2026 Doctoral Hooding Ceremony | May 18 | 2:30 p.m.
The 2026 Doctoral Hooding Ceremony will take place on Monday, May 18, 2026 at 2:30 p.m. in Shriver Hall on the Homewood campus. The event will run for approximately 90 minutes, with a reception to follow. Guests are welcome, and tickets are not required.
2026 Whiting School Doctoral Hooding Ceremony FAQ
When and where is the 2026 Whiting School of Engineering Doctoral Hooding Ceremony?
Date: May 18, 2026 (Monday)
Time: 2:30 p.m.
Location: Shriver Hall | 3400 N. Charles St. | Baltimore, MD | 21218
Reception: Wyman Quad, directly following ceremony
Campus maps, including an accessibility map and a JHU wayfinding app, can be found here.
Doctoral Hooding Ceremony and role of the Faculty Advisor
The doctoral hooding ceremony honors doctoral candidates who have completed their degree requirements between summer 2025 through spring 2026. During the ceremony, the graduates will be hooded onstage by their faculty advisor (or an authorized substitute) as a public symbol of the graduate’s doctoral status.
The hooding ceremony planning committee will request your advisor’s name during the RSVP registration process—please check with your advisor to see if they can attend and hood you. If they cannot attend, you can be hooded by an alternate department representative, so it is important to coordinate this by the time the ceremony registration opens in early March.
RSVP process
All students who have completed or are nearing completion of their doctoral degree requirements will receive an invitation to RSVP directly from Tassel the first week of March 2026. Each graduate will be required to RSVP via Tassel to attend the ceremony and must RSVP by Wednesday, April 15.
Please note that an invitation to RSVP does not guarantee eligibility to participate or indicate confirmed degree completion. Please consult with your academic program if you have any questions about your conferral timeline and requirements.
Doctoral Hooding Ceremony Reception
All graduates and guests are welcome to attend the WSE Doctoral Hooding Reception directly after the graduation ceremony. The reception will be held on the Wyman Quad directly outside Shriver Hall on the Homewood campus. Light hors d’oeuvres and refreshments will be provided.
Guests
Family and friends are welcome to attend the ceremony and reception. However, due to the constraints of Shriver Hall, please limit the number of your guests to six. If you wish to invite more than six guests, please reach out to [email protected] by April 17 to see if there is additional space. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis, so we recommend guests arrive early to secure a seat.
Hotels
Guests who need to book hotel rooms are encouraged to do so as early as possible. A number of local hotels offer special rates for the families and friends of JHU graduates. For more information, please visit the JHU Commencement Hotels webpage.
Livestream of the event
The event will be livestreamed for guests unable to attend in person and for future viewing as well. Additionally, graduates who are unable to attend the ceremony in person will be recognized through a customized recognition slide. The livestream will be recorded and accessible after the ceremony. Guests unable to attend in person can watch the ceremony on the ceremony livestream webpage.
Regalia
Each graduate will need to wear appropriate academic regalia (cap and gown) to participate in the ceremony. Rental academic regalia can be ordered online here. Doctoral rental academic regalia must be ordered online and will be shipped to the JHU campus store for pickup starting Monday, May 11. The deadline to order your rented academic regalia is Saturday, April 4.
Purchasing custom regalia? All Fine Quality custom academic regalia orders must be purchased by March 14 to ensure enough time for delivery.
Please note: You will not need to order a hood when you rent or purchase your academic regalia (tam and gown). The hoods will be a congratulatory gift to you from the Whiting School of Engineering and can be picked up at check-in on the day of the ceremony. If you are unable to attend the ceremony in person, you may request that your hood be mailed to your home address following the ceremony.
Rented doctoral academic regalia must be returned to the JHU campus store by Friday, May 27.
Questions about academic regalia should be directed to Johns Hopkins University Campus Store at 443-899-1329 or [email protected].
Regalia Grad Fair
The Grad Fair will take place Thursday, April 9 through Saturday, April 11 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day at the Johns Hopkins University Campus Store, 3330 Saint Paul Street. Vendors will be on hand with information about class rings, announcements, and diploma frames. Please note, doctoral academic regalia can only be ordered online; Grad Fair is an opportunity to purchase other items.
How to wear academic regalia
This short video demonstrates how to wear and care for your academic regalia. Please note, you will be hooded during the ceremony by your faculty advisor. Please drape the hood over your left arm until that point in the ceremony.
Day-of details
Students should plan to arrive by 1 p.m. to Shriver Hall with full academic regalia (tam and gown) to check in. Any student who does not bring proper academic regalia will not be permitted to participate in the ceremony. All graduates will be given a complimentary hood during check-in. Shriver Hall will open to all other guests and non-graduates starting at 1:30 p.m.
Security
To ensure everyone’s safety, heightened security measures are in effect for the Commencement ceremonies. Graduates and guests will need to pass through a metal detector. Plan to arrive carrying your academic regalia. You can put your robe on after you have passed through security.
Leave all bags and purses at home or in your vehicle. If you bring a bag, you will be directed to a bag check, which will cause delays checking in. You will not be permitted to cross the stage with personal items (such as purses, cameras, any personal items, and bags).
Children are not permitted to sit with the graduates during the ceremony. If you are a graduate attending with small child(ren), please make sure you have another adult with you who can supervise and sit with your child(ren).
Shriver Hall Restrictions
Signs, posters, banners, flags, and selfie sticks will not be allowed inside the auditorium for safety reasons. Food and drink are also not permitted in Shriver Hall. The use of recording devices is allowed. Please note, a recording of the ceremony will be available in early summer.
GradImages
GradImages will take pictures of each graduate as they are hooded on stage and at the rear of the auditorium after exiting the stage. The photographer will contact graduates directly after the event to offer various purchasing options.
Student Speaker – Request for Graduating Student Speaker!
The Graduation planning committee is looking for one graduate to deliver brief but impactful remarks at the 2026 Doctoral Hooding Ceremony. If interested, please read our requirements and submit your complete remarks here by Friday, April 17.
National Anthem – Request for Graduating Student Performers!
Are you a talented singer or musician? We are looking for a few participants to sing or play the national anthem at this event. If interested, please submit a video file here by Friday, April 17.
Parking
It is recommended that any guests park in the South Garage. Parking will be free for this event. Due to the number of attendees, traffic will be heavy, so prepare to arrive early to allow plenty of time to park. Additional information can be found on the Parking & Transportation page.
Accessibility
The main entrance of Shriver Hall, facing Wyman Quad, has wheelchair-accessible ramps. While the South Garage is about a three-minute walk from Shriver Hall, there is a drop-off location on the service road along the south side of Shriver Hall. There is also an option to take a golf cart from the garage to the front of Shriver Hall. Within Shriver Hall, there is a main elevator with access to all floors (located on the first floor just off the lobby) and accessible restrooms available on all levels.
There are multiple accessible seating options available for graduates and guests. Please see an access usher upon your arrival, and they will direct you to an accessible seat.
During the ceremony, graduates will be hooded on the stage. There are four stairs leading up to the stage; for those unable to manage these stairs, there is a lift to the stage level. If you or your advisor needs to use the lift, please let [email protected] know by April 17.
Shriver Hall is equipped with an Assistive Listening System. Upon arrival at Shriver Hall, please see an access usher for a headset or earbud.
The ceremony will be interpreted for audience members; if needed, please ask an access usher upon your arrival to seat you in the ASL section. Captions and ASL interpretation will also be available on the livestream. Please contact [email protected] by April 17 if you or a guest needs ASL interpretation or captioning.
Requests for large-print or Braille program books should be sent to [email protected] by April 17.
If you need an additional accommodation not listed above, please send your requests to [email protected] no later than Friday, April 17.
Universitywide Commencement
The formal conferring of degrees by President Ronald J. Daniels will take place during the Universitywide Commencement exercises on Thursday, May 21st at 9 a.m. The rain date will take place on Friday, May 22, 2026 at 9 a.m. at Homewood Field. More information can be found here. Please note, while Doctoral students are invited to walk across the stage during the Universitywide ceremony, they will not be hooded.
Diplomas
Diplomas will not be given out at the ceremony; all diplomas will be mailed in early summer. Please note that under university regulations, all final grades must be posted and any outstanding JHU accounts must be paid in full before a student’s diploma may be released. More information about receiving your diploma can be found on the Office of the University Registrar’s website: https://registrar.jhu.edu/diplomas/
How do I set up my alumni email account?
All graduating students who do not have another active affiliation with Johns Hopkins will no longer have access to any products, resources, or applications that require single sign on (SSO) using their JHED ID after their 180-day grace period. However, as an alumni benefit, all Johns Hopkins alumni will have an alumni email account created for them with the address [email protected]. This is a full, working email account. To learn more and to set up your alumni e-mail account, visit the alumni email webpage.
More information
Please contact us with any questions: [email protected]
2025 Ceremony
Here is a video and photos of the 2025 ceremony.