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Commencement Details for Graduate School Degree Recipients

Sunday, May 27 Commencement

The Procession

• No later than 9:00 a.m. all Graduate School degree recipients, dressed in cap and gown (and hood, for Ph.D.s), report to the assembly area on Waterman Street, facing west, running from Faunce House back toward Thayer Street.
• Degree candidates will be ordered by degree type and alphabetically by surname.
• No alcoholic beverages are allowed during the procession or Commencement exercises.
• The Commencement procession will be cancelled only in the event of heavy rain conditions. If the rain plan is in effect, a yellow pennant will be flown on the flagpole on the College Green and a message will be left at 401-863-2474. In the event of heavy rain, Ph.D recipients should report to the west-facing entrance of Barus and Holley (the eastern end of Manning Walk), and master’s candidates should report to the lobby of MacMillan Hall by 10:00 a.m.

The Graduate School Ceremony on Lincoln Field

SEATING

After the platform party is seated, staff will usher advanced-degree candidates into seats according to the order in which they will be called to the platform to receive their degrees. Please remain in alphabetical order, as this is the order in which you will receive your degree.

AWARDING OF MASTER'S DEGREES

A member of the Brown Board of Fellows will award all master's degrees at the conclusion of the student speaker's address. The dean of the Graduate School presents master's degree recipients in the alphabetical order of their surnames and by degree category in the following order: Master of Arts, Master of Arts in Teaching, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Medical Science, Master of Public Affairs, Master of Public Health, Master of Public Policy, and Master of Science. Candidates will mount the platform in the order they are called and receive their degrees from the Fellow. The dean will then award master's degrees in absentia. The Fellow will rise and address the master's recipients, again in Latin, concluding with "Sedete, Magistri omnibus in disciplinis," which is the signal to be seated.

AWARDING OF PH.D.s

The Fellow will then confer doctoral degrees. All degree candidates will be presented for their degree by the dean of the Graduate School in the alphabetical order of their surnames. Ph.D. candidates will come forward with their hoods over their left arms. When a candidate's name is called, he or she will mount the platform, stop to collect the degree from the Fellow, acknowledge him or her with a slight bow, then move on to be hooded by the associate deans of the Graduate School. (Men should remove their caps to be hooded; women may leave their caps on.) The dean will then award Ph.D.s in absentia. The Fellow will rise and address the Ph.D. recipients, again in Latin, concluding with "Sedete, Doctores in Philosophia," which is the signal to be seated.

Rain Plan

The Commencement procession will be cancelled only in the event of heavy rain conditions. If the rain plan is in effect, a yellow pennant will be flown on the flagpole on the College Green and a message will be left at 863-2474. In the event of heavy rain, Ph.D recipients should report to the west-facing entrance of Barus and Holley (the eastern end of Manning Walk), and master's candidates should report to the lobby of MacMillan Hall by 10:00 a.m.