Main ContentInformation for Graduates, Family, and Friends
Prepare for Commencement
All students must apply for graduation through the student portal in Workday. Contact the Office of Enrollment Management for more information, or call (601) 984-1080.
Announcements
Graduate products are available for purchase through the UMMC Bookstore. Click here for to contact the UMMC Bookstore.
Location
Commencement is held at the Mississippi Coliseum, 1207 Mississippi Street, Jackson, MS 39202. Phone: (601) 961-4000.
The Coliseum does not allow balloons or party items inside the Coliseum. Marked seating for people with disabilities and one visitor is extremely limited. Please encourage your friends or family members who are unable to climb stairs or who use a wheelchair to come early. The Coliseum does not provide wheelchairs.
Graduation guests will be seated in the permanent seating which surrounds the arena floor. All guests should be in their seats by 9:50 a.m. Only degree candidates and faculty are seated on the arena floor. Elevators are located to the right when you enter through the main doors on the north side, Mississippi Street entrance – one just inside the front door and one a little further down the hall.
An American Sign Language interpreter and reserved seating for the hearing impaired will be available.
Directions to Coliseum
Lodging
Several lodging venues are available in close proximity to the Mississippi Coliseum.
Diplomas
Diplomas are finalized with each student’s full legal name as recorded in Workday. This is also the name that will be announced at Commencement. Diplomas will be available for pick up immediately after the commencement
ceremony in the Trademart on May 24, 2024. Any diploma not picked up the day of the commencement ceremony
will be available for pick up at the Office of Enrollment Management beginning June 3rd, 2024. Students may also request for their diploma to be mailed by submitting a request to diploma@umc.edu. This request should include the full student name, program of completion and full mailing address. Diplomas will be mailed in mid-June 2024.
Regalia
Regalia information is captured when students apply for graduation in Workday. Students may contact the Office of Enrollment Management with questions about the graduation application. Regalia should be picked up in the Norman C. Nelson Student Union gymnasium on Friday, May 17, 2024, between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. If you cannot pick up your regalia, please have someone pick it up. Regalia should be returned to the Bookstore personnel in the Trade Mart immediately following the ceremony.
UMMC graduates participating in Commencement must wear the approved regalia for their degree. Graduates who are honorees or members of the UMMC honor societies listed below may wear the approved cords, medal, or stole for that society. Graduates are prohibited from wearing cords, medals, or stoles denoting memberships or honors from societies not on the list below. Graduates may not add decorations or objects to robes, mortarboards, or tams unless allowed, as outlined in Miss. Code § 11-61-3.
Institutional
- Honors College
- Phi Kappa Phi, University of Mississippi Chapter*
*Inducted while at UMMC
School of Dentistry
- Omicron Kappa Upsilon (DMD)
- Honors in Research or Honors in Service
- Sigma Phi Alpha (BS Dental Hygiene)
School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences
School of Health Related Professions
School of Medicine
- Gold Humanism
- Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society
School of Nursing
- Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing
School of Population Health
Event
Graduating students must be lined up in regalia by 9:30 a.m. in the Trade Mart in the areas designated for each school. Before lining up, leave any personal items (suit coats, purses, cell phones or other electronic devices, etc.) with a family member or friend. There is no place to store personal items at the Coliseum.
The Commencement ceremony begins promptly at 10 a.m. and should end shortly after 12 p.m.
Candidate appearance
All candidates must wear appropriate apparel under the academic dress (dark dresses or slacks and dark shoes, no sandals, no jeans, no shorts, no tennis shoes).
Mortarboards sit straight on the head, not at an angle. Wear the tam horizontally so that it is parallel to the ground and sits about an inch above the ears. The tassel should hang over the left front of the mortarboard or tam at all times.
Candidate Line-up and Procession
Candidates should enter the Trade Mart through the Mississippi Street (main) entrance on the north side of the Coliseum. Graduates must assemble by 9:30 a.m. in the Trade Mart, in the area designated for their school. MD-PhD graduates will line up with the School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences.
Candidate procession is in the following order:
- School of Nursing candidates
- School of Health Related Professions candidates
- School of Dentistry candidates
- School of Medicine candidates
- School of Population Health candidates
- School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences candidates
- MD/PhD candidates
Photographs
A commercial photographer will be taking photos of each graduate as they receive their diploma and/or hood. A free color proof will be mailed approximately two weeks after graduation to the graduate's address on file. This address can be updated by the student in Workday. You may order photographs from the proof at that time. If you do not wish to order, the proof is yours to keep.
Additionally, from 7-9 a.m. only, the photographer will be set up on the second floor concourse from the north entrance, to take studio prints of graduates (which can include family or friends). No reservations will be accepted. This is first come, first served only. All photos will end promptly at 9 a.m.
News releases
The Office of Enrollment Management provides to the Office of Communications and Marketing an electronic spreadsheet listing all graduates, their degrees conferred and their cities of residence. The Office of Communications and Marketing disseminates that spreadsheet, and a link to photographs of students who chose to have them taken prior to Commencement, to media via a news release on Commencement day. Graduates or their families wanting announcements in their local media outlet should contact the chosen news organization directly.
Office of Development – Alumni Engagement
Your Alumni Engagement team is here to help keep our vibrant alumni community connected to the University of Mississippi Medical Center and to each other. We accomplish this by strengthening communications between our alumni and UMMC, celebrating and building traditions, fostering student and alumni leadership, and creating opportunities for investment in UMMC’s future. Please take a minute to update your contact information today so we can keep in touch with you.