Doctoral Hooding Logistics

May 2013 Rice University Doctoral Hooding Ceremony

No one will be admitted into the concert hall without a ticket, so please remind your guests to bring their tickets! Guests should be seated no later than 2:50 p.m., and it is advisable to arrive early. Ground level doors will open at 2:00, and will be closed at 2:50 or when ground capacity is reached. The balcony will be opened when the ground floor is filled, and there will also be a large video display set up in the foyer for overflow seating. The foyer seating may include wait listed guests who did not gain regular admittance, late arrivers, and may also be preferable for guests with young children.

Hooding candidates and faculty hooders are asked to arrive in the Shepherd School main hallway at 2:00 p.m. in their regalia. Graduates and faculty will need to have a cap, gown and hood when you arrive for the ceremony. Marshals and staff will be available to assist you in preparation and with the marching order.  Faculty hooders will march with and sit next to their first student to be hooded. 

If you have not already picked up your previously ordered regalia, please contact the Campus Bookstore at 713-348-4052 for information or arrangements. 

Please note that the Hooding Ceremony is in addition to and does not replace the University’s Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 11, 2013.  For general information regarding commencement activities see the University website regarding Commencement 2013 (http://www.students.rice.edu/students/Commencement.asp).

Strollers. Because there will be processions up and down all the aisles, strollers will not be allowed in the downstairs auditorium. They may be parked in the foyer before entering or may be taken by elevator to the balcony seating area.

The Hooding Ceremony will be webcast. It will be available to be watched live and also archived for future viewing and free downloading.

At the Hooding Ceremony, a photographer will take still photographs of each graduate being hooded and exiting the stage. After commencement, the photographer will contact each graduate at the address on file with the Registrar’s Office with information about how you may purchase photographs, if you wish to.

The format is quite simple. Faculty and students will process into the concert hall. There will be a greeting by Dean Paula Sanders, followed by a welcome speech by University President, David Leebron. Then each graduating student will be called to the front individually, along with his or her advisor. The advisor places the hood over the student’s head. Immediately following the ceremony there will be a reception for students, families, faculty, and friends in the Foyer of Alice Pratt Brown Hall.   Please e-mail hooding@rice.edu or call 713-348-4002 for more information.

Hooding Ceremony

• Event date: Friday, May 10, 2013
• Arrive at 2:00 p.m. at Stude Concert Hall
• Location: Room 1402, check-in and apparel area
• Please wear your regalia. Marshals and staff will be available to assist in preparation.
• 2:30 p.m. – Assemble into line of march – Look for the Marshals to assist with the line up
• 3:00 p.m. sharp – Ceremony begins

Marching/sitting order

• The hooding advisor will march in and sit next to the first person he/she will hood.
• As names are called by Dean Paula Sanders, the student will precede the hooding advisor as they approach the stage.
• The hooding advisor will stand behind the student on the stage. The student will face the audience as he/she is hooded.
• After being hooded, you will shake Provost George McLendon's hand and exit off the stage, pausing to be photographed with your hooding advisor, and return to your seat.
• Faculty with multiple students to be hooded will be seated on the stage behind the staging guests to wait for their next student.  Faculty will exit with their last student to be hooded.

Order of events

Reception in Foyer of Alice Pratt Brown Hall