GSBS Commencement 2025: Student Instructions
You’ve worked incredibly hard to reach this moment, and we are all so excited to celebrate your achievements at Commencement. This is a time to reflect on your journey, honor your accomplishments, and look forward to what comes next.
Please review the instructions below carefully so everything goes smoothly as we celebrate you and your fellow graduates.
CEREMONY DETAILS
Commencement will take place at NRG Arena, 1 NRG Parkway, Houston, TX 77054. The ceremony will begin at 6:00 pm CDT and will end approximately around 8:00 pm CDT.
ADA seating accommodations are available for individuals who may require them. One additional guest may sit with the individual in the ADA seating area.
PARKING
Students, faculty, and guests should park in the Blue Lot, located between Kirby Drive and McNee. GSBS will cover parking for you and your guests. Please make sure to print out the provided parking pass or use your phone to show the parking pass at the gate.
Enter the parking lot through:
- Gate 3 at Holly Hall and Fannin
- Gate 9 at Westridge and Kirby (closest to Blue Lot)
- Gate 10 at McNee and Kirby
STUDENT ARRIVAL & REGALIA PICKUP
Students must arrive between 4:00 and 4:45 pm to ensure enough time to pick up their regalia and get dressed. Enter through the Blue Lot Entrance and proceed to the other side of the arena to the check-in table on the second floor. GSBS staff will help show you the way to the regalia room. There will be a lot of walking, so please make sure to wear comfortable shoes!
Once you have checked in, you will have time to take pictures with your fellow graduates and faculty on the second floor before it’s time to line up for the ceremony.
Leave non-essential items, such as purses, with family members before entering the building. We cannot guarantee the safety of your belongings during the ceremony, and you cannot carry them into the arena.
ATTIRE
Only official regalia may be worn at commencement ceremonies, including cords, sashes, stoles, etc., distributed with the approval of your UTHealth Houston school. No other items are permitted to be worn or carried. Decorations or alterations of regalia are not permitted.
Regalia protocol:
- SMS/MS - The tassel should be hanging down on the RIGHT side of the hat. You can move the tassel to the left side after walking across the stage.
- PhD - The tassel on your tam is fixed. Please make sure to wear the tassel on your left side.
LINE-UP INSTRUCTIONS
Students should drape their hood over their left forearm to carry into the arena. Your hood should be folded in half with the turned-out velvet lining obvious. The velvet strip should be facing outward at the front of your arm. The narrow, or neck, should be facing out from your body.
At 5:15 pm, Dr. Wassim Chehab (for MS students) and Dr. Natalie Sirisaengtaksin (for PhD students) will lead students and faculty downstairs to line up. Students should then get in the proper order – there will be two groups of students (MS first, then PhD). Students will be in alphabetical order by last name as listed in the graduation program. Staff will be on hand to assist. Please note that if you do not line up in time, you will not be able to walk across the stage for graduation.
Faculty hooders will then be led into the hall and asked to line up behind their students. If your faculty will hood more than one student during the ceremony, they will line up behind their first student.
In the arena, students and their advisors/hooders must remain in the order they were placed in line.
BEFORE THE CEREMONY
Please make sure to silence all cell phones and other electronic devices. Also, please instruct family and friends that balloons and air horns will not be allowed in the arena.
LIVESTREAM LINK
The ceremony may be viewed online through the following livestream link:
https://youtube.com/live/H3RWaGnX_KA?feature=share
AFTER THE EVENT
Professional photos of students receiving their diploma covers and hooding will be taken and available within two weeks of the ceremony. The GSA officers will be on hand before the ceremony to take photos of grads and faculty and after the ceremony to host a Photo Zone area for grads and their families.
Please return your rented regalia to the dressing rooms on the second floor. MS graduates may keep their caps and tassels.