No. You must ensure that you have completed all requirements for your degree, including your dissertation defense and submission of your final dissertation to ProQuest, before participating in the conferral ceremony. If you are not sure if you have met all requirements for your degree, please check with your advisor and DegreeWorks.

Once you have received an RSVP email and replied, then you are listed as a graduating student. As a reminder, you will only be eligible to participate once you have completed all of your degree requirements.

At this time, we do not require tickets for the conferral ceremony. However, due to limited seating in the Arts Recital Hall, we are asking that candidates only invite up to 4 guests to the ceremony. There will be an overflow room available inside the building that will stream the ceremony live.

We will livestream the ceremony. Please visit the website for where the live link will be available: https://www.utsa.edu/commencement/ceremony/doctoral.html.

Student that are eligible to participate in the conferral ceremony will be emailed an RSVP link and must reply and confirm their plans to attend in order to participate.

Faculty participating in the ceremony as hooding faculty do not need to RSVP, however. If a faculty advisor is unable to attend, there will be a surrogate hooder for their graduates.

Non-participating faculty are welcome to attend the conferral ceremony and also do not need to RSVP. Please note that seating is limited and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

We do not offer rehearsal.

All students and faculty participating in the conferral ceremony should wear academic regalia. Please visit the Student Regalia page or Faculty Regalia page for more information.

UT San Antonio does not offer summer commencement ceremonies. If you are graduating during the summer semester, you would be able to participate in the fall conferral ceremony. You cannot take part in the spring ceremony prior to your graduating semester as you will have to complete all degree requirements before you are able to participate.

Please contact the Graduate School at graduate.school@utsa.edu or 210-458-4331 to inform us that you are not attending.

Please contact the Graduate School no later than Dec. 1 for the Fall Ceremony and May 1 for the spring ceremony) so that we may include you in the processional.

The Graduate School organizes the Doctoral Conferral Ceremony. Please contact them at graduate.school@utsa.edu or 210-458-4331.

Doctoral candidates and hooding faculty who are participating in the conferral ceremony should contact Graduation Coordination at graduationcoordination@utsa.edu or 210-458-6450 for additional information.

Contact Graduation Coordination at graduationcoordination@utsa.edu or 210-458-6450 in advance to reserve seating for your guest(s). Please note the Recital Hall has limited seating for ADA accommodations, and this seating will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis if Graduation Coordination is not contacted in advance. However, if this seating is full, there will be an overflow room where the ceremony will be livestreamed.

Check-In begins one hour prior to the ceremony. Please arrive no later than 30 minutes before the start of the ceremony.

No. Graduates will sit with their advisors by college during the processional and ceremony.

All guests, including families and children, will sit in designated seating for the ceremony. Guest seating is provided on a first-come, first-served basis.

Professional photographs will be taken by Flash Photography during the ceremony. Each graduate will have two photos taken on stage during the hooding ceremony and one additional photo taken outside the Recital Hall.

Yes, guests may take photos from their seats. However, they may not block aisles or walkways, approach graduates while they are in line, or enter the stage area during the ceremony to ensure compliance with safety regulations.

Your regalia. Graduates are encouraged to not bring personal items as there is no assigned individual seating in the designated college seating area. We are not responsible for lost items.

Graduates will need to wear the following items into the Arts Recital Hall before walking the stage:

• doctoral robe
• tam (cap) with the tassel on the left
• any stoles from honors societies, student organizations, or personal stoles.

Your hood will not be worn into the Arts Recital Hall as this will be used during the ceremony to signify that you have earned your doctoral degree. You will hold this item until you are about to cross the stage; at that time, you will hand it to your faculty advisor.

Graduates will be called by college to line up for the hooding ceremony. After being hooded on stage, graduates will exit the Recital Hall to take a professional photograph before re-entering the venue. Once back inside, graduates should return to their college's designated seating section.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, graduates will participate in the recessional and be led out of the Recital Hall to the area outside the Art Building. Graduates and their guests are invited to join us for a mariachi celebration, as well as complimentary treats.