Information About the Ceremony
The 2008 Graduate Degree Hooding Ceremony will be held Friday, May 16, 2008, at 7:30 p.m., in the Save Mart Center at Fresno State. Tickets are not needed to attend the Hooding Ceremony and parking at the Save Mart Center will be free.
Campus officers and security staff will direct traffic to the designated parking lots. Provisions for both parking and seating for disabled are available.
The first two rows of Section 111 at the Save Mart Center will be reserved for the hearing impaired. There will be two interpreters located close to this area should anyone need to make use of these services.
Ceremony instructions for master’s and doctoral degree graduates: Master’s and doctoral students must use the ramp to the loading dock on the east side of the Save Mart Center to assemble for the processional. Signs will be posted in the staging area to direct you to your college/school. You will be grouped by school only, not by program. The graduates will process into the ceremony, and be seated on the arena floor directly behind the faculty.
It is important that you arrive no later than 6:45 p.m.
Parking instructions for graduates only: Note: This information is tentative. Access may change due to Chestnut Avenue construction progress. Check back with this page for updates. Parking will be available in the North Lots 1, 2, & 3 to walk down to the loading dock (graduate assembly area/northeast corner of the building). You may access the north lots by entering from the west, off of Woodrow Avenue. Turn on to Woodrow Avenue either from Shaw Avenue (from the south) or Barstow Avenue (from the north). Click here for SaveMart Center Web site's parking and driving directions page. Parking is free.
Graduates who arrive after the processional or too late to be with their college/school will be seated in the last available rows on the arena floor, which may preclude sitting with your college/school. You will come forward when you college/school is announced to be hooded and you will need to go back to the seat assigned to you when you arrived.
Disabled students participating in the ceremony
A DGS representative will be available at the northeast entrance to the Save Mart Center to escort disabled students to the staging area.
After speeches and special awards, the doctoral candidates will be called forward individually by name and hooded on stage. Following the doctoral candidates, the master's degree candidates will be called forward by college or school. Candidates will hand their card to the usher at the top of the stairway. When their names are read, they will proceed to center stage to be hooded. You MUST click here download your identification card. Print the card after filling it in and bring it to the ceremony May 16.
Note: Family and friends will not be allowed access to the ramp at the loading dock where graduates are assembling, nor access to the arena floor.
When the ceremony has concluded
There will be a recessional at the end of the ceremony for the faculty. Graduates will leave the arena by going up the stairs and to the main level to meet their guests. Reminder: Guests will not be allowed on the arena floor. Please arrange in advance to meet your guests on the main level.
Photography
Since guests are not allowed on the arena floor, we have arranged for a photographer to take pictures of each student as they exit the stage. The company will send you proofs within 10 days of the ceremony, but you are under no obligation to purchase these photographs. When you receive the proofs any questions regarding these pictures should be directed to the company. We will also post random Hooding Ceremony pictures on the DGS Web site.
Ceremony instructions for all guests
Please advise your guests to park in the north lots of the Save Mart Center. Parking is free. The only entrance available for your guests will be the northwest corner of the Save Mart Center. Ushers will be available to direct to seating and assist with any special seating for disabled attendees. Helium balloons are not allowed in the Save Mart Center.
Save Mart Center regulations
Smoking is prohibited within the arena; outside food, drinks, cans, bottles or containers of any kind may not be brought into the arena; shirt and shoes must be worn in the arena at all times; fireworks and weapons (including, but not limited to, firearms, knives, sticks, chains, spiked jewelry, belts, boots, and spurs) are not permitted in the arena; laser pointers, air horns, and helium balloons may not be brought into the arena; management reserves the right to refuse admittance to anyone who refuses to allow inspection of their persons and any purse, bags, or package carried with them when entering the area; violators of these regulations or anyone engaging in inappropriate conduct may be refused admission or directed to leave.
Commencement programs
At the Hooding Ceremony, programs will be available only for the graduates. Additional copies for the public will be available at the Saturday morning commencement, or by calling University Relations on Monday, May 19, at (559) 278-2795. The commencement program will list students' names exactly as written on the graduation application. Because grades have not yet been posted, we are unable to indicate awards of distinction on the program for Spring 2008 graduates. Distinction awards will show on the diploma.
Concessions
The concession stands in the arena will be open for water purchases only.
If you have questions
For additional information about the ceremony please contact the Division
of Graduate Studies at (559) 278-2448 or helenma@csufresno.edu
More information for degree candidates
