Information for Commencement Coordinators

Information for Commencement Coordinators

Icon of a undergraduate student in commencement apparel.

Thank you for joining us for the commencement coordinators meeting last week. A recording of the meeting for anyone who was unable to attend may be found below. Our next meeting will be on Thursday, Nov. 30 at 1 p.m. via Zoom.

As always, please let us know if you have any questions by emailing ui-commencement@uiowa.edu.

Commencement RSVP Information

Below is a recap of the upcoming RSVP and ceremony data deadlines.

RSVP and Ceremony Data Deadlines

Deadline Action/Process
Nov. 12 at 11:59 p.m. RSVP closes
Nov. 13–15 at 11:59 p.m. RSVP extension
Nov. 16 Special population data provided to colleges
Nov. 20 at noon Graduate lists due to registrar's office
Nov. 28 at 1 p.m. Files due to Marching Order
Dec. 3 at 11:59 p.m. Student slide photo deadline
Dec. 5 at 11:59 p.m. Deadline to approve all slide photos
Dec. 6 Slide photos published
Dec. 7–13 Name cards delivered to colleges


Additional commencement-related timelines are available on the commencement coordinator resources webpage.

Late RSVPs for Fall 2023

If students email after the RSVP extension and want to attend your ceremony, please mark them as attending in MAUI.

  • Name pronunciation and photographer information will be filled out by these students at the ceremony.
  • The commencement team will forward any late RSVP requests we receive to the appropriate coordinator.
  • Adding the students in MAUI, even though they are late, ensures they receive important ceremony information in the days leading up to commencement, and help us better track attendance. 

Commencement BI Report

The Commencement BI Report is available for use by commencement coordinators.

  • This new report allows for more information to be pulled and for less manual manipulation of data on behalf of the coordinators and commencement team.
  • Additional collegiate instructions will be sent via email. 

Additional Reminders

  • If students applied for degree by 11/20, you will have their name card. If they did not, they will fill out a card at the ceremony.
  • Cards will be sorted by the order you provide to us with attending in one grouping and degree applicants in another.
  • We understand for some ceremonies information that is not collected within the RSVP needs to be collected. Please ensure students understand the RSVP is required

Additional Deadlines

Program

Degree applicant names will be pulled from MAUI for the fall 2023 program on Friday, Nov. 10 at 8 a.m.

Scripts

Scripts are due to UI-commencement@uiowa.edu by Wednesday, Nov. 29. These scripts will be used by individuals captioning the livestream of your ceremony, along with the ASL interpreters from Hands Up Communications. Additional guidance for scripts used for closed captioning is available on the coordinator resources page.

Review Cap Decorating Guidelines

The commencement website currently has information about cap decorating guidelines, with some policies varying by college.

Please review the information under Cap Decorating and let us know if there are updates to be made before our next meeting on Thursday, Nov. 30.

Additional Updates

Quintet

Professor Michael Gause is no longer available for the quintet, please update your listing for the quintet with Jacob Fekete on trumpet.

Diploma Covers

Diploma covers may be purchased in bulk by your colleges by contacting Tracy Brodrick at the Iowa Hawk Shop and University Bookstore. Diploma covers are also available for individuals to purchase in the Iowa Hawk Shop.

The commencement team also has several boxes of covers on hand. If your college distributes covers and would like a few additional boxes before we migrate to the newly branded version, please contact us at UI-commencement@uiowa.edu.

Celebrating Iowa Video

The Celebrating Iowa video is shown at the beginning of each ceremony. The video has been updated to include some fall graduates to better reflect the population that will be participating in these ceremonies

If you have someone in your college who may be a good candidate for an interview, please contact Clarity Guerra.