Preparing to Graduate

Congratulations on your upcoming graduation!

Listed here are steps to help you prepare to graduate.

BEFORE graduation:

• Apply to Graduate: If you will receive a Master's or Specialist degree you must fill out a SLIS graduation application. The form can be printed from our website.
  • The deadline (to have your name in the commencement program) for May, June, and August graduation is March 1; and December graduation is September 15.
  Ph.D. students have additional forms to complete. Contact Arlene Merkel. Students in joint degree programs have to apply both to SLIS and to their other school or department to graduate.
• Confirm You Are Ready to Graduate: The SLIS Recorder will do a degree check after you turn in your graduation application. If there are any problems, she will contact you. Feel free to check back with the SLIS Office to confirm that you have met the graduation requirements. A final transcript for your bachelor's degree must be in your SLIS file. You should also check to be sure that any incompletes taken while at SLIS have now been changed to grades.
• Name or Address Changes can be made at the Registrar's Office in Franklin Hall 100. You can also check and update your address on OneStart.
• Diploma - Name and Address Issues: If your name on Onestart is not written as you want it to read on your diploma, you need to contact the Registrar's Office in Franklin Hall. Their general phone number is: 812-855-0121.
  • Diplomas are mailed to the permanent address you have listed with the Registrar about 3-4 months after final grades are recorded. International students can complete a label with the Registrar to be used for mailing the diploma. Sometimes there are too many address abbreviations on INSITE/OneStart.
• Order your Cap, Gown, and Hood: The IU Bookstore manages the commencement rentals. They also have Graduation Announcements available for purchase. IU Bookstore (855-6018): click on graduation. It may need to be ironed before graduation day.
• Wheelchair or Seating Concerns for the Graduation Ceremony? Contact the Alumni Association at 812-855-4822 or tollfree 800-824-3044; email: iualumni@indiana.edu or go to their website.
  

Graduation Day:

Schedule details can be found at the IU Ceremonies website.

• Line-up is usually held in the Fieldhouse (next to Assembly Hall).
• Look for the SLIS Banner -- (a good place to take photos).
• It helps to have buttons on your shirt to keep you hood in place.
• It helps to have a few bobby pins to keep your cap in place.

The ceremony has wonderful music and speakers. It runs smoothly, and is not too long. SLIS graduates will sit together. Your master's hood has a yellow trim (indicating library &/or information science). It is inset with red and white (Indiana University's colors). If friends or family members attend, have them watch for both the SLIS banner, and for the yellow trimmed hoods.

AFTER graduation:

• Transcript: Transcripts will reflect your degree within three to four weeks of completion of the last class. You can pre-pay with the Registrar to have a final transcript sent once your degree is certified.
• Unsubscribe from SLIS-L: Compose an e-mail message to listserv@indiana.edu
  • Leave the subject line blank.
  • In the first line of the body of the message put: unsubscribe slis-l.
  • Send the message.
  • You should receive an e-mail confirmation that you are unsubscribed.
• Alumni Association benefits:
  1. six months of free membership
  2. lifetime IU email forwarding address
  3. publications from the University and from SLIS
  4. alumni clubs around the world
  5. homecoming and reunion activities
  6. alumni family camp in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
  7. and much more.
• Post your Job Success on our website!
• Library Journal Annual Survey: You will be mailed information inviting you to participate in this online survey. Results are posted in the October issue of Library Journal. The survey helps to track national placement trends in library and information science.
• Help recruit the next class of SLIS students:
  1. Refer a prospective student to our website, or request an application packet to give to them.
  2. Add a link to the SLIS website from your own homepage. This helps improve our rankings on search engines.

Questions? Contact the SLIS office: