Tickets will be required for entry for all guests attending the ceremony (including children and infants). Graduates in caps and gowns will not require a ticket. Tickets MUST be requested in advance.

Look out for a survey in early Spring to request the number of tickets you need.

The Commencement ceremony will be held in the Hearst Greek Theatre. Tickets are required but seating for the ceremony is general admission. Please remember to tell your guests that the Greek Theatre is an outdoor amphitheatre and to plan appropriately. Umbrellas and water bottles are allowed, but bags may be searched upon entry.Strollers are not allowed into the Greek Theatre. We will continue to update this website should further restrictions be placed.

Graduates should arrive at 1PM at the South end of the back stage area. Pick up a program when you enter the Greek Theatre, proceed to the EWMBA table and pick up a name card. You will write your name on this card as you want it to be announced when you walk across the stage. This card also serves as record for the photographer, and you’ll list your name and email on the back.

There is no special seating order for the MBA graduates. You will be in a single file line when you go out of the gate, so be sure to stand either in front of or behind the person you wish to sit with. Promptly at 2PM, Pomp and Circumstance will begin and the MBA graduates will march out into the seating areas. Each degree program will recognize several award winners and each will have a student speaker. Evening & Weekend MBA graduates will walk across the stage, have their name read, receive a scroll, shake hands with Dean Ann Harrison and have their picture taken before proceeding back to the seating area. We ask that all students stay for the entire ceremony. Full Time MBA Students will be acknowledged first, followed by the Evening & Weekend MBA Students.

Restrooms are located at both ends of the amphitheater. A wheelchair-accessible restroom is located inside the North entrance.

Event Program: 

• Welcome & Commencement Address
• Full Time MBA Student Awards & Student Speaker
• Full Time MBA Conferring of Degrees
• Evening & Weekend MBA Student Awards & Student Speaker
• Evening & Weekend MBA Conferring of Degrees
• Closing Message

A branding and advertising leader, Cooper leads Visa’s marketing across all regions and functions, including brand, data and insights, social and digital platforms, content, and sponsorships. Cooper, recognized by Fast Company as one of the “100 Most Creative People in Business,” describes himself as “a marketer in the broadest sense: I seek to change things—change ways of thinking but more important to change behaviors.”

Prior to working at Visa, Cooper served as chief marketing officer at BlackRock, shaping the firm’s global brand and marketing strategy.

Cooper has also previously held C-suite positions as chief marketing and creative officer at Buzzfeed, and as PepsiCo’s chief marketing officer of global consumer engagement for more than 12 years. Cooper also served as former chairman of the American Advertising Federation and on the for-profit boards of Burlington Stores and Ogmento/Flyby Media.

He began his career as an entertainment lawyer and was a senior executive at Motown and Def Jam. He is a four-time recipient of Billboard’s “Power 100” and AdColor’s “Legend” award.

He earned an undergraduate degree in business administration at UC Berkeley, and a JD from Harvard Law School, where he served as the Supreme Court Editor of The Harvard Law Review.

Click here to view previous emails about Commencement.