Faculty Marshals

Please email cosevent@gmu.edu with your name, email and department name.

Marshals check in an hour and a half prior to the degree celebration ceremonies.
Arrive in regalia at the EagleBank Arena East Entrance (Administrative Offices). Check in with the college staff member by the “Marshal Check In” sign. We will give you an instruction sheet and a chart showing the seating arrangement for departments in the arena.

After checking in, go to parking Lot A and find the sign for your assigned degree program to meet your students.

Students line up one hour prior to the degree celebration ceremonies.
Undergraduate studentsline up in Parking Lot A on the east side of EagleBank Arena. Please help them line up, single file, behind the sign listing the name of their major. For some degrees, you will need to separate students according to concentration or degree type (e.g., BA or BS in Biology).

Master’s students will also gather by degree program in Lot A of EagleBank Arena.

PhD students will gather in the lower level suite of the EagleBank Arena.

In case of rain, Undergraduate and Master’s students report directly to the floor of the Arena and will be seated by major or degree program.

Reader Cards
Please help the staff distribute reader cards. Ensure that students in your group have filled them out. They will hand the card to the reader on the stage. Remind students to:

• Write their full name on the card
• Write legibly
• Include a phonetic spelling if their name might be difficult for the reader to pronounce (they might be able to say their name quietly to the reader before their name is read).
• Not include any other information such as double majors, minors, cutesy nicknames, or messages to friends and family in the audience. Readers are instructed to read only the name of the student.

Majors Sheet
Staff from the college will distribute one sheet for each major (e.g., BS in Biology). The first student in the line for that degree holds the sheet.

Please instruct this student to stay at the front of the line for the degree program and to give the sheet to the reader on stage first and their reader card second. The reader will read the degree name before reading the names of the students receiving that degree.

Procession begins fifteen minutes prior to the degree celebration ceremonies.
When the procession begins, please stay with your group and keep the students in a single file line. Your line will join with another line so that students enter EagleBank Arena in two parallel lines. Walk with your students into the arena and then take a seat near them.

Four faculty line leaders lead students into the arena and count off the students for each row.

Ceremony and Presentation of Degrees
College staff members will be on the floor to cue the students to head to the stage at the appropriate time. Please help facilitate this movement as necessary.

During the presentation of degrees for your department or program, marshals should stand in the aisle to facilitate students’ return to their rows.

Out of respect for their fellow graduates, students are strongly discouraged from leaving during the ceremony after they have crossed the stage. If students try to leave, please tell them they need to wait until the end of the ceremony. Students who need to use a restroom should be directed to college staff standing at the back of EagleBank Arena.

Recessional 
At the end of the ceremony, there is a full recessional. The platform party leaves first. After they have recessed, the college staff directs the students to leave starting from the front rows working to the back rows. You can assist by having students be ready to exit the row to their right (when facing the stage) starting with the first row, following the direction of the college staff members on the floor of the arena. Everyone will exit via the same doors through which they entered. After leaving the building, students can join their families and friends at the college reception in Exploratory Hall.