Hooding Ceremony Program

Anxious to see your name in the 2024–25 Hooding Ceremony Program? View the PDF of this year's program below. 

View the program

Important Scheduling Update

In 2025, The Graduate School is proud to confer the largest number of Ph.D. degrees in its history! Due to space limitations in Duke Chapel, please see the updated ceremony schedule in the information below. 

Hooding Ceremonies for 2024-2025 Ph.D. Graduates

The Graduate School will hold two hooding ceremonies for 2024-2025 Ph.D. graduates at Duke Chapel (401 Chapel Drive) on May 10, 2025:

May 10, 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.

Ph.D. Hooding Ceremony for graduates in:

  • Humanities and Social Sciences
  • Trinity College of Arts & Sciences Natural Sciences Departments: 
    • Biology
    • Chemistry​​
    • Computer Science 
    • Evolutionary Anthropology
    • Physics 
Watch the Livestream.

May 10, 1:30 – 3:30 p.m.

Ph.D. Hooding Ceremony for graduates in:

  • Biological and Biomedical Sciences
  • Physical Sciences
  • Engineering
Watch the Livestream.

Find which academic division your department or program belongs to. 

Google Map of parking lots, accessibility locations, and facilities for the ceremony

CONTACT

If you have questions about the hooding ceremony, please contact phdhooding@duke.edu. We thank you for your patience while event details are forthcoming.

2025 Event Information

  • Graduates and guests may park in the Bryan Center Garage/PGIV (125 Science Drive) or the Science Drive Garage (3100 Cameron Blvd). The Bryan Center Garage is a four-minute walk from the Chapel, while the Science Drive Garage is a 15-minute walk away.
  • Faculty and staff participating in the Ph.D. Hooding Ceremony may park in the Upper or Lower Allen lots, located on West Campus behind the Allen Building.
  • Attendees may also park at any other convenient locations on campus. On-campus parking during commencement weekend will be free of charge.
  • ADA parking is available in the parking lot immediately in front of the Bryan Center garage. If you have requested specific accommodations, a team member will be in touch with you directly by Tuesday, May 6.
  • General parking on campus is on a first-come basis, so please allow plenty of time for parking throughout commencement weekend. Carpooling is highly recommended.
  • The circle in front of Duke Chapel, on Chapel Drive, will not be accessible on May 10. If you need to drop off guests with mobility impairments, please use the circle off of Science Drive.
  • Visit maps.duke.edu
     for an interactive campus map.

See all event locations on a Google Map

  • Graduate students will receive an email directly with their tickets. If you haven't received your tickets by May 5, please contact the PhD Hooding Team at phdhooding@duke.edu.
  • Students who have requested additional tickets will be notified by May 1 if they have received the additional tickets. Based upon current registration numbers, additional tickets may not be available this year.
  • No food or drinks are permitted in Duke Chapel.
  • The accessible entrance to the Chapel is located on the north side of the Chapel facing the Divinity School (map).
  • There are no restrooms in Duke Chapel. The closest (ADA) restrooms are in the Divinity School, which will be clearly marked with directional signs (map).
Ordering

Please visit the University Bookstore for more information or contact Jeffrey Kahlmeyer in Duke Stores at 919-684-0060.

Hooding How-To

See our "Recipe for the Perfect PhD Hooding" video for quick tips and common mishaps to avoid.

Procedure for Hooding

  1. Graduates: When the row proctor asks graduates to line up, they should stand and exit their row and head to the right. They will walk all the way around the last row of pews (guest seating) and go to the opposite side of the Chapel. Graduates should line up along the wall there and meet their hooding faculty near the faculty section.
    Faculty: Join the line next to the first graduate your are hooding.
    Graduates should stand on the left and faculty on the right.
  2. Graduates should clearly pronounce their names to the Graduate School staff member standing by the front steps so that they can be relayed to the senior associate dean announcing the graduates.
  3. When their name is called, each graduate should go up the steps with their hooding faculty (watch out for the air vent grates on the floor). The hooding faculty will stand at the top of the steps and the graduate will stand on the next step. There will be a piece of tape on the steps to mark where they should stand.
  4. Once a graduate has received their hood, Dean Barbour will greet them with a congratulatory fist bump.
  5. Graduates should then return to their seats. Faculty who have finished hooding all their graduates should sit in the North Transept pews (on the opposite side of where they sat at the start of the ceremony).

The hooding ceremonies will be livestreamed for family, friends, and faculty who cannot attend in person. 

10:00 am Ceremony (Humanities, Social Sciences, natural sciences)

1:30 pm Ceremony (Biological & Biomedical Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Engineering)

  • ADA parking is available in the parking lot immediately in front of the Bryan Center garage. If you have requested specific accommodations, Michael Croal will be in touch with you directly in early May.
  • If you need to drop off guests with mobility impairments, please use the circle off of Science Drive.
  • The accessible entrance to the Chapel is located on the north side of the Chapel facing the Divinity School. (map)
  • The closest restrooms (in the Divinity School) are ADA-compliant.
  • There will be assistive listening devices available at the sound board in the back left of the nave in the Chapel.

Hooding Basics

The hooding ceremony is similar to a graduation in that faculty and students are dressed in academic attire

. During the ceremony, the name of each graduate is called, and the graduate goes on stage with his or her faculty adviser(s). The adviser places the doctoral hood over the head of the graduate, signifying his or her success in completing the graduate program, and the dean of The Graduate School then congratulates the graduate.

Each doctoral candidate is asked to invite a Duke faculty member to perform the hooding. The faculty member may be the candidate’s adviser or another faculty member of the candidate’s choice. If a faculty member is not available, the dean will perform the hooding.

Proper Hooding Techniques (and Bloopers)

Past Ph.D. Graduation Celebrations