Commencement Celebrate. Graduate.

Spring 2023 Commencement

Graduation Application Deadlines:

The college requests that all spring/summer 2023 graduation candidates submit their graduation application no later than Friday, January 20, 2023, for communications purposes.

The graduation application can be located by logging into your MyUTK account.  If you have questions, please contact Jenny Flatford at jflatford@utk.edu or 865-974-6714.

Details about the Spring 2023 Commencement Ceremonies

College of Architecture and Design’s Graduation Celebration: Friday, May 19, location and time TBD.

College of Architecture and Design Commencement and Hooding Ceremony (Undergraduate/Bachelor Candidates and Graduate/Master Candidates): Friday, May 19 at 4 p.m.; will be held at Thompson-Boling Arena.

  • The Mandatory Commencement Walk-through has not been scheduled at this time.

University Graduate and Professional Hooding Ceremony (Graduate/Master’s Candidates only): Saturday, May 20 at 7 p.m.; will be held at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Spring 2023 Torch Night: Wednesday, May 17, at 8 p.m.; will be held at the Ayres Lawn. Students must register to attend Torch Night. This is a university-wide event.

Additional Spring 2023 Commencement Ceremony Information

  • A mandatory meeting for all students participating in the spring 2023 commencement will be held on Monday, January 23, 2023. Details to come.
  • Students who graduate in Summer 2023 may participate in the college’s spring commencement ceremony.
  • BArch, MArch, LAR, and IArch students who plan to participate in the spring ceremonies must purchase a cap/gown bundle in addition to a hood.

General Information:

Day-of Commencement Information:

Streaming:

  • Friday, May 19 at 4 p.m. – College Ceremony
  • Saturday, May 20 at 7 p.m. – Graduate Hooding Ceremony

Bookstore/VolShop:

  • Commencement regalia (cap/gown with the UT stole and separate hood) can be purchased at the VolShop.
  • Interior Architecture Hoods: Available to borrow from the ASID/IIDA President or to purchase
  • Spring 2023 Grad Finale (in-person event) – TBD
    • Attendees will receive 10 percent off caps and gowns and 20 percent off diploma frames during the event.

2023 Student Information Sheet

The Student Information Sheet (SIS) for Spring 2023 Commencement Ceremony is due Friday, February 3, 2023. The SIS will become available on Monday, January 23.

If you have any issues or questions about the Student Information Sheet, contact Jennifer Flatford at jflatford@utk.edu or 865-974-6714.

Student Information Sheet 2023

Commencement Speaker: Michael Hendrix

Michael is a Partner and the Global Design Director at IDEO. As a member of the senior leadership team he collaborates with the firm’s Directors in the US, EU, Middle East, China and Japan to advance IDEO’s best-in-class design capabilities. Prior to this he served as Managing Director of the Cambridge, MA studio, Executive Design Director (US East), and Brand Creative Director with the CMO.

He has also consulted with clients across a diversity of industries including retail, home goods, education, fin-tech, Pharma, the federal government and IDEO, itself. As a board member for IDEO’s sister non-profit, IDEO.org, he served as a creative advisor to the executive team as the organization established a studio in Nairobi, Kenya.

Concurrently, Michael is an Assistant Professor of Business Management at Berklee College of Music, joining his love for music, design and entrepreneurship. His first book, Two Beats Ahead: What Musical Minds Teach Us About Innovation, co-authored with Recording Academy Co-President, Panos A. Panay, is largely based on his course and was selected by The Financial Times as a business book of the month in April 2021 and featured in Harvard Business Review’s IdeaCast.

Michael’s career has spanned graphic design and marketing, branding, higher ed, and product development. A creative fire starter, he has co-founded an after school art program for high schoolers, a design curriculum for undergrads, a professional design club, a blockchain-based song data initiative, and two businesses, the last of which, Tricycle, was recognized by Business Week, Fortune and the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum as a thought leader for climate-conscious design. The company was acquired by Shaw, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary in 2017.

An accomplished graphic designer, he has been recognized by American graphic design associations and publications including the One Show, Type Directors Club, Print, How, and Communication Arts and was named an AIGA Fellow in 2008. As a public speaker Michael often shares about his book, IDEO, design thinking, design and music. Keynotes include WIRED Design, Fast Company, SXSW, AIGA, FUSE, HOW, and Design Management Institute among others, plus sessions at SXSW Music, Sonar+D and Moogfest.

ABOUT THE CEREMONY

  • Tickets:
    • Graduate entry: Not required for graduate entry.
    • Guest entry: There are no current plans to require tickets for guests. The Office of the Registrar will contact graduates if that changes.
  • Entry:
    • Doors will open 90 minutes before the ceremony start time for graduates and guests.
    • Graduates will enter the arena at the lower level Media entrance near G-10 garage
    • Guests will enter at the upper-level gates. 
  • Graduate and Guest Exiting:
    • Graduates will exit at the concourse level following the conclusion of the commencement ceremony.
  • No guests will be permitted on the arena floor.
  • All graduates will participate in a processional.
  • The university’s clear bag policy will be reinforced.

More information can be found here.