Ph.D. degrees are awarded monthly by the University Graduate School (UGS).  

Candidates for the Ph.D. degree who wish to participate in the graduation commencement ceremony, must complete and submit the Commencement Participation Application Form six (6) months before the expected date of graduation.   

The final deadline for this eDoc is February 25 for the Spring (May) ceremony, and September 25 for the Fall (December) ceremony. This is a strict UGS deadline, and the eDoc must be turned in no later than these dates in order for UGS to honor it. 

This eDoc is not a promise to the student to graduate during a certain month, but rather a way that UGS can track who intends to graduate so their name may be printed in the commencement program and read out loud at the commencement ceremony.  

The commencement ceremony is a celebratory event which happens twice per year.  The May ceremony is for all students who will graduate between January and August. The December ceremony is for all students who will graduate between September and December. 

The application form is available at one.iu.edu/task/iub/phd-commencement-participation-application 

Information about degree requirement completion is available at https://graduate.indiana.edu/academic-requirements/steps/phd.html

Please note, this application is only for participation in the commencement ceremony, and is a separate process from degree conferral (actually graduating from the degree program and receiving the Ph.D. degree).