will be webcast live. The ceremony will also be available for viewing on UI YouTube within 24 hours after the event.

Candidates wear the University of Iowa custom master’s apparel, available online from Herff Jones and will be shipped to the master’s candidate's home. Master’s apparel consists of a mortar board w/tassel, master’s gown, and master’s hood. If students need assistance on how to order, they may contact Herff Jones at gradmidwest@gmail.com or 952-447-4449).

Students ordering after Wednesday, April 10, 2019, will be charged a late fee. Candidates who have not registered to participate by the deadline noted will not be able to rent apparel or participate in the ceremony.

Doors to the arena will open one hour prior to the start of the ceremony. Graduating candidates should arrive no later than 6:15 PM dressed in Herff-Jones custom apparel and shoes suitable for steep stairs. Caps are to be worn with the tams or mortar boards horizontal and the tassel on the left. Tams/mortar boards should be worn during the Processional, Recessional, and while degrees are being conferred.

Security procedures will be enforced at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.  Officials will search any purses or bags brought into the building.  No backpacks, large bags, packages, wrapped gifts, balloons, or outside food/beverage are allowed.  Anticipate a visual inspection of coats or gowns.  

Graduating candidates should promptly report to the Name Card Hand-Out table designated by your last name. These tables are positioned on the upper concourse. Review your name card and add a phonetic pronunciation if one was not printed on your card.  Hold onto your card! Before you cross the stage, you will hand it to a reader. Map of arena is forthcoming .

Name Cards are distributed by student last names:

• A-E between arena sections LL and MM.
• F-K between arena sections M and N.
• L-Q between arena sections B and C.
• R-Z between arena sections AA and BB.

Move to your line-up, across from the card table.

You should not have anything in your hand other than your Name Card when the processional begins and throughout the ceremony (coat, purse, flowers, selfie-stick, etc.).  Make arrangements to leave these items with a family member or friend. Cell phones should be silenced or turned off.

Candidates should line up behind a faculty marshal near their Name Card Hand-Out Table.  At 6:55, your marshal will escort the group down the steps of Carver Hawkeye Arena main floor. Please sit down as soon as you reach your chair. A diploma cover and a program booklet listing the graduates will be on your chair.  

For the Conferral of Degrees, the candidates will come to the stage to be recognized individually.  Your marshal will lead your group to the stage. Take your Name Card with you, hand it to the person reading names at the microphone and walk to center stage to shake hands with the University of Iowa official. A professional photo is taken as you exit off the stage.  You will return to your seat by entering the opposite end of your original row.

Following the farewell remarks and recessional of platform officials, candidates will begin to recess in an orderly fashion under the marshals’ direction.

Be aware that Security will ask you to leave Carver Hawkeye Arena within 30 minutes of the end of the ceremony.   

Return your custom apparel to Herff Jones boxes immediately upon reaching the concourse.  The tassel is yours to keep.

If apparel is not returned following the ceremony, graduates should send their apparel to Herff Jones as soon as possible to avoid incurring a charge for non-return of apparel. Prepaid return shipping label was included in the packaging at the time it is received. 

With everyone’s cooperation, this occasion will become a proud and happy memory of the student’s academic achievement at the University of Iowa.

Commencement is the culminating event of University students who choose to attend.  An appropriate and dignified academic atmosphere provides you, your family, and other guests the opportunity to enjoy this important gathering. 

The following rules of behavior will be enforced at all ceremonies:

• No alcoholic beverages of any kind.  Anyone deemed intoxicated by security staff will not be permitted to participate.
• Cell phones must be turned off or silenced in the graduate seating area
• No flowers, purses, gifts, balloons, or bags will be allowed in the student seating area