Graduate hooding ceremony information

The Spears School of Business is hosting the Spring 2026 Spears Graduate Hooding Ceremony on Friday, May 8, 2026. If you're graduating Spring or Summer 2026, we hope you register to attend.

About the hooding ceremony

• The Hooding Ceremony formally places hoods on master’s and doctoral candidates.
• Families are invited and encouraged to attend.
• The location will be the McKnight Center on the OSU-Stillwater campus.
• We will have two separate Hooding Ceremonies due to an expected large number of candidates this spring. You will only be hooded with your group.
• Group 1  includes: MBA, HTM, MS MIS and PhD.
  
  • The first ceremony (Group 1) will start at 10:30 a.m. Graduating candidates should plan to be there at 9 a.m.
    
• Group 2 will include MS ACCT, MS BAnDS and MSQF.
  
  • The second ceremony (Group 2) will start at 1:45 p.m. Graduating candidates should plan to be there at 12:20 p.m.
    
• Arrival times are scheduled to allow for group portraits and a run-through of processional logistics, including stage movements and hooding procedures.
  
• Full details will be sent by May 5, including arrival and ceremony instructions. See note further down about guest arrival times.
  
• Spears Master’s candidates will be formally hooded by their Program Coordinator at this event. For a different OSU faculty member to place your hood, please include their name and email on the form. You must contact them directly to confirm their availability before submitting this form. Faculty additions will not be an option after registration has closed.
  
• All faculty participants will receive a separate email with arrival times and ceremony details by May 5.
  
• Master’s candidates can have Dean Payne to hood them; be sure to list his name on the form. He will already be on stage, so it is unnecessary to contact him separately.
• Doctoral candidates will be hooded by their faculty chair at this event.
• The ceremony includes a slide show featuring each of our SSB candidates. Details below.

How to register

• Registration will be open only April 3-13. The form will close at 5 p.m. on Monday, April 13.
• To participate in the Spears Hooding Ceremony, registration is required:
  • Registration form for SSB Graduate Hooding Spring 2026
• No late registrations will be accepted, so register soon before you have time to forget.
• Before you start the registration form, think on these topics.  They are included on the form:
  • Thank-you’s for support and encouragement. (This is featured on your slide. We will edit for length as necessary.)
  • As part of the introduction when you cross the stage (we will use what we can):
    • What are your post-grad plans?
    • Tell us your favorite OSU memory in a sentence or two.
    • Give us a “fun fact” about yourself. It can be a unique achievement, hobby, or a quirky skill: maybe you’ve seen a NASCAR race at all 35 tracks in the US, or ran five marathons in five years, or won a competitive hot-sauce tasting. Tell us that one thing about you that might surprise everybody else.
      
    • And then…find any fun photo of yourself for the slide presentation: it could be an action shot, a landmark visit or sitting around a campfire…something that tells a story about that moment. It can relate to your fun fact, if you want. The main rule: no boring headshots. Tell us about it in 12 words or less. (ex. Learning to surf in Hawaii when I was 8.) Photo format should only be JPG/JPEG, GIF, PNG or PDF.  Please no HEIC/HELF files.
• If you have any problems submitting the form, let us know by calling 405-744-2951 ASAP while registration is still open. (Please don’t wait until May to call and ask.)

Graduation Regalia

• Masters regalia is only available for purchase. The University Bookstore does not rent it.
• Master's graduation regalia can be ordered from the University Bookstore. Select Master’s Gown on the webpage, enter the hood option as Science. All business master’s degrees are Science (MS) degrees. The regalia package includes robe, mortar board, medallion and master’s hood; the hood has yellow trim and is lined in orange and black. The hood is included with the other items in the same package.
• Doctoral regalia can be rented or purchased. See here for details.
• Questions about regalia should be directed to the University Bookstore.
  

Additional information for you

• Online learning students may have travel restrictions or logistical problems that prevent them from attending the spring hooding ceremony. Those students are welcome to wait until December for the fall ceremony; please notify us so we can keep you on the contact list for the fall.
• The Hooding Ceremonies will be live streamed on the Spears Business YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SpearsSchoolOSU. The live stream will not appear until the day of the event. Please forward the link to your long-distance friends and relatives so they can watch it LIVE! It will even be recorded so you can go back and watch it later.
• An email with the final additional details (including group photos) and ceremony instructions will be sent by Tuesday, May 5.

Additional information for your guests

• Note on Guest Arrivals: We kindly ask that family and friends wait to arrive until 30 minutes before the ceremony.  Candidates must be on site 90 minutes early for professional group photos and final walkthrough.  The lobby has limited space and no early seating, so your guests will have a much better time arriving just as the doors open for the main event!
• Parking for guests is available in the Student Union Parking Garage or 4^th Avenue Garage at McKnight Center (both are pay by hour), or in Commuter Student lots adjacent to Boone Pickens Stadium.  For driving directions to Stillwater and the OSU campus: https://go.okstate.edu/admissions/visit/travel-stillwater.html.  (Please pass this along to your guests who will be driving but are not familiar with Stillwater.)
• Guest seating begins 15 minutes prior to ceremony start.
• The Performance Hall is large, so if you have a group of guests, they will easily be able to sit together. It won’t take long to find seats, even if you have a large group.
• Accessible seating is available in the Performance Hall. If you have a guest who requires accessible seating or additional time to navigate the Performance Hall, please provide their name on the hooding registration form. To ensure a smooth rehearsal for our faculty and candidates, early entry is reserved strictly for the individual requiring assistance and one companion. Our ushers will be stationed at the doors to facilitate this early seating prior to general admission, ensuring those who need more room to navigate have a comfortable and stress-free experience.
  
• Guests can take photos from their seats, but please do not approach the stage.
• The ceremony will be simulcast to the McKnight Center Outdoor Plaza as an option for overflow guest seating on the lawn and for anybody walking/driving past during the ceremony. (Yep! Everybody outside can stop and watch, or look as they drive by!)

Should I attend the Spears Graduate Hooding Ceremony or OSU Commencement?

The SSB Graduate Hooding Ceremony and University Commencement are not the same event. Candidates can attend one, both or neither if they choose.

The Hooding Ceremony is a private event hosted by the Spears School of Business specifically for our graduate-level business candidates, and is held the same day as the University Commencement ceremony. The SSB registration is only for the Spears Hooding event.

Commencement is for all OSU master’s and doctoral program candidates. The Spring 2026 ceremony will be Friday, May 8, at 4:30 p.m. in the Gallagher-Iba Arena. University Commencement is planned by the Graduate College. Details here: University Commencement ceremony.

Please submit your registration as soon as possible in order to participate in the Spears School of Business Hooding Ceremony on May 8. We hope you can join us!