Students need to remember to do a few things before they can walk across the stage and get their diploma May 8.

Tickets will be handed out for the commencement ceremonies from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 5 and 7 in the Arcola/Tuscola Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Herff Jones will distribute caps and gowns at the same time in the Charleston/Mattoon Room of the Union.

Graduating students received a postcard to remind them of these things, along with a series of e-mails.

There will be about 350 students at both the 9 a.m. College of Sciences and the noon College of Arts and Humanities and School of Continuing Education ceremonies. About 400 students will walk at the 3 p.m. College of Education and Professional Studies ceremony and about 500 will be at the 6 p.m. Lumpkin College of Business and Applied Sciences ceremony.

Students at the 6 p.m. ceremony get six tickets each and seven tickets available to students at the earlier ceremonies.

Any extra tickets will be available at the ticket office May 7 in the Union, which will be first-come, first-serve.

Any tickets left from May 7 will be available May 8 in Lantz Arena.

The commencement department prepares for the ceremonies all year.

“There’s stuff we do throughout the year with updates, (finding) commencement speakers and commencement and faculty marshals and getting all the plaques for awards,” said Jonathan McKenzie, assistant director for Alumni Services.

McKenzie said most of the preparation work is done a month in advance.

Marty Hackler, public events supervisor, said a lot goes into the planning.

“I help organize the ceremonies, answer e-mail and phone questions,” Hackler said.

She also deals with getting will-call tickets for people who cannot pick up their tickets before the ceremony and trains faculty, commencement and student marshals.

Commencement marshals bring in the mace for each ceremony while the student marshals, either students from the Honors College or graduate students, make sure everyone gets in and out of Lantz Arena in a timely manner.

Faculty marshals carry the banner for each college that comes in for each ceremony.

The marshals, along with keynote speakers and awards winners, are either chosen by committees or the deans of each college.

The Lumpkin College of Business and Applied Sciences

ceremony will do something new this year.

Two ROTC students will be commissioned as second lieutenants in the army.

There will also be a Distinguished Faculty Award, which is always presented during spring commencement, to Janet T. Marquardt.

Heather Holm can be reached at 581-7942 or [email protected]

Commencement marshals:

Vincent Gutowski: 9 a.m. ceremony

William J. Searle: Noon ceremony

Scott A.G.M. Crawford: 3 p.m. ceremony

Deborah A. Woodley: 6 p.m. ceremony

Faculty marshals:

9 a.m.

Andrew McNitt (Graduate School, College of Sciences)

Gary Foster (College of Sciences)

Noon

Jonathon Kirk (Graduate School, College of Arts and Humanities)

Bailey Young (College of Arts and Humanities)

Kathryn Rhodes (School of Continuing Education)

3 p.m.

Heidi Larson (Graduate School, College of Education and Professional Studies)

Julie Dietz (College of Education and Professional Studies)

6 p.m.

Karla Kennedy Hagan (Graduate School, Lumpkin College of Business and Applied Sciences)

Betsy Pudliner (Lumpkin College of Business and Applied Sciences)

Keynote speakers

H. Ray Hoops – 9 a.m.

Jeffrey P. Lynch – Noon

Timothy D. McCollum – 3 p.m.

Janet M. Treichel – 6 p.m.