Graduation

• Coursera students are welcome to attend the Commencement Ceremony in May. The Commencement Ceremony information including commencement photos collection and ceremony videos has not been updated yet as it relates to details and more information will be able to be provided near the commencement.
• The location of the Commencement Ceremony can differ from year to year. Once determined, graduates are expected to plan their travel and accommodations enabling them to participate. They are also to follow the instructions provided to arrive on time, line up correctly, and process across the stage with their program.

• To attend the commencement ceremony, you must RSVP using the Ceremony Response Form. It is typically launched in January and is due at the end of February. This form is separate from the Application for Graduation.
• Graduates who complete this form before the stated deadline are guaranteed guest tickets for the ceremony. Graduates who miss the end-of-February deadline are not guaranteed any guest tickets.
• You may log back into the form and change your RSVP responses before April if the plans change. The number of guest tickets allocated to each graduate will be announced in late April or early May.
• Name Reader Instructions - Due early April - Contained within the CRF is the option to provide phonetic spelling and an audio recording of the preferred pronunciation of your name. We strongly recommend you complete this option. Otherwise, the name reader will choose how to pronounce your name.
  • Any students who complete the CRF after the early April deadline will have limited opportunity to choose how their name will be pronounced when they cross the stage at the Commencement Ceremony.

• Due early April - For those planning to travel to Chicago and participate in the Commencement Ceremony, there is the option to order a cap and gown contained within the CRF.
• A cap and gown is required to participate in the Commencement Ceremony. No graduate will be permitted to walk across the stage unless dressed appropriately for the ceremony.
• Once the order is placed, the items will be shipped to the specified address, typically one’s home.
• Any students who complete the order form after the April deadline will be required to pay an additional express shipping fee to ensure delivery of regalia before the May ceremony.

No, Illinois Tech does not provide letters specific to entry into the USA to participate in the Commencement Ceremony. An email from the university indicating that the individual is a student and invited to the ceremony is sufficient.

• The Illinois Tech commencement ceremonies will be streamed on YouTube. There will be two ceremonies, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. More details will be available once the ceremony is finalized. 
• There will be a special one-hour Online Graduation ceremony via Zoom for Coursera students only and you will be invited to attend as well. More details will be provided soon. 

• Update your post-graduation contact information in your Illinois Tech portal to ensure your diploma is shipped to the correct location.
• Approximately one month after the Degree Conferral date, diploma mailing begins. Electronic copies of diplomas will be available as well. All shipping and electronic diplomas are managed by Parchment, a third-party company.

Yes. To ensure a seamless transition from student to alumni, it is suggested that you update your primary email address in coursera.org/account-settings to a personal account so that you can ensure you do not lose access to your Coursera account post-graduation. This is particularly important as you shift your primary email use away from your university account when you graduate. As a graduate of Illinois Tech, you may choose to keep your student email address by opting into our forwarding service and providing a personal forwarding address on this intake form. This service allows you to direct your Illinois Tech emails to a personal email address.

Upon graduation, you will retain access to your Degree-associated course materials on Coursera in “Audit mode” (i.e. you will not see the details of graded items) unless indicated in your course access policies. This will allow you to refer back to materials as you move into your professional career or even another degree.

Yes. To stay engaged in the Slack workspace, it is recommended for you to update your email address in your Slack Settings to reflect your personal email address. This will ensure you do not get locked out when your email address changes in the Illinois Tech system. If you forget to do so and are locked out, please contact Slack support who can assist with updating your email address.

Together with the Illinois Tech Alumni Association, our dedicated staff and alumni volunteers provide our Hawk community with a variety of meaningful ways to connect to current students and faculty. This connectivity will bring you the support and resources you’ll need along your journey as you tackle new adventures. At the same time, we hope you will not only engage with Illinois Tech in ways that will fulfill your goals but will also help advance Illinois Tech’s mission.