Commencement 2023

Commencement: 

On Monday, May 15th, at 4:00PM, Rutgers-Camden will be holding its campus-wide commencement at the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden, NJ. During this commencement, graduate students (students earning their master’s, doctoral. or doctorate of nursing practice degrees—NOT bachelor’s) from the Graduate School-Camden and School of Nursing will have their names read, and will walk across the stage. This means that graduate students in all of our doctoral and master programs will be celebrated, with the former having a moment to be hooded onstage by their Principal Investigators. 

Students earning their master’s or doctoral degrees will walk at the May 15th commencement.

We are excited to both celebrate our graduate students and to celebrate the Rutgers-Camden campus as a whole as degrees are conferred to other schools, whose students will walk on other days, during separate, school-specific convocations.

For more information related to commencement, please refer to https://camden.rutgers.edu/commencement

For specific inquiries, please email camgrad@camden.rutgers.edu

  Monday, May 15th Tuesday, May 16th Wednesday, May 17th

Who is walking?
  • Graduate students from the Graduate School-Camden (master’s or doctoral degrees)
  • Students who are earning their Doctor of Nursing Practice 
  • Students from these schools: School of Business, School of Law, School of Nursing (with the exception of Doctor of Nursing Practice students)
  • Undergraduate students from the College of Arts & Sciences and Honors College (bachelor’s degree from these 4-year programs)

Who is invited?
  • All students from all schools at Rutgers-Camden, universitywide, and their guests
  • Students from these schools: School of Business, School of Law, School of Nursing (with the exception of Doctor of Nursing Practice students) and their guests
  • Undergraduate students from the College of Arts & Sciences and Honors College and their guests

Graduates—what you need to know:

Regalia:

  • Graduate students will need to have regalia specific to your degree. Information about ordering and in-store pickup can be found here: https://camden.rutgers.edu/commencement/extras. Direct orders can be placed here: https://colleges.herffjones.com/college/rucamden/. All orders are placed through our bookstore partner. Master’s students will wear black gowns with red sleeve bands and doctoral students will wear red gowns with black velvet accents.
  • We do not have honors cords. 
  • We will have support on-site at commencement to help with some fitting of regalia. 

Photography:

  • Graduate students may book appointments for portraits through the link at the bottom of this website: https://camden.rutgers.edu/commencement/extras

Rites of Passage:

  • Students who identify as Black or Latinx will be celebrated both at commencement and during this ceremony, to be held at 10:00AM on Monday, May 15th. The Rites of Passage Ceremony is a pre-commencement celebration to honor Black and Latinx-identified students who through resolute persistence have successfully completed an Undergraduate or Graduate degree at Rutgers University–Camden.

Guests:

  • There is no cap on the number of guests you can invite this year. Guests will be asked to enter through a different entrance.

Celebration:

  • All Rutgers-Camden students are invited to celebrate their graduation at the Graduation Picnic, held on the lawn at Freedom Mortgage Pavilion on Monday, May 15th between 1:00PM – 3:00PM.

Honors and Distinctions:

  • Graduate students do not have honors based on GPA; rather, they are distinguished according to their final project. As such, graduate students may be annotated as having a capstone with distinction, thesis with distinction, comprehensive exam with distinction, or dissertation with distinction. 

Accommodations: 

  • If you or your loved ones need accommodations for a disability, you can receive support from the Office of Disability Services, contacted at success@camden.rutgers.edu. Parking spaces and other accommodations will be made available at the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion.

FAQ:

I want to invite my family. How can I be sure that they will be able to attend?

  • Unlike with past commencements, there is no ticket cap for graduate students walking as part of the May 15th commencement. This means that your family can walk in and find seating on a first-come, first-serve basis.

What do I need to do ensure I can walk as a graduate school graduate?

  • When you filled out a diploma application, you filled out an option to ATTEND or NOT ATTEND commencement. If you selected ATTEND, you will be presorted onto a list that we will have at check-in. If you selected NOT ATTEND, please reach out to chris.kubik@rutgers.edu as soon as possible.

When do I line up? Where do I go on the day of?

  • All graduate students will have explicit instructions communicated to them ahead of commencement. That said, you will be entering through the Benjamin Franklin Lobby, located to the side of the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, where you will need to pass security before checking in with Graduate School staff. Graduates will likely need to report to this entrance at 2:30PM, and so we encourage you to enjoy the Graduation Picnic before heading right over to the lobby. Once you have been given a card and “checked in,” you will follow the instructions of a marshal for how to process into the venue and where to sit. 

I’m part of the School of Arts & Sciences. Does this mean I should also go to the convocation on Wednesday, May 17th?

  • Graduate students will NOT walk on Wednesday, May 17th. You are more than welcome to attend as a visitor, but graduate students WILL ONLY HAVE THEIR NAMES READ ON MONDAY, MAY 15TH. 

 

For more information related to commencement, please refer to https://camden.rutgers.edu/commencement

For specific inquiries, please email camgrad@camden.rutgers.edu