Instructions to Graduates - TMS
Commencement Schedule Update
Due to inclement weather forecasted for Friday morning, the College of Arts and Sciences ceremony has been moved to Saturday at 2 p.m. We realize this may be inconvenient for some, but we need to ensure the safety of our graduates and our volunteers.
Congratulations on your graduation. Please read ALL of the information below to better enjoy the day with your family and friends.
Graduates and their guests MUST perform a COVID self-screening prior to leaving their homes. Do not come to the commencement events if you are experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19 or have been exposed to someone with COVID-19.
Please maintain social distancing at all times during the ceremony. All TWU staff members working the events will be wearing masks. It is your choice whether to wear a mask or not when you exit your vehicle for photos.
Be prepared for up to an hour's wait once you enter Texas Motor Speedway. Minimal restroom access will be available in the south paddock parking area (inside the Speedway, before you enter the track). You are encouraged to make a restroom stop prior to coming to the Speedway. A large Buc-ees is located directly south of TMS at the southwest corner of I-35/SH114.
What Graduates Need To Bring
- Plan to meet the second car in your party prior to arriving at TMS. The two cars will only be admitted together.
- Be in your regalia when you arrive at the Speedway. There are no facilities available for robing. The TWU Bookstore will have a small tent in the south paddock parking area for any regalia-related needs such as purchasing a tassel.
- Place your car placards on the driver's side dashboard in both cars.
- Bring your name card mailed to you by the Registrar's Office. Feel free to add the phonetic spelling of your name if you feel it will assist the name reader.
What Will Happen at the Speedway?
- Each graduate may bring two vehicles of family and friends (including the graduate's vehicle) to the event.
- At the assigned time, the two vehicles will enter the Speedway together with the graduate in the lead vehicle. Please arrange to meet your second vehicle prior to entering the graduation lineup. The cars must travel together on the track. Directions to Texas Motor Speedway
- Each department is assigned a time to arrive; graduates need to arrive at their specific assigned time—not the ceremony time—in order to ensure the steady flow of vehicles and to avoid a long wait time.
- Graduates - sit on the driver's side of the car. This will make it easier to exit the vehicle at the finish line to participate in the ceremony.
- The Registrar's Office is sending each graduate an email that includes 2 windshield placards (for driver's side dashboards) and the graduate's name card. All of these must be brought to the event.
TWU Public Safety and Speedway staff will check-in vehicles before you can drive through the south tunnel to enter TMS. - Once admitted, follow the orange cones into the south paddock parking where the cars will be directed onto the Speedway track by TWU Public Safety and Speedway staff.
- Once on the track, drive in the coned lane around the 1.5-mile track at a maximum speed of 10 mph until you reach the finish line.
- When you are the next person to exit your car, a TWU staff member will approach your vehicle with an outstretched arm to receive your name card. Please extend your arm with the name card to provide it to the TWU staff member to ensure social distancing.
- When directed by TWU Public Safety officers, the two cars will move into position. Put your car in park.
- Then, you will immediately exit the car; all other occupants must remain in their vehicles. (Please see special instructions below for doctoral graduates.) You will walk up the finish line toward the commencement tent where you will pick up a diploma cover from the table as your name and degree are announced.
- Be sure to stand on the marked spot on the pavement for a picture with the diploma cover. Then walk a few steps to the left (south) and pose for a photo in front of a photo backdrop. Both photos will be made by professional photographers.
- Then, immediately return to your vehicle so that the two vehicles move in preparation for the next graduate. Please be aware of the need to move forward because over 1,300 graduates will be exiting their vehicles during the ceremonies. Each graduate is allocated 30 seconds from the time they exit the vehicle until they drive away.
- The two cars will be directed to take a left U-turn in order to exit the speedway through the north tunnel.
The events will be livestreamed and broadcast on the TMS Big Hoss TV, the world's largest outdoor HD screen. As you and your families wait in the south paddock prior to entering the track, you will be able to see the ceremony progressing on the screen. Tune in to 97.7 FM on your car radios once in the south paddock lot to listen to the livestream.
Special Instructions for Doctoral Graduates
- Doctoral graduates will be hooded by one family member or friend (“hooder”). The Graduate School has prepared a video on hooding which you and your hooder should watch in preparation for the ceremony.
- The hooder should also be seated on the driver's side of the car for quick exit.
- The hooder should have the hood on his/her left arm; please be sure the hood is not buttoned because the hood cannot go over your head if buttoned.
- You and your hooder should walk up the finish line. Directly in front of the diploma cover table, you need to stand perpendicular to the table as the hooder places the hood over your head. The hooder then returns to the car.
- You will then pick up a diploma cover from the table and follow the instructions listed above for all graduates.
Page last updated 11:12 AM, October 25, 2021