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Office of the Provost

  • Provost Arnett leads the faculty down the middle aisle during the processional at commencement

Faculty Commencement Information

Commencement exercises are your opportunity to celebrate the students who you have helped reach this momentous milestone. Here's what you need to know to join the provost during one of the ceremonies.

Spring ceremonies

 

Doctoral Hooding Ceremony

The ceremony for conferring of doctoral degrees starts at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 4, in the Koger Center for the Arts.

  • Faculty who are hooding graduates should proceed to the check in station, located near the entrance to the elevator bank and large rehearsal hall on the Assembly Street side of the Koger Center, by 12 p.m. to receive further instructions before the ceremony begins.
  • Faculty attending the ceremony but not hooding a graduate should arrive no later than 12:30 p.m. and report to the large rehearsal hall.

Parking will be available in the Discovery Garage.

 

Bachelor’s, Master’s and Professional Commencement Ceremonies

All three ceremonies for those receiving bachelor’s, master’s and professional degrees will take place in the Colonial Life Arena. Faculty should plan to arrive 45 minutes ahead of the ceremony's start time to begin the robing process.

  • 3 p.m., Friday, May 3: College of Pharmacy, College of Nursing, Arnold School of Public Health and Darla Moore School of Business
  • 9:30 a.m., Saturday, May 4: S.C. Honors College BARSC students, College of Arts and Sciences and College of Information and Communications
  • 3 p.m., Saturday, May 4: College of Education, Interdisciplinary Studies, College of Engineering and Computing, College of Social Work, College of HRSM, School of Music and Palmetto College

 

Faculty Tickets

A ticket is required for entry to the ceremonies taking place at the Colonial Life Arena. RSVP online by noon on April 30 to indicate your participation and to request a ticket.

Please note the process for receiving tickets has changed and you will not be receiving a link to the PDF ticket. Instead, you will receive a ticket texted to your cell phone, and these are the only tickets that will be accepted by the CLA for entry.

 

Clear Bag Policy

Colonial Life Arena has a clear bag policy that is enforced during commencement exercises for all participants, including faculty and platform party.

 

Parking

Parking and transportation information is available on the commencement map.

 

Faculty Procession

Enter the Colonial Life Arena at the entrance located at the intersection of Lincoln Street and College Street. Faculty will not be allowed to enter from the back entrance of CLA.

Upon entering the Colonial Life Arena’s concourse, look for the sign “Elevator to Faculty & Platform Party Robing Areas." Take the elevator down to the arena floor level. Additional signs will direct you to your appropriate robing area.

Plan to robe 45 minutes prior to the ceremony. Faculty Senate Chair F. Wayne Outten will lead the faculty procession into the arena 10 minutes before the ceremony begins.

 

Platform Party

The Platform Party will assemble in the Green Room on the arena floor level by 30 minutes prior to the ceremony's start time. The procession will consist of selected university administrators, deans of the colleges and schools, members of the Board of Trustees and President Michael Amiridis.

Ten minutes before each ceremony begins, Provost Donna Arnett, Registrar Aaron Marterer and Secretary of the Board Cameron Howell will lead the various sections of this procession.

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