IMPORTANT DATES
Fall 2024
Application Window: September 3 through September 13
Cap and Gown Online Order Window: September 20 through November 1
Commencement Ceremonies:
- Friday, December 13: 9:00 a.m.
- Friday, December 13: 2:00 p.m.
- Friday, December 13: 7:00 p.m.
Degrees Post to Transcripts: January 9, 2025
CEREMONY ETIQUETTE
Arrival. Doors open one hour before the ceremony begins. Please arrive no later than thirty minutes before the ceremony begins.
- At the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, the entrance for graduating students is by the back parking lot on the south side of the venue and easily accessible from the main Civic Center parking lot. Guests may use the Center's main entrances.
- Have your Grad Pass out and ready to be scanned before stepping up to the venue entrance. All graduates must present their Grad Pass and a photo ID to enter the Tucker Center. Graduates will be sent a link to their personalized Grad Pass the week of the ceremony. To gain entry, you may:
- present a printed Grad Pass.
- display the Grad Pass on your mobile phone.
- take and display a screenshot of the Grad Pass from the link we send you.
- When you arrive, you should be carrying your gown, not wearing it. You will not be allowed through security wearing your gown. Caps can be worn before entry. After you enter the Tucker Center, you will be able to dress in your regalia.
Seating and Crossing the Stage. If you RSVP to attend the commencement ceremony, bachelor, master, and specialist graduates will receive an email notification the week of the event that will include their specific seating assignment.
- Once you have entered the venue and have dressed in your regalia, you should find your way out to the arena and locate your assigned seat. After finding your seat, you may not walk around in the arena. Marshals and staff will be available in the arena to assist graduates with finding their seats and, when it is time, the marshals will direct each row of graduates to the stage to have their names announced.
- Note: Doctoral students attending the Doctoral Hooding Ceremony will not have a seat assignment sent to them prior to the event; instead, after meeting with their faculty members at a designated meeting room, doctoral students will be directed out to the arena to find their college section and then their seat with the assistance of a marshal.
- After finding your seat in the arena, on the back of your chair, you will find your yellow "Name Card." Please hold onto this card for later in the ceremony. When the marshal directs your row to the stage, you will take this card with you.
- This card will be scanned by a staff member before going up the ramp to the stage, which will allow your name to appear on the Tucker Center jumbotron overhead. After your card is scanned, you will hold onto it until you reach the top of the ramp at the stage. Please stay in the order your name card is scanned, as your name will appear on the jumbotron in that order.
- After reaching the stage, this card will be handed to a marshal to have your name announced. As you cross the stage, you can shake your College Dean's hand and then the President's hand.
- Only the graduate name will be announced.
- Only the graduate name and any expected degree of distinction honors being earned will be presented on the jumbotron. All majors, programs, tracks, specializations, and any other honors will not appear on the jumbotron or be announced.
- The commencement photographers will take pictures just before you 1)reach the ramp leading to the stage, 2) as you cross the stage, and 3) after you exit the stage.
After exiting the stage and taking your final commencement picture with the photographers, please return to your assigned seat. Marshals will be there to assist.
Departing. Graduates are expected to stay for the duration of the ceremony. The ceremony will last approximately an hour and a half.
At the end of the commencement program, after the representatives on stage have exited, graduates will be directed to leave through the back of the area.
Doctoral Candidates
- For the Doctoral Hooding Ceremony on Friday morning at 9:00 a.m., please make arrangements for your Major Professor (or proxy) to hood you at the ceremony.
- Use your Grad Pass to enter the Civic Center from the back lot, located on the south-side of the venue. Doors open for students and faculty at 7:30 a.m. After entering, you will be directed to Meeting Room A and later, you will be directed out to the Arena with your Major Professor around 8:30 a.m. to find your seat with your college section before the ceremony begins at 9:00 a.m.
- Candidates should not be wearing their doctoral hood; rather, it should be kept in hand for later in the event.
- Once in the arena, please find your seat with your College.
- Your name card will be on your chair. You will need to provide this card to the announcer later to announce your name.
CAP & GOWN INFORMATION
Graduates are required to wear official FSU regalia available exclusively through the FSU Bookstore and online through Herff Jones. Contact the Bookstore with questions at (850) 644-0832.
Picking Up Your Cap & Gown
At the Ceremony
Decorated caps are not permitted.
You may only wear approved cords or medallions denoting academic achievement with your regalia. For Undergraduate student, look for the Degrees of Distinction table in the Exhibit Hall at the Civic Center.