Head Marshal Training and Information

The head marshal’s primary duty is to process the faculty into the ceremony and recess the faculty at the end of the ceremony. Your job will be to make announcements, provide Commencement Day instructions to faculty, and lead the faculty in the processional and recessional. Your service as head marshal is crucial to the success of UA Little Rock’s commencement ceremonies, and we thank you for your willingness to serve.

The order of the processional will be:

  1. Grand Marshal/Head Marshal
  2. Faculty
  3. Students
  4. Chancellor
  5. Platform Guests

The order for the recessional is:

  1. Grand Marshal/Chancellor/Platform Guests
  2. Head Marshal will lead the faculty out
  3. Graduates 

Instructions

Note: Please read these instructions as not all actions are clearly shown in the videos that follow.

Processional

  1. Upon the cue of the Registrar, the grand marshal and head marshal will lead the two lines of faculty up the center aisle.  The marshals will stop in the space between the student chairs, turn around, and point the faculty on each side to the risers.  Just remain standing here while the faculty loads onto the risers.
  2. The marshals will remain standing in the center aisle as the students are brought in. The Registrar will lead the students at the ceremony. The faculty marshals will be pointed by staff to the appropriate seating.
  3. After the students are seated, the head marshal walks to the back of the center aisle and signals the faculty to come from both risers.  The head marshal will then walk back to the grand marshal and turn and direct the faculty to the black chairs.  Tell the first faculty member who will be seated on stage right to skip a seat as that will be your seat.
  4. After the head marshal seats everyone, they will then return to their chair.
  5. As you will see in the video clips, the faculty seating is the black chairs, and the student seating is the gray chairs.

Click here to watch the Processional Video Clip

Recessional

  1. The grand marshal leads out the platform party.
  2. The head marshal waits until the platform party has exited through the center aisle and signals the faculty to recess in two lines (similar to how they came in).
  3. Faculty will exit through the left tunnel at the end of the gray chairs and begin to form two receiving lines from the right tunnel through the loading dock door and form a corridor to cheer for the graduates.
  4. When the students begin exiting the tunnels, the head marshal will lead the faculty in clapping for the students as they recess in a line through the middle of the faculty.
  5. Once all the students are gone, then dismiss the faculty.

Click here to watch the Recessional Video Clip

What To Do on Commencement Day:

Please meet the faculty in the Legends Room of the Jack Stephens Center by 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, December 16, 2023.