To participate in Commencement, master's/C.A.S. graduates must register for the 6 p.m. ceremony and provide tickets for your guests to attend (see Registration & Tickets). Immediately following your ceremony, meet your guests at the festive reception held in the Campbell Student Union. You will all enjoy live entertainment and refreshments together, and you can introduce your family to faculty and staff who attend. No tickets are required for the reception.
The evening master's/C.A.S. ceremony begins at 6:00 p.m.
Doors to the Sports Arena open for guests at 5:30 p.m. (guest tickets required). Building 39 on map.
Graduates report to the Ice Arena, located in the Sports Arena complex, for lineup between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. Graduates must report for lineup no later than 5:30 p.m. to be included. Be sure to have your lineup entrance ticket for the 6:00 p.m. ceremony.
Note Regarding Children and Tickets
All guests entering the Sports Arena for the ceremony must present a guest ticket. All children also require a guest ticket for admittance. Please be aware that small children likely will be unable to sit through the 1 1/2-hour ceremony. No tickets are required for the reception and all are welcome.
As you enter the lineup area in the Ice Arena, you will receive a card on which to write your name. (During the ceremony, as you walk across the stage, you will hand that name card to a faculty member who will announce your name.) Find your place in the lineup within your school (School of Arts and Humanities, School of Education, School of Natural and Social Sciences, School of The Professions), by multidisciplinary studies, or by C.A.S. Signs will be posted and volunteer ushers will assist you.
Leave your personal belongings with your family. You may not carry anything in the academic procession (e.g., purse, camera, etc.). A program will be on your chair in the Sports Arena.
Master's degree candidates: You will wear your cap and gown and drape your hood over your arm.
Wear the mortarboard square on your head, parallel to the ceiling. The tassel should be on the left front side as you already have earned a bachelor's degree. You will march in carrying your hood over your right forearm. The velvet trim will be closest to your hand with the narrowest (triangular) section of the hood to the outside. This will ensure that when you extend your arm during hooding, the hooder will grasp the section of the hood that goes over your head. See hooding instructions.
C.A.S. candidates: You will wear your cap, gown, and appropriate master's hood and drape your stole over your arm.
Wear the mortarboard square on your head, parallel to the ceiling. The tassel should be on the left front side as you have already earned degrees. You will march in carrying your stole over your right forearm with the velvet trim closest to your hand. See vesting instructions.
Stay with your group so that you will hear the marching instructions when they are given. A faculty member representing your program will march and sit with your group during the ceremony. The procession will follow the seating marshals out of the Ice Arena and into the Sports Arena. A program booklet will be on your seat in the arena.
Once directed to your seat, remain standing for the singing of the national anthem, during which male candidates should remove their caps.
The faculty member leading your group will later hood or vest you so be sure to stay with him/her during the procession and when your group is directed to the stage later during the ceremony.
Following the conferring of degrees by Interim President Cohen, candidates will proceed to the stage to be hooded or vested and congratulated. Just prior to stepping onto stage, a professional photographer will take a formal photo of you individually. Then hand your name card to the faculty reader. Then hand your hood or stole to the faculty member assisting with the hooding and vesting.
Proceed to the area in front of the hooders and vesters to be hooded or vested and face the audience (the hooders and vesters will be on a low platform on stage). The faculty members will place the hood over your cap and head, or drape your stole around your shoulders. Once hooded or vested, proceed across stage to be congratulated by the President and dignitaries. Exit the stage and proceed back to your seat.
Regarding Diplomas
You will not receive your diploma or certificate of advanced study at Commencement. The graduation audit and ordering of your transcripts may take up to several months, after which The Graduate School Office will mail your diploma to your permanent address on record.
Follow the seating marshals to exit. You will meet your family outside the arena, where you may proceed to the reception in the Campbell Student Union, building 8A on the campus map.
Welcome to the Buffalo State Alumni Association. Upon graduating, you become one of more than 100,000 alumni living in Western New York and around the world. As a graduate, you are a member for life. You will receive your alumni membership card and benefits information with your diploma at your permanent address. Visit the Buffalo State Alumni Association website regularly to stay in touch, update your contact information, and be part of alumni life at Buffalo State.
