Guest Information & FAQs

We are looking forward to the 2025 Michigan Ross Commencement Celebration. Ensuring the safety of all students, as well as their friends and family during commencement celebrations, is a top priority. Please read on to learn more about what you can expect at this year’s celebration at Crisler Center. Our goal is to make this a truly memorable day that honors our graduates. 


Safety and Security Protocols

The university has increased the presence of Division of Public Safety and Security personnel and provided additional staffing and support for protests, speakers, and events. DPSS also maintains contact with state, local, and federal partners regarding current events and any potential impact on our community from external sources.

Additionally:

  • All students and guests will be required to pass through a security system before entering Crisler Center.
  • All family members and guests attending, including children over the age of two, must have a ticket to enter Crisler Center.
  • All guests over the age of 16 should be prepared to share an ID so that we can match names to tickets.
  • No purses, bags, wristlets, or cases of any size will be allowed in Crisler Center. Exceptions will be granted for medical reasons only.
  • Permitted items that will not fit in pockets — including medicine, medical equipment, and diapers for small children — should be placed in a clear plastic bag, quart- or gallon-size only.
  • Please note that, once inside the gates, no smoking is permitted anywhere in Crisler Center.

Permitted and Prohibited Items

The staff at Crisler Center will be monitoring guests to determine whether items they bring with them are permitted. Before arriving, please take a moment to review what you may bring into Crisler Center and make arrangements to leave prohibited items behind. Crisler Center does not provide an area to check bags, coats or any other personal belongings.

Permitted Items

  • Binoculars — cases are not permitted
  • Cell phones and pagers
  • Small cameras (those with a lens shorter than 6 inches) and radios
  • Walking canes

Prohibited Items

  • All bags (including purses, clear bags, fanny packs, etc.)
  • All bottles (including all types of water bottles)
  • Alcoholic beverages
  • Aerosol and spray cans
  • Animals (except service animals for persons with disabilities)
  • Apparel or signage displaying profane or abusive language
  • Blankets
  • Containers of any kind (including coolers, thermoses, cups, cans, and flasks)
  • Flags and flagpoles
  • Food of any kind
  • Irritants
  • Noisemakers (including but not limited to whistles, air horns, boom boxes, bull horns, kazoos, sirens, thunder sticks, vuvuzelas, etc.)
  • Projectiles (including footballs, Frisbees, and beach balls)
  • Seat cushions containing any type of metal or those with pockets, storage slots, seat backs, armrests, or attachments of any kind
  • Sound amplification devices
  • Strollers
  • Video cameras, tripods, and selfie sticks
  • Umbrellas
  • Weapons
  • Any other item that may obstruct or impair the view or enjoyment of another attendee

Potential Disruptions

We are engaging with our colleagues across campus (DPSS, Dean of Students, Office of University Development Events) to implement measures to support a successful and celebratory event worthy of the achievements of our extraordinary graduates. U-M will designate areas outside of all of the major commencement venues where movement in and out of the venue itself will be controlled via ticketing. During the ceremony, we will follow the campus code of conduct for disruptive behaviors. While we hope the event is not disrupted, we will be prepared to de-escalate any situations that arise.

Violations of university policy will result in appropriate consequences. Conduct that may violate criminal law will be referred to federal, state, or local law enforcement. 

Commencement 2025 FAQs

Doors will open for students and guests at 2:15 p.m.  Students and guests are asked to be in their seats by 3:15 p.m.

Parking at Michigan Ross

The gates to all structures on Central Campus will open on Friday and remain open throughout commencement weekend. Parking enforcement in these structures will be suspended until the end of enforcement hours on Sunday.

Thursday, May 1: U-M parking structures at Fletcher, Hill, and Thayer streets and Palmer Drive will be open at 9 a.m. for commencement guests.

Friday, May 2 – Sunday, May 4: All U-M parking lots and structures will be open to the public beginning at 9 a.m. on Friday through Sunday.

Note: Parking structures in the campus core areas fill to capacity each business day. It is highly recommended that guests pay to park in nearby city structures located on Maynard Street, Washington Street, William Street, and Library Lane.

If arriving by car, guests are encouraged to find parking early, as parking around Crisler Center is limited. Parking enforcement within U-M lots on the Stephen M. Ross Athletic Campus will be suspended on Friday. Ross commencement guests are welcome to park in any available, unrestricted parking space around Crisler Center (blue, orange, and yellow lots). 

Limited first-come, first-served parking is also available at Pioneer High School located at the corner of Main Street and Stadium Boulevard (southwest of Michigan Stadium). 

For graduates

Any graduates requiring ADA accommodations for themselves should contact [email protected].

For Guests

To ensure that all graduates and guests can participate fully in this celebration, Crisler Center Event Team members will be posted at the northeast and southwest entrances of Crisler Center to assist those with limited mobility and direct to accessible seating areas. These guests are encouraged to be dropped off at the northeast (main) entrance of Crisler Center.

A limited number of handicapped parking spaces are available at Crisler Center. Handicapped parking spaces will not be able to be reserved. Guests are encouraged to arrive early, as parking is first-come, first-served.

If you have any specific ADA guest requests, please email [email protected].

Seating is available around the lower bowl of Crisler Center. Event Team members will usher those requiring wheelchair seating to the appropriate areas. Crisler Center has a very limited number of wheelchairs available for use. Please keep in mind if a guest needs to use a Criser Center wheelchair, they will only be escorted from the entrance to their seat. The wheelchair will then be removed in order to assist other guests. We highly recommend renting a wheelchair from an outside vendor in order to ensure guests will have a wheelchair to use.

Wheelchairs for use on commencement day can be rented at the below locations. We recommend calling as early as possible to reserve a wheelchair.

Advanced Medical Solutions
5333 McAuley Drive #1106
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
734-528-2522
 

Mitchell Home Care
2770 Carpenter Road #100
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
734-477-0202
 

All graduates must wear academic attire, which this can be ordered online at herff.ly/umross.

Academic attire may also be purchased at Ann Arbor locations.

The caps and gowns for the Ross commencement are the same as for the university-wide commencement.

Honor cords may be purchased through our academic attire vendor, but please advised that final honors calculations are not computed until all grades are submitted (after commencement).

This means that students who wish to purchase honor cords are doing so based on their own unofficial calculations, and wearing these honor cords does not carry any official recognition.

Ann Arbor stores

Barnes & Noble at the Michigan Union: Undergraduate and graduate attire and commemorative tassels in stock. Attire may also be purchased online

Michiganensian Yearbook: Undergraduate attire and commemorative items in stock. Additional items are available online

Online

Herff Jones’ website: Undergraduate and graduate attire, as well as announcements, can be ordered online and shipped directly to your home.

 

A full list of all commencement-related events for the various program teams is being created. All commencement-related events will be posted to the overview page

Please visit the U-M Commencement website to see the full calendar of the University of Michigan commencement ceremonies for all U-M colleges/schools.

All graduates and candidates of the winter term 2025, spring/summer term 2025, or fall term 2024 (those who did not participate in April 2024 ceremony) may participate. 

If you are unsure of your eligibility to participate in spring commencement, please contact the Ross Registrar's Office at 734-647-4933 or [email protected].

No. Neither commencement ceremony is required for graduates to attend. You may also choose to attend one and not the other or both ceremonies if you would like. The Ross commencement ceremony will only be open to Ross graduating students, and the U-M commencement ceremony includes graduates from all colleges/schools of the University of Michigan. Please keep in mind that while tickets are not required for the Ross commencement, tickets are required for the U-M commencement ceremonies.

Diplomas for Ross graduates will be mailed between July and early August of 2025.

Tentatively scheduled for Friday, May 1, 2026.

Yes. Commencement will be livestreamed in Robertson Auditorium, adjacent to the Winter Garden in the main Ross building. Doors to Robertson will open at 3 p.m.

DegreeProgram ContactEmail
BBA [email protected]
Executive MBA

Ann Arbor cohort - Maggie Mitchell

Los Angeles cohort - Lindsay Chmielewski

[email protected]

[email protected]

Full-Time MBA [email protected]
Global MBAClemente Beghi[email protected]
MACCKaci Kegler[email protected]
MBanJordan Marquez[email protected]
MMChase Browning[email protected]
MSCMCheryl DenBroeder-Kelly[email protected]
Part-Time MBASarah McIntosh[email protected]
PhDAshley Stauffer[email protected]
Ann Arbor Transportation Authority 734 996-0400
Assistance for Persons with Disabilities
(Ross School Commencement)
[email protected]
Assistance for Persons with Disabilities
(University Spring Commencement)
734 647-6037
Assistance for Persons with Disabilities
((University Graduate Exercises)
734 647-6037
Campus Information Center 734 764-4636
Destination Ann Arbor [email protected]
734 995-7281 / 800 888-9487
Diploma Office 734 763-9066
Eligibility to participate in University Graduate Exercises 734 763-0171
Public Safety 734 763-1131
Rackham Graduate School Office Academic Records & Dissertations 734 763-0171
Records Office 734 764-6280
Transcripts 734 763-9066