Graduate hooding ceremony information
The Spears School of Business is hosting the Spring 2025 Spears Graduate Hooding Ceremony on Friday, May 9, 2025. If you’re graduating Spring or Summer 2025, 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 will include Acct and BAnDS.
- The first ceremony (Group 1) will start at 10:30 a.m. Graduating candidates should plan to be there at 9:15 a.m.
- Group 2 includes MBA, HTM, MSMIS, QF and PhD.
- The second ceremony (Group 2) will start at 1:45 p.m. Graduating candidates should plan to be there at 12:30 p.m.
- Full details will be sent later, including arrival and ceremony instructions.
- Each program will have group photos taken on stage before their ceremony. Details will be sent later.
- There will be light refreshments in the lobby between the two ceremonies.
- 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, you must contact that person directly, and include their name and email address on the registration form. We will not arrange that for you. This cannot be added after registration is submitted, so please sort it out before you register.
- Master’s candidates can have Dean Payne 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 only be hooded by Spears Faculty (Program Coordinators/Deans) at this event. But you can do whatever you want for the Graduate Commencement later that afternoon.
- All faculty participants who are placing hoods at this event will be sent details by separate email directly from our office.
- The ceremony includes a slide show featuring each of our SSB candidates. Details below.
- Each program will have group photos taken on stage before their ceremony. Details later.
How to register
- To participate in the Spears Hooding Ceremony, registration is required:
- Registration will only be open April 11-21. The form will close at 5 p.m. on Monday, April 21.
- No late registrations will be accepted, so register soon before you have time to forget.
- Are you completing a degree/certificate combo? Indicate both on the same registration form. (Separate forms are not required.)
- Before you start the registration form, think on these topics—they are included on the form: Thank-you’s, favorite trip/vacation adventure, your next big plans, best memory of OSU and then…
- Dig up a vacation photo of yourself for the slide presentation, and caption it for us. It can be an action shot, visiting a landmark or sitting around a campfire…something that tells a story about that moment. No boring headshots, please—pick one that makes you smile from the memory and attach it to the registration form, then tell us about it in 12 words or less.
- 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.
- Graduation regalia can be ordered from the University Bookstore. Select Master’s Gown on the webpage, then in the “Options” box indicate your height, and in the “Hood options” box key in Master of Science. All Business master’s degrees are Master of 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.
- MS program graduation stoles will be presented at the Hooding Ceremony. It is not part of the regalia package.
- Doctoral regalia can be rented or purchased. See here for details.
Additional information
- 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.
- An email with the final additional details (including group photos) and ceremony instructions will be sent by May 6.
- This event will be also live streamed. The link will be included in the May 6 email.
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 2025 ceremony will be Friday, May 9, 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 9. We hope you can join us!