The University of Houston is excited to celebrate its graduates during the upcoming spring commencement ceremonies. All graduates will have the opportunity to walk across the stage, have their name called and their photo taken! The details regarding the Law Center’s ceremony is as follows
Date: |
Saturday, May 13, 2023 |
Time: |
2:00pm - 4:30pm |
Location: |
Fertitta Center |
Clear Bag Policy: The Fertitta Center enforces a clear bag policy to ensure the safety of our graduates and guests. Items such as backpacks, purses, and diaper bags are not permitted, and all attendees are strongly encouraged to not bring any bags to the facility.
The following items will be allowed inside the Fertitta Center:
Exceptions will be made for medically necessary items after proper inspection at the doors by arena personnel.
Live Stream link: The live stream link will go “live” one hour prior to the start of the ceremony, University Commencement Live Streams - University of Houston (uh.edu).
Guest Commencement Tickets: Tickets will be required for all commencement ceremonies taking place at the University of Houston. Tickets will be distributed to the graduating students on Tuesday, April 11. Each graduate will receive six (6) electronic tickets. Graduates themselves will not require a ticket. Children two (2) years of age and under will not require tickets.
All commencement tickets are complimentary. We do not condone the selling of commencement tickets. Please be wary of individuals attempting to sell tickets.
Guest Ticket Lottery: Exciting News! Beginning spring 2023, we will introduce a commencement ticket lottery program. This program will give graduates an opportunity to give back unused tickets to the commencement ticket pool. Tickets that are given back from fellow graduates will be reallocated to other graduates who need additional commencement tickets for their respective commencement ceremony.
Students interested in entering a commencement lottery to receive additional tickets can submit a request to be placed on the waitlist. The commencement lottery will be open to submit your request beginning April 13 at 10:00am through April 18 at 11:59pm CST. Please note, the availability of extra tickets is not guaranteed and depends on the number of graduates and amount of returned or unclaimed tickets; please plan accordingly.
Students will be notified of the commencement lottery results by end of day April 19. If selected, your additional tickets will be sent to you electronically on April 21.
Further information on ticket distribution will be made available in the coming weeks.
For questions about commencement tickets please email, gradtickets@uh.edu
Parking: TBA
Attention: August 2023 graduates need to RSVP to participate in the ceremony by March 31st; you will officially file for August graduation online in May.
THE HONORABLE DIANA SALDAÑA
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
The Honorable Diana Saldaña serves as a United States District Judge for the Southern District of Texas in Laredo. She was appointed to the position by President Barack Obama in February of 2011. Judge Saldaña received a unanimous vote of 94-0 during her judicial confirmation proceedings.
Born and raised in Carrizo Springs, Texas, Judge Saldaña is the third of six children raised by her mother, Blanca Hernandez-Rodriguez. For much of her childhood, Judge Saldaña was a migrant student. Every summer, she would move from Texas to Minnesota and North Dakota to work the sugar beet, soybean, and potato fields alongside her mother and siblings.
Judge Saldaña was the first person in her family to graduate from college, receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Government from the University of Texas at Austin. In 1997, she received her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law. During law school, Judge Saldaña served as a law clerk for Migrant Legal Services based out of Fargo, North Dakota. She was the first former migrant worker to work as a law clerk for the agency.
Upon graduating from law school, Judge Saldaña began her legal career in Laredo as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable George P. Kazen, then Chief Judge for the Southern District of Texas. After her clerkship, Judge Saldaña joined the U.S. Department of Justice as a Trial Attorney in the Employment Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C. Thereafter, Judge Saldaña joined the law firm of Beirne, Maynard & Parsons, L.L.P, in Houston. She then moved back to Laredo to serve as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas. Before her appointment as a District Judge, Judge Saldaña served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of Texas, Laredo Division.
Judge Saldaña strives to use her experience and position to mentor students of all ages and build a support network for the youth of Laredo. She hosts moot courts for local grade schools, counsels first-generation high schoolers with the college application process, and accepts college students from the local university as interns in her chambers.
Judge Saldaña is married to Roberto Carlos Arredondo, an officer with the Laredo Police Department. They are the proud parents of two sons and two daughters.
April 26th – May 12th
Regalia Pick-up from the Campus Bookstore
Regalia pick-up will be available at the Campus Store only. Regalia will only be released to students who have completed the Graduate Survey.
(The Campus bookstore is not open on weekends)
Graduate Survey
You must complete the Graduate survey 48 hours before picking up your regalia. The Career Office will email the survey to you before April 26th.
May 1st – 12th
Line Card and Commencement Day instructions
Participants must pick up their Line-card and Commencement Day instructions in the Office of Student Affairs
May 13th
Commencement Ceremony
2:00 pm at the Fertitta Center
Graduates must arrive no later than 1:00pm for line-up
TBA
Law Commencement Reception
The Law Center will pay for the regalia rental for those students who complete the Graduate Survey, which will be sent to the graduates via email by the Career Development Office. If you choose not to complete the survey, you will be responsible for the rental payment for your regalia.
Graduates must order regalia online through Herff-Jones ( https://herff.ly/uh ) – February 6, 2023 to March 24, 2023. Click on the link for the Law Center, then click on the Cap & Gown Icon. Lastly, click on the Graduation Regalia icon and fill in your information.
There will be other items listed, (Keepsake stole, mini-tassel, keychain, etc.) that you can purchase as mementos, but these are not required. You get to keep the tam and hood as a keepsake from the Law Center.
Regalia ordered after the deadline will go through the Campus Store only, and availability will be based on surplus in the store. There’s no guarantee that regalia will be available in your size.
Distribution of regalia is April 26, 2023 – May 12, 2023, at the Campus Bookstore. Regalia will only be released to students who have completed the online Graduate Survey, unless the student chooses to pay for the regalia themselves. Please be sure to complete the survey a minimum of 48 hours before you go to pick up your regalia.
Campus Store – (713) 741-7095 or houston@bkstr.com
If you miss any of these deadlines, you should contact the UH bookstore immediately, (713) 741- 6311. The Law Center cannot obtain regalia for you.
Note: Remember to return your regalia by the deadline you received from the bookstore. The bookstore will be present after the ceremony on May 15th to receive regalia returns.
Line-cards and additional information will be available to pick up in the Office of Student Affairs May 1 – May 12, 2023.
The only honor cords worn at the Law Commencement ceremony are those special honor cords presented by the Order of the Barons to their members.
The Law Center Commencement is scheduled for Saturday, May 13, 2023, at the Fertitta Center, beginning at 2:00 pm and lasts approximately 2 hours.
There will be Campus Store personnel to take your regalia after the ceremony or you may return it to the Campus Bookstore by the stated deadline you received from the bookstore. A late fee and/or a “hold” will be placed on your record if you miss the stated deadline.
The Law Commencement Ceremony is a hooding ceremony only; diplomas are not handed out at the ceremony. Your diploma will be mailed to you later during the Summer after your final grades are posted, and the University has cleared your record of all academic and financial obligations. If you have an outstanding balance with the University for any expense such as tuition, parking citations, library fines, etc.; you will not be certified as a graduate until it is resolved.
NOTE: The name on the diploma and the mailing address is based on the information that you submitted when you applied to graduate online.
A professional photographer will be taking pictures of individual graduates. The proofs will be mailed and/or emailed to the graduates using the information submitted to the Office of Student Affairs.
December 2022 graduates, candidates for May 2023 and August 2023 graduates are invited to participate in the Law Commencement Ceremony.
Your name will appear in the program as indicated on the Commencement RSVP or as reported to the University on the graduation application if an RSVP is not received. Honors will be noted in the program and announced at the ceremony based on your final cumulative GPA.
Your name will appear in the program the way you listed your name on the Commencement RSVP or as reported to the University through the online Graduation application if an RSVP is not received. The Fall 2022 semester cumulative grade point average will be used to determine honors for the program only and announced at the Ceremony. Your final GPA (after Spring 2023 grades are reported) will determine if you graduate with honors based on the ranges below.
The Office of Student Affairs conducts a general audit to estimate which students will be eligible to graduate in August, but those students are not certified for graduation until after the Law Commencement Ceremony. Therefore, if you plan to participate in the Commencement ceremony or want your name to be listed in the program, you must submit your RSVP by the March 31st deadline. No determination of honors will be listed in the program for August candidates.
| Summa Cum Laude | 3.810 to 4.000 |
| Magna Cum Laude | 3.680 to 3.809 |
| Cum Laude | 3.580 to 3.679 |
The Order of the Coif is an honorary scholastic society, the purpose of which is to encourage excellence in legal education by fostering a spirit of careful study, recognizing those who as law students attained a high grade of scholarship, and honoring those who as lawyers, judges and teachers attained high distinction for their scholarly or professional accomplishments.
For each academic year, measured from July 1st to June 30th, the Charter school may elect to membership those student’s whose grade record ranks in the top 10 percent of all the graduates for the designated period and who have five (5) semesters of graded law coursework.
The graduates will be ranked, and the top 10% will be invited to membership for the Order of the Coif.
Office of Student Affairs
Phone: (713)743-2182
Email: dgabriel@uh.edu
University of Houston – 2023 University Commencement Schedule: University Commencement Schedule - University of Houston (uh.edu)
