THE GRADUATE SCHOOL

Friday, June 7, 2024, at 2:00 PM CT.

Ryan Fieldhouse
2333 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208

Important Note: Ryan Fieldhouse is located on the north end of the Evanston campus to the east of Lincoln Street and Sheridan Road. It is NOT connected to or located near Ryan Field, which is on Central Street.

There is a parking garage attached to Ryan Fieldhouse that may be used free of charge on the day of the ceremony. It is Lot 105 on the Evanston campus parking map.

Parking regulations for Northwestern University parking fees are waived during commencement ceremonies. In addition to the adjacent parking garage, students and guests may park in any non-restricted parking lot on campus. Visitors with handicapped license plates or placards from a government agency may park in designated handicapped spaces or at parking meters. 

The doors will open one hour prior to the ceremony at 1:00 PM. Please note there is a flight of stairs or elevator access to the ceremony space.

Only water is permitted. No other food or drink is allowed. For faculty, bottled water will be provided at your seat. There is a drinking fountain located outside the restrooms in the West Concourse.

However, all hooding ceremony attendees are invited to enjoy light refreshments immediately following the ceremony. Celebratory cake, fruit, and beverages will be served at the reception tent located on the Bobb-McCulloch Basketball Court (2379 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208). No registration is required.

Yes, it is an indoor football field that is temperature controlled.

No, but all graduates are required to wear regalia in order to participate. Most guests wear semi-formal or business casual attire. Graduates, faculty members, and guests will be walking on an artificial grass football field and we recommend comfortable footwear. High heels are permitted but, if worn, you may find it difficult to navigate the artificial grass.

Noisemakers, glitter, and confetti are prohibited in Ryan Fieldhouse during the ceremony. Noisemakers will disrupt the recognition of other graduates. Confetti and glitter will ruin the artificial grass football field.

Yes, all hooding ceremony attendees are invited to enjoy light refreshments immediately following the ceremony. Celebratory cake, fruit, and beverages will be served at the reception tent located on the Bobb-McCulloch Basketball Court (2379 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208). No registration is required.

Yes, you may drop off your stroller at the east end of the North Hall. Staff will direct you to the drop-off location. Strollers are not allowed on the field where the ceremony will occur in Ryan Fieldhouse.

The photography vendor Dynamic Photo Solutions (DPS) has been hired by the University to take official ceremony photos of all graduates while onstage during the hooding ceremony. DPS will contact graduates directly via email and/or text message following the hooding ceremony to share a link to a photo gallery and an option to purchase the photos. 

Additionally, The Graduate School will hire a photographer to take candid photos during and after the ceremony. TGS will share an email link to these photos with participating graduates. Graduates who participated in the ceremony may view and/or download these photos to share with family and friends.

In addition to the reception, the University has designated the north service driveway that runs the length of the Ryan Fieldhouse as a gathering location after the ceremony. It spans from the street to the beach. We recommend the beach at the end of the driveway as a nice spot for photos!

Each participating graduate will receive 10 guest tickets to the hooding ceremony. The link to request tickets will be sent to those graduates who express their intent to participate through our Intent to Participate Form. Guests without tickets will not be permitted to enter the ceremony venue. 

Guest tickets will be emailed directly to the graduate two weeks prior to the ceremony. 

It will then be the graduate's responsibility to forward these electronic tickets to their guests. Please check your inbox (including your spam folder) for your guest tickets. 

For instructions on how to download or transfer your tickets, visit Graduation Tickets. 

No, unfortunately the guest limit must be strictly enforced and there are no exceptions. A ticket will be required to enter the ceremony.

Graduates will be in assigned seating and guests may sit where they would like within the general admission seating area.

No, only participating graduates are eligible to request guest tickets. All other ticket requests will be canceled and not issued.

Children under the age of 3 who can sit on a lap do not require a ticket.

Please note, children are not permitted to join the processional, recessional, or a parent on stage when they are hooded. We acknowledge the concessions made by family members in the years preceding this day, but we must consider the experience of all degree candidates and limit children to the guest seating section. 

Yes, the ceremony will be livestreamed on Friday, June 7 at 2:00 PM CT for those who are unable to attend in person. 

The link to the livestream will be provided closer to the date of the ceremony.

If your guests use wheelchairs or have limited mobility (i.e., no stairs, limited walking), please indicate this during the ticketing process by ordering the special accessibility tickets. Please note that these seats will count toward your ticket allotment for Commencement and the hooding ceremony.

Following these directions will help ensure we have sufficient wheelchairs on hand. There are elevators on the first floor for those unable to use stairs.

If your guests have other accessibility needs besides seating, please visit the Guests with Accessibility Needs webpage for additional information about accommodations. 

The Graduate School’s hooding ceremony is open to PhD and MFA graduates of TGS programs in the following schools and programs: 

• Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences
• Kellogg School of Management
• School of Communication
• Feinberg School of Medicine 
• TGS Interdisciplinary Programs

Our ceremony invites graduates from Summer (September) 2023 through Spring (June) 2024 to participate. Summer (September) 2024 graduates will be invited to participate in the 2025 TGS Hooding Ceremony next June. 

All other PhD graduates, along with TGS master of arts (MA), master of science (MS), and master of public health (MPH) graduates, are included in the ceremonies of their home program schools.

• The deadline for TGS to receive program approval of PhD Final Exam forms via GSTS, Dissertations via ProQuest, and change of grade forms for any outstanding Y/K/X/NR grades is Friday, May 3, 2024. For additional information about PhD completion, click here.
• The deadline for TGS to receive program approval of Master’s Degree Completion forms via GSTS and change of grade forms for any outstanding Y/K/X/NR grades is Friday, May 10, 2024. For additional information about Master’s completion, click here.

No, Summer (September) 2024 graduates and beyond will be invited to participate in next year’s hooding ceremony in June 2025.

An email will be sent to all Summer 2024 graduates in March 2025 to the address on file with the University inviting you to return.

All eligible graduates will receive an Intent to Participate Form from The Graduate School. The deadline to complete this year's form is Friday, May 3 if you would like to participate in the hooding ceremony in person on Friday, June 7.

If you believe you are eligible to participate and did not receive the form, please email Assistant Director of Events and Engagement Angela Lorenzo angela.lorenzo@northwestern.edu. Late submissions cannot be considered.

A hooding ceremony is similar to a graduation in that faculty and graduates are dressed in academic attire (regalia) and graduates will individually walk across the stage after their name is announced. While on stage, a Northwestern graduate faculty member places the regalia hood that denotes the graduate’s field of study over the head of the graduate, signifying their success in completing the graduate program.

The hooding ceremony is in addition to the University Commencement, which honors all Northwestern graduates.

Each participating PhD and MFA graduate will invite a current Northwestern graduate faculty member to perform their hooding. This may be your adviser, another faculty member from your program, or a TGS associate dean. You may designate one faculty member to hood you. (The only exception is for students who have two equal co-chairs presiding over their dissertation committee.) 

Please be sure to confirm the availability of your preferred faculty hooder(s) before you submit the Intent to Participate Form. 

The University's regalia ordering portal opened on Monday, February 26, and all ship-to-bookstore regalia orders (including all doctoral orders) were due Friday, April 26.

If you are a PhD student who has confirmed their participation in this year's hooding ceremony and are still in need of regalia, please email the Office of Graduation and Senior Year Experience immediately with your height, weight (i.e. over or under 200 lbs) and type of degree conferred (i.e. doctoral).

Masters students may continue to place orders for ship-to-home rental regalia through Friday, May 10. Please visit the regalia page of the graduation website to find the ordering link

Please click here to learn more about ordering your regalia.

Regalia includes your robe, cap/tam, tassel, and hood. Everything except the hood is worn at the start of the ceremony. You will carry your hood and hand it to a faculty member when you walk across the stage and then leave it on for the remainder of the ceremony. You also will remove your tam before walking across the stage so it does not interfere with the hooding process.

All doctoral rental regalia must be returned following the ceremony except for the tassel.

All regalia is available to be shipped to the University Bookstore at Norris for in-person pick up, and non-rental regalia can also be shipped to an off-campus location for a small shipping fee. There will be no regalia available at the venue the day of the ceremony, so please plan ahead. 

Regalia arrives folded and it benefits from being steamed before wearing.

Please note: TGS does not manage the regalia ordering or delivery process. The relationship with the regalia vendor Oak Hall is managed by Norris Bookstore. Please direct questions about your regalia order to Steve Hannen, the manager of Norris Bookstore, or call 847.491.3992.

No, you will wear your tassel on the left side of your cap/tam during the entire ceremony. Flipping the tassel denotes the achievement of an undergraduate degree.

Please see this diagram for some helpful tips.

Yes, you will remove your cap/tam while lining up next to the stage so it does not interfere with the hooding process. You may place your cap/tam back on your head after you are hooded or when you return to your seat.

Yes, a photography vendor hired by the University will take photos of all graduates while onstage and contact them directly following the June ceremonies if you wish to purchase photos.

Guests are respectfully requested not to take flash photographs and not to stand in the aisles at any time during the event.