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Commencement Ceremony 2025
Date: Friday May 23, 2025 at 2PM (approximately 2 hours)
Location: Greek Theatre
Keynote Speaker: Manish Chandra, MBA ’95
Student Speaker: TBD
Keynote Speaker Announcement: Manish Chandra, MBA ’95
This year’s Commencement speaker is Manish Chandra, the founder and CEO of Poshmark, where he also serves on the company’s board of directors. As CEO, Chandra is responsible for guiding the vision, strategy, and growth of the company.
Chandra applied more than 20 years of experience building and scaling companies to create Poshmark, a social marketplace that combines the human connection of physical shopping with the scale, reach, ease, and selection benefits of ecommerce.
Prior to founding Poshmark in 2011, Chandra co-founded and served as CEO of Kaboodle, an online shopping website. Kaboodle was acquired by Hearst Communications in August 2007. Before Kaboodle, Chandra held executive positions at Versant, Versata (IPO 2000, acquired by Trilogy), and Sybase (IPO 1991, acquired by SAP).
In addition to his MBA from Haas, Chandra holds an MS in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin, and a B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.
There are four items that you need for Commencement: a cap, gown, MBA hood* and tassel. They are available for purchase or rental as a package called the Master Gown Package. Select or indicate “Business Administration as your Program/Major during check out.
* Please note: “Drab” or light brown is the standard hood color for the MBA degree. Samples will be available in the EWMBA Program Office if you want to see the items.
There are two ways to purchase these items:
- Online: You can order your Master Gown Package from two stores close to campus and have the items shipped to you, or you can pick them up in the store:
- The (official) Cal Student Store. Be sure to also add a Master Hood in the MBA “drab” color, found on their website in the My Grad section
- The Student Store (Fall Rush)
- Please note: You will need to provide your height, degree and department in the special instruction field on the review and order page.
- If you would like to RENT your regalia, please use the link to the Rental Gown here. Please note that if you are renting your regalia, hoods are still sold separately
- Rental Gowns are DUE FOR RETURN to the CAL Student Store on Friday, May 30, 2025
- In-person: You can purchase and pick up your regalia in one visit to the Graduation Department of Cal Student Store (2495 Bancroft Way in the Student Union) or The Student Store (2470 Bancroft between Telegraph and Dana) . We recommend that you visit the store during off-peak hours, such as early in the morning or late in the afternoon to avoid long lines. Please allow at least 1/2 hour to order and pick-up your regalia. Check the websites for updated hours.
Please be careful with your tassel to ensure that you don’t lose it. They do not hook onto the cap very well, so we recommend waiting until you arrive at the Greek to put on your tassel. We will have tape available at the check-in table to help with this as well.
EWMBA Students can Request a Visa Support Letter for commencement.
FTMBA Students should inquire with their Program Office.
If you require an accommodation for effective communication (ASL interpreting/CART captioning, alternative media formats, etc.) to fully participate in this event, please contact Kate Tobias by April 30th. We kindly ask for at least 7 days notice before the event to allow 7-10 days for processing your request. Your timely communication is appreciated to ensure we can provide the necessary accommodations
Each year, the Program Office receives a limited supply of graduation gowns, caps, and hoods that have been donated by the previous year’s graduates for use by the current graduating class. This donated regalia is divided up evenly between the Full Time & EW Program Offices, where they are distributed to those who fill out the Hand-Me-Gown Interest Form via a lottery. To learn more about the Hand-Me-Gown Program for 2025 review below.
Hand-Me-Gown 2025 Lottery Deadline
Please fill out the Hand-Me-Gown Class of 2025 Interest Form by Thursday, April 10, at 11:59 PM PDT if you are interested in participating in the Hand-Me-Gown lottery program.
Lottery Winner Instructions
Students will be notified of their results via email on Wednesday, April 16. The regalia pick-up window is from Wednesday, April 16 to Wednesday, May 14. Regalia must be picked up in the Program Office during our normal business hours. Students who were selected may also designate a friend or classmate to pick up their regalia for them. Regalia will NOT be available for pickup at WE Lead.
Please note that the regalia will be given to lottery winners “as-is”— it will not be laundered or sanitized.
Please view the Commencement email archive to view previous emails about Commencement.