2024 Ceremony Details

May 11, 2024 | 7:30 p.m. | Lied Center

The University of Kansas invites doctoral students and their guests to join us at the Doctoral Hooding Ceremony. The ceremony celebrates the outstanding achievement of KU doctoral students, and recognizes their hard work and commitment in pursuit of knowledge.

Event Livestream

A captioned, live video stream of the doctoral hooding ceremony will be available so that anyone who is interested, worldwide, can watch the event. Due to limited seating within the Lied Center, we encourage guests to use this viewing option.

Accessibility

If you or a guest require a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this event, please contact us at doctoral-hooding@ku.edu no later than May 1, 2024. Sign language interpreter services and video livestream captioning will be available.

Additional accessibility information is available on the Lied Center website under the FAQ Accessibility tab. If you have additional questions regarding accessibility at the Lied Center, please contact the Lied Center directly at 785-864-4210 or lied@ku.edu.

Participating in the Ceremony

Upon Arrival

Enter the Lied Center through the West entrance between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., but no later than 7 p.m. and proceed as follows:

Go to the check-in table and pick up the name card that you will use in the ceremony. Verify the spelling and phonetic pronunciation of your name, as well as your email address (for use by the photographer).
Follow the signs to determine where you should line up. The line-up is organized by school/college. You must remain in order.
Locate your faculty hooder in the line-up area for your School/College. Be certain to communicate in advance with the faculty member who will hood you to determine where you plan to meet. Wait with your faculty hooder, and any of your hooder's other graduates, for the procession to begin.
Rows will be called up to the stage by School or College. Please take a moment to watch the hooding demonstration video and consider sharing it with your hooder.

During the Ceremony

The procession will begin promptly at 7:30 pm. Students will enter with their faculty hooders. You, your faculty hooder and any other candidates your hooder is hooding must queue and process together so event staff can seat you appropriately for crossing the stage.

The ceremony will close with the recession of all members of the stage party, the doctoral graduates and their faculty hooders. You will proceed outside the Lied Center where your guests can join you.

Ceremony Printed Program

Doctoral graduates who apply to graduate and register for hooding before April 15th, will have their names included in the Doctoral Hooding Ceremony program. There will be two programs: a shortened program of the ceremony will be available to guests as they enter the Lied Center. All graduates will receive two copies of a longer program, which will include the names and degrees of all graduates.

Students who have requested that their graduation information not be released publicly will not appear in the event program.

Photography

Guests are permitted to take photographs during the ceremony, but should not impair the view of others. The Grad Team Graduation Photography will be taking pictures of all graduates as they are hooded, and will contact graduates about the opportunity to view proofs and purchase photographs after the ceremony.

The Lied Center will be closing immediately after the hooding ceremony.