Please bookmark this page for event guidelines for students and faculty. We will also be sending instructions via email.
Questions?
For information on registration and event details, please email gradacademics@graddiv.ucsb.edu.
Student/Graduate Instructions for Graduate Division Commencement
Pre-Event Instructions for Graduates
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Purchase your Masters or Doctoral regalia via the UCSB Campus Store.
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Create an account with Tassel confirm your name pronunciation, claim your guest tickets, and obtain your guests' parking permits.
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Your Stage Pass will be emailed in early June (to your UCSB email address.) You will need to present your stage pass at check-in and again before you cross the stage for your name announcement.
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FULLY CHARGE YOUR PHONE BEFORE ARRIVING.
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Graduates and guests will be directed to park in Lot 22. Campus traffic patterns and parking lot availability are dynamic during Commencement weekend - follow posted signs and directions from event staff when parking. A valid UCSB permit is required to park on campus. Graduates will receive a complimentary parking code in their Commencement confirmation email to register their guest's vehicle. Parking permits are electronic and require the license plate number for registration.
Instructions for June 11th for Graduates
2:30 pm - 3 pm
- Graduates arrive at the Events Center/Thunderdome for line up (please do not bring any items aside from your phone/electronic stage pass)
- Prepare for a security check with Student Safety Partners (SSPs) by making sure your cap is not yet fastened and unzipping your robe (doctoral students will carry, not wear, your hoods) -- please review the list of prohibited items here
- Be ready to show your stage pass for check-in
2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
- Graduates enter the Events Center/Thunderdome and wait for line-up instructions
- Use the restroom, etc.
- Doctoral Graduates will locate their faculty hooder and line up together
3:30 pm - 3:45 pm
- Graduates will be instructed to line up
3:50 pm
- The graduates will be led to the Commencement Green to be seated
4 pm – 6:30 pm
- Opening program
- Doctoral graduates called to the stage
- Masters graduates called to the stage
Pre-Event Instructions for Faculty Hooders
- Register via the Commencement Participation and Regalia Form
- Please watch our Hooding Procedure video
Instructions for June 11th for Faculty Hooders
2 pm – 3:30 pm
- Faculty hooders and platform party participants must enter through Gate 5 (Staff & Platform Party Entrance) to access Hatlen Theater. Gate 5 is located in the breezeway between Hatlen Theater and the T&D Box Office - this is the ONLY entrance point for faculty and staff.
- Once you have gone through Gate 5, proceed to the terrace outside the doors to Hatlen Theater.
- All faculty need to check-in with staff outside of Hatlen Theater (map) starting at 2:00 p.m. but no later than 2:30 pm on the day of the ceremony (Thursday, June 11, 2026). See here for parking instructions.
- Faculty arrive at Hatlen Theater for refreshments and robing.
- Faculty who are borrowing regalia will pick it up and put it on in Hatlen Theater stage.
3:30 pm
- Faculty hooders who are marching with their students will be instructed to go to the South West Entrance at the Events Center/Thunderdome to line up with their students
- Find your students and await line up instructions
3:30 pm - 3:45 pm
- Graduates and hooding faculty will be instructed to line up
3:50 pm
- The graduates and hooding faculty will be led to the Green to be seated
4:15 pm
- The Platform Party will leave Hatlen Terrace after the graduate procession has reached the Commencement Green
4:20 pm – 6:30 pm
- Opening program
- Doctoral graduates called to the stage
- Masters graduates called to the stage
Doctoral Hooding Instructions
Please read the following instructions carefully. While we will be there to assist you, it will be helpful for you to be very familiar with how the hooding will be conducted.
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Marshals will be there to alert you to when the time arrives for faculty and doctoral candidates to proceed to the platform (stage). As you progress up the platform, the candidate will hold the hood. A staff member will be there to ensure that the hood is unbuttoned, and positioned to hand off (draped over your right arm).
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The candidate will display their electronic Stage Pass (or paper one if you are a late registrant) to a staff member at the top of the ramp. The faculty hooder and candidate will be prompted by a staff member to proceed to the hooding platform.
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An Associate Dean will meet the student part way across the stage and take the hood. They will accompany you to the hooding platform and assist with the hooding.
Tall students should bend their knees slightly as the hood is being brought over their head. When in doubt, watch what others do and then do the same.
Faculty members, if you are hooding more than one candidate, you will hood the first student as the student's name is read, then wait in place to hood the next student.
If there are two faculty members hooding a student, the Associate/Dean will hand the prepared hood to the faculty member on the right hand side.
Special note: Re-buttoning and arranging of the hood should take place after the graduate and faculty have left the podium. Special celebrations (hugs, pictures, exuberant cheers) may take place off the stage at the bottom of the ramp.
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After the hood is in position, the student will turn and shake the AVC/Graduate Dean's hand and exit the stage.
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After exiting the stage you will file back into the same row you were seated in before, approaching it from the left.
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Please watch our two hooding demonstration videos:
Hooding and Stage Crossing demonstration
Hooding history