Ceremony Information for Guests
Before the Ceremony
Allow ample time to arrive on campus, park, and enter the Pilgrim Chapel before the graduates enter the building.
Free parking is available on campus. Uniformed officers will be positioned throughout campus to assist guests in finding available parking. Shuttles will be available in all parking areas to transport guests from parking to the Pilgrim Chapel.
The Pilgrim Chapel Sanctuary will open for guests approximately 45 minutes prior to the beginning of the commencement service. Please communicate this information to those invited to attend the service. Remember that graduates are asked to limit invited guests to no more than six.
Seating is on a first-come/first-served basis. Guests may reserve seats for others not yet present only until 10 minutes prior to the beginning of the commencement service.
To ensure the safety of all in attendance, guests are not permitted to stand in the aisles, entrances, exits, and passageways of the Pilgrim Chapel Sanctuary.
In compliance with fire safety regulations, admission to the sanctuary will be closed when seating capacity is reached.
Handicap seating is available in the Pilgrim Chapel Sanctuary. Handicapped guests can be driven to the front of Pilgrim Chapel for access to the sanctuary. DBU security officers will be stationed throughout the campus grounds on the day of Commencement. Upon campus arrival, guests should notify a DBU security officer that they need to proceed to the handicap entrance. If you have any questions regarding handicap seating, please call (214) 333-5394.
Remote Broadcast
The remote broadcast will be available in the lower level of the Pilgrim Chapel in Rogers Theater and Sadler Hall for adult guests unable to be seated in the Pilgrim Chapel Sanctuary.
Accommodations for adults with children are available in the lower level of the Pilgrim Chapel, Room LL07, where the remote broadcast of the service may be viewed.
During the Ceremony
Some colleges and universities have both a baccalaureate religious service and a commencement ceremony for graduating students. At Dallas Baptist University, both programs are merged together into one event. DBU considers the graduation ceremony to be a worship experience, as well as an opportunity to recognize our graduates for their achievements.
Ceremonies last less than two hours.
Disruptions
The commencement service at DBU is designed to be a spiritual and reverent ceremony. Cheering and yelling during the reading of the graduates’ names are not permitted. Thus, the University requests that the audience hold all applause until the end of the service after all the graduates in each degree area have been presented their diplomas. Please be sure to share this information with family and friends so that they are not embarrassed during the ceremony.
To ensure a respectful and non-disruptive environment for the graduates and their guests, DBU prohibits noisemakers of any kind. The University asks all guests to refrain from cheering, yelling, or creating loud outbursts during the degree presentations. Balloons, posters/signs, horns, whistles, and other noise devices are not permitted in the sanctuary.
Children
Commencement services typically run between 90 and 120 minutes in length. While children do not intend to be disruptive, talking, crying, and similar behaviors are not uncommon for children of this age, yet this is disruptive to others who are attending the services. Should children be brought to the service and become disruptive, parents may be asked to take the child outside of the sanctuary.
Accommodations for children and their parents are available in the lower level of the Pilgrim Chapel, Room LL06, where the remote broadcast of the service may be viewed.
FLASH Photography will be photographing each graduate during the commencement ceremony. Complimentary proofs will be mailed to the graduates within one week of the ceremony. If you have any questions, please contact Flash Photography via their website at www.FLASHphotography.com.
Family and/or friends will not be able to stand in the aisle or in the seating areas to take
photographs or videotape the ceremony. Professional photographers or videographers other than those employed by DBU are not allowed.
After the Ceremony
Recessional
Following the closing prayer, the platform party will exit the Pilgrim Chapel Sanctuary first, followed by the faculty and then the graduates. Faculty marshals will direct the recessional out of the Pilgrim Chapel Sanctuary and to the reception. Guests will be asked to remain in their seats until all graduates have exited the building. Graduates will have the opportunity to greet family and friends following commencement services.
Reception Honoring Graduates
Graduates will exit the Pilgrim Chapel Sanctuary at the conclusion of the service and make their way to the commencement reception. As the graduates exit, guests are asked to remain seated, and not fill the aisles. Guests are invited to join their graduates at the reception. Graduates will not return to the Pilgrim Chapel Sanctuary after exiting.
Receptions for commencement services are held in the Hillcrest Great Hall in the John G. Mahler Student Center.