Marshals
If you are interested in serving as a marshal for one or more ceremonies, please assist us by using the online RSVP form. We ask for your RSVP by April 21.
What do marshals do?
Marshals are required for each convocation ceremony to guide the graduating students before, during, and after the ceremony. A marshal may be a VIU faculty or staff member. Marshals are seated with an assigned group of graduating students and are required to wear regalia*.
A program may have one or more marshals depending on the number of graduates from it. Some programs are grouped together with a single marshal. The number of students assigned to each marshal is usually no more than 30.
Each marshal is asked to arrive at a student muster location 75 minutes before the ceremony in order to:
- assist the graduates in putting on their regalia;
hand out oath cards and accompany the graduates to their seating area in the gym;
line the graduates up next to the stage to receive their credential;
lead the students out of the gym at the end of the ceremony.
A marshals’ information meeting will be held in May. A detailed Powerpoint will also be distributed.
*If you do not own your own regalia, you can rent VIU regalia from Gaspard between March 13 - May 3 at buildagrad.ca/viufaculty, or contact grad_sales@gaspard.ca to purchase.
Other Convocation Volunteers
If you are interested in assisting for one or more ceremonies, please assist us by using the online RSVP form. We ask for your RSVP by April 21.
Volunteering at convocation is a great way to interact with our graduating students on these special days. Opportunities for interested employees include:
Convocation Hosts and Greeters to give directions to grads and their supporters. These will be positioned in the gym and also at a variety of locations around campus.
Pinners/Assistants to help graduates get their regalia on properly prior to the start of the ceremonies.
“Runners” to offer miscellaneous assistance in response to unforeseen issues that arise.
Check-in Assistants at mustering locations for graduates, faculty, and VIP’s.
Other roles to be determined
You can volunteer to help at one, two, or all three ceremonies. The exact time commitment is dependent on the role you will be taking on, but generally these are each approximately four-hour commitments.
A volunteers information meeting with further details will be held in May.
If you are willing to volunteer for any of these opportunities, and your supervisor or manager approves your time away, please assist us by using the online RSVP form.