Conferral of Degrees
IU Bloomington Commencement Exercises will take place on Saturday, May 9, at 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Assembly Hall. Schools are assigned to one ceremony or another. This is the only time degrees are conferred.
Apparel Pick-Up
Caps and gowns will be available at Gladstein Fieldhouse from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, and from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Whether you ordered your attire at Grad Fair or online, your credit card guaranteed your attire reservation but was not charged. You must pay for your apparel when you pick it up.
Candidates who failed to order caps and gowns by May 1 may be able to rent apparel on Friday at the fieldhouse. Such apparel will be rented on a first-come, first-served basis only on May 8. Availability is not guaranteed.
Schedule of Events
Many activities, including the President's Reception and the Baccalaureate Ceremony, are held on Commencement Eve, and recognition events and congratulatory celebrations are conducted at most schools from Friday through Sunday on Commencement Weekend. ~Follow this link for a complete Schedule of Events.~ The schedule is in PDF format, which requires that you have a compatible PDF viewer, such as Adobe Reader, installed.
President’s Reception ~ Senior Sendoff
Every year, Indiana University President Michael McRobbie and IU First Lady Laurie Burns McRobbie look forward to greeting graduates and their friends and families at the Senior Sendoff Reception in the IU Auditorium. Cookies, lemonade and strawberries add a festive touch to the event which the McRobbies host in honor of all members of the graduating class. The reception takes place Friday afternoon from 3 to 4:30 p.m., prior to the Baccalaureate Ceremony, which begins at 5 p.m., also in the Auditorium.
Baccalaureate Ceremony
No other Commencement activity draws more heavily on one of IU’s greatest strengths, its multicultural diversity, than the Baccalaureate Ceremony. The hour-long event pays tribute to wisdom and learning within a framework of the world’s great faith traditions, all of which are represented on the Bloomington campus. The event draws from the teachings and practices of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism, and includes prayers, scriptural readings, music and other observances.
Accommodations
Travelers who have not yet made hotel reservations should act quickly. Many lodgings accept reservations up to a year in advance and may already be full on Commencement Weekend. Time is of the essence. See Visit Bloomington for more information.
