The Grainger College of Engineering

December 2024 Graduation Information



Saturday December 21, 2024 | Virginia Theatre | 203 W Park Ave Champaign, IL 61820

  • Ceremony 1 | 10am

    • Aerospace Engineering
    • Agricultural and Biological Engineering
    • Civil & Environmental Engineering
    • Electrical & Computer Engineering
    • Industrial & Enterprise Systems Engineering
    • Mechanical Science & Engineering

     

    Ceremony 2 | 2pm

    • Autonomy & Robotics
    • Bioengineering
    • Materials Science & Engineering
    • Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering
    • Physics
    • Siebel School of Computing and Data Science

CONVOCATION CHECKLIST

  1. Registration for the December 2024 graduation is now open!
  2. Order your cap & gown. Academic attire may be ordered online at herff.ly/illinois.
  3. Complete the IlliniSuccess survey!

If you have questions, feel free to contact the Engineering Graduation Convocation Coordinator at: 
engineering-convocation@illinois.edu. 

Go to university-wide Commencement Website

Receiving Your Degree

You must declare your intent to graduate with The Grainger College of Engineering. This is normally done at the same time you register for your final semester of classes through the student registration system. If you do not complete this step, your name will not appear on the Pending Degree List, you will not receive information regarding the Graduation Ceremonies, and the date of your degree award and diploma could be delayed.

  1. If you are a Bachelor of Science student and you have not declared your intent to graduate by the tenth day of class of the semester you plan to graduate, you may request a Late Addition to the Undergraduate Engineering Degree List. If you have questions about applying to graduate, please contact the Engineering Undergraduate Programs Office at engineering@illinois.edu or 217-333-2280.
  2. If you are part of a 5-year BS/MS or MENG program, you will only be able to participate in a Convocation/Commencement ceremony if you have completed the program entirely. You would walk as an MS graduate. If you are part of a 5-year program and are finishing your BS portion this semester, you cannot walk until your MS is completed. A joint degree program is a campus approved program in which a student concurrently pursues two specifically identified degrees, and those degrees are conferred simultaneously. For graduate students this is a combination of a graduate degree with one of the following: another graduate degree, an undergraduate degree, or a professional degree.
  3. If you are a graduate student, please contact your department.

Engineering Graduation

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The ceremony will include speeches from distinguished alumni, current students, and Dean Rashid Bashir. Each graduate's name will be read as they cross the stage.  Dean Bashir and a representative from your department will present each graduate with a diploma cover. 

Yes! We will be live-streaming our December ceremony.  Please visit this web-page the day of the event to watch either ceremony.  Please note that each ceremony is recorded and can be found at the bottom of this web-page.

The ceremony is anticipated to last roughly 2 hours.  If you are wanting to make plans/reservations after the ceremony, we encourage families and friends to add an additional 15 minutes from the end of the ceremony to exit the Virginia Theatre and participate in exit traffic flow.

Yes. Due to limited capacity of the Virginia Theatre, all graduates participating in our December ceremonies must acquire tickets for their guests; including children. Tickets for guests are always free of charge. Each graduate can reserve up to two tickets using the registration link.  If all allotted tickets are not claimed by December 9, you may reserve more tickets on a first come-first serve basis. Please indicate in you registration form how many additional tickets you would like, if available.  Information regarding picking up your guest tickets will be emailed to graduates in early December.

We ask that you only bring guests that have a ticket. We will not have capacity for additional guests.

If you or your guests will need accessibility-related accommodations in order to participate in this event, please visit Virginia Theatre's accessibility site: https://thevirginia.org/accessibility/

Parking is available in metered spaces on the streets surrounding the theatre (Park Avenue, Randolph Avenue, State Street, Main Street, etc.). Please see individual meters for enforcement times and rates, as they do vary. The City of Champaign Hill Street Parking Deck (123 West Hill Street) is 1½ blocks from the theatre.

Click here for more information on the Hill Street Parking Deck and other available municipal parking lots.

All fall graduates that do not participate in December graduation are automatically invited to participate in the May convocation ceremony directly following their fall graduation.  Information on how to register to the May 2025 ceremony will be shared on our website and via email late January of next year. For future convocation dates, please visit https://commencement.illinois.edu/may-commencement/about-the-ceremony/future-commencement-dates/

Convocation Ceremonies

  • May 2023 Ceremony 1 (TBA)
  • May 2023 Ceremony 2 (TBA)