Experience

Day/Time: March 17th at 1 p.m. Pacific / 4 p.m. Eastern

Place: virtual LIVE stream commencement via ZOOM and YouTube.

Graduate Participant Registration

Student/alumni registration to give a graduation speech in the virtual ceremony will open on Friday, December 1st in WebAdvisor Self-Service.

Students or alumni who wish to participate in any graduation ceremony must formally register their request to participate in the ceremony using WebAdvisor Self-Service during the registration period. The deadline to register your request is December 17th.

Spring 2024 Virtual Graduation Ceremony Deadlines

There are three major deadlines for the doctoral student to keep in mind. The below information assumes that the student will also be conducting their Final Oral Review (FOR) any time prior to the ceremony.

1. December 17, 2023 – (Doctoral students only) Dissertation to full committee deadline: The version of the dissertation the student plans to present at the Final Oral Review should go out to the entire committee well in advance so that the chair can readily provide his/her approval that the FOR can be scheduled.

2. December 17, 2023 – Request to participate in the ceremony: The request to participate is submitted as part of registering action in WebAdvisor.

Late registration for graduation is not allowed due to the preparatory steps that commence immediately after the deadline.

3. January 13, 2024 – Degree audit deadline: Upon this deadline, the Registrar’s Office runs the student degree audit (MyProgress tab of WebAdvisor Self-Service) to verify that all essential degree requirements are recorded as complete. The requirements that can be remaining are:

• Doctoral students:
  • The Final Oral Review – as long as it is scheduled to occur prior to the ceremony;
  • The dissertation submission for proofreading;
  • The binding and filing of the final dissertation;
• RCP/Clinical students: The internship can be still in progress as long as the placement is scheduled to end within 60 days of the ceremony. There is also a limited exception to the 60 day rule that can be requested, see the Graduation Ceremony Participation policy link on this page.
• Master’s students: Can request to participate in a ceremony if they are in their final semester when the request is filed. If in their last semester, the instructors for their last class(es) will need to verify with the Office of the Registrar that the student will be able to pass the classes before the request to participate can be approved.

If a student has not met the above deadlines, they cannot be permitted to participate in the ceremony. The Student Accounts office also does a financial check and can restrict a student from participating in the ceremony.

Alumni can request to participate in a ceremony after their degree has already been conferred, and assuming they have no financial obligations their request to participate will be approved.

Regalia

When the ceremony is virtual, approved participants will be provided with a link to place your order at a Fielding-customized version of the vendor’s website. The regalia set includes a gown, four corner mortarboard cap, gold tassel and Fielding hood pertinent to your degree. Include your height and weight on the registration form to ensure the correct size. Regalia will be shipped directly to the address the graduate provided when placing the order. Regalia pricing from our vendor is around $55/set, with domestic shipping at a flat rate of $15.95, and international shipping at $60. Sales tax varies by state.

Ordering on your own: Some ceremony participants prefer to order regalia entirely on their own through a vendor of their choosing. Information on what to order is provided on the alumni website: https://alumni.fielding.edu/page/regalia

Ordering a Tam: Some ceremony participants will order their regalia through Fielding as described above, but separately purchase on their own a tam style to wear instead of the mortarboard style we provide. Either style is correct for a doctoral graduate.

Video/Speech

A Fielding tradition is that doctoral graduates give a short 1-3 minute speech about their Fielding journey. For virtual ceremonies, these will be pre-recorded submissions. Instructions will be sent to those permitted to participate with a deadline by which you will need to submit your video/speech.

Prior Ceremonies

For the recorded videos of prior ceremonies, both virtual and in-person, please see the links below from our YouTube channel.

Future Ceremonies

The Summer 2024 ceremony will be in-person in July, location TBA.