Information for Spring 2025 Commencement Coordinators

Hello!

We hope everyone's semester is off to a great start and we thank you for completing the Qualtrics survey with details about your team and ceremonies.

The spring 2025 commencement kick-off meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 6 at 11 a.m. You all should have received a meeting invite. If we missed you or someone on your team, please let us know. An agenda will be shared in advance of this meeting.

In addition to our commencement coordinator meetings, we'll use this newsletter to keep you all informed of upcoming deadlines and other information related to commencement. Please feel free to contact us at UI-commencement@uiowa.edu with questions at any time. We also have a new commencement team phone number, 319-335-2027.

We look forward to working with you all again this semester!

UI Commencement Team

RSVP Information

RSVP Enhancements

The commencement team worked closely with our partners in ITS to make enhancements to the RSVP before it opened in the fall. If you had a fall ceremony, this information is not new to you. Special thanks to Alysha Ahlf for seeing these enhancements through!

  • More flexibility for student ceremony name options, including an option with no middle name
    • Official name
    • First name, last name
    • Preferred name
  • Additional information about how the ceremony name will be used
  • Additional information about name pronunciation
    • Thank you to Cornelia Lang and Roland Racevskis from CLAS for sharing their expertise
  • The ceremony name also displays in the RSVP admin panel in MAUI
  • Students can edit their ceremony name choice in MyUI
  • Combination of the CLAS and University College ceremonies into a single ceremony title

See the slides from Alysha's Commencement RSVP Updates presentation for screenshots and additional information.

Open and Close Dates

The spring 2025 commencement RSVP portal will open in MyUI on Monday, Feb. 3 and will close Sunday, April 13 at 11:59 p.m. We will publicly advertise the April 13 close date and ask that you do as well. Our plan is to offer a brief extension period from April 14–17. Those dates will not be made publicly available until April 14.

On opening day, the commencement team will update the necessary sections of the website and send an email to current session degree applicants that are eligible to attend commencement. Additional communications will follow. We will share a communications timeline at our first coordinators meeting.

*Reminder: Students should RSVP for themselves when at all possible.

How to RSVP

Students must apply for degree via the MyUI portal before they can RSVP for a commencement ceremony.The RSVP process is an opt-in system. Only students who RSVP as "I plan to participate" by the deadline and attend the ceremony will have their names read and displayed during the ceremony broadcast.

The RSVP portal is located in MyUI within the degrees/graduation tile by clicking on commencement attendance. The student will receive a confirmation email to their university email account once their RSVP has been finalized. 

Please email the UI Commencement Team if you have any questions about the RSVP process.

Spring 2025 Regalia Deadlines and Information

Complete details are available on the commencement website.

Undergraduate Students

Undergraduate students will purchase the following required items: gown, mortarboard (cap), and tassel. Additional items, such as the stole of gratitude, are available through the Herff Jones online ordering portal, but are not required.

Graduate and Professional Students

Rentals for graduate and professional students will include a gown, hood, mortarboard or tam, and tassel. They will keep their mortarboard or tam and tassel, and will return their gown and hood.

Students will have the option to purchase fine-quality custom keeper regalia if they choose.

How to Obtain Regalia

Online

Students may order online through the Herff Jones ordering portal.

  • Order by Friday, March 14 to have the order delivered to the Iowa Hawk Shop and University Bookstore.
    • There is no additional cost for this option.
    • Orders will be available for pickup at GradFest on April 16 and then beginning April 17 at the Iowa Hawk shop.
  • Order by Thursday, April 17 for direct home shipping.
    • The student is responsible for the cost of shipping with this option.
    • Orders will be delivered approximately three weeks after the order is placed.

At the Iowa Hawk Shop

While students are encouraged to order through the Herff Jones online ordering portal to be guaranteed a full selection of sizes and tassel colors, the Iowa Hawk Shop and University Book Store will has a limited selection of regalia available in store. There are no late fees for purchasing or renting in the Iowa Hawk Shop this year.

Regalia Pricing

Additional information about regalia pricing is available on our coordinator resources webpage.

Regalia Contacts

All regalia questions should be directed to both Gabby McIlvanie (gabrielle-mcilvanie@uiowa.edu) from the Iowa Hawk Shop and University Bookstore and Melissa Hibbard from Herff Jones (gradmidwest@gmail.com).

Faculty Regalia Deadline

The faculty regalia deadline is Thursday, April 17 for individual and group rentals. 

Individual Faculty Rentals

Faculty may rent their own regalia on the Herff Jones faculty rental page. There is a drop down for paying via Pcard (no tax) or a personal credit card (will include tax). The regalia will be shipped directly to the faculty member with a prepaid FedEx return label to return the regalia within one week of commencement.

Group Faculty Rentals

Gabby McIlvanie will share an Excel spreadsheet for placing group faculty rental orders for your college. Please contact Gabby McIlvanie at the Iowa Hawk Shop for with any questions about placing these orders.

Faculty Fine-Quality Purchase

Herff Jones offers a sale package for fine-quality regalia for faculty in the fall. Learn more about fine-quality faculty regalia sale packages.

Melissa Hibbard from Herff Jones will join us for the first coordinators meeting to help answer any questions you have.

Commencement Coordinator Resources

The commencement team and the Office of Strategic Communication have put together various resources to support our collegiate partners throughout the commencement planning process.

Coordinator Resources Webpage

Please visit our coordinator resources webpage on the commencement website.

  • Apparel timeline
  • Deadlines
  • Communications timeline
  • Commencement attendance management information
  • Order of Events templates
  • Details about livestreams and closed captioning
  • Regalia pricing

Commencement Website Review

As a reminder, we encourage you to review the information for your college on the commencement website, including ceremony information and collegiate contact information.

Subscription List for Commencement Guests

We encourage all guests to sign up for the spring 2025 commencement guest newsletter to receive updates regarding commencement.

Students who will be participating in commencement will receive information via their university email account.