2026 Commencement Ceremony | Class Profile, Tickets, Speakers, and more

Hood College’s 129th annual Commencement ceremonies will be held within Woodsboro Bank Arena housed inside the Ronald J. Volpe Athletic Center on Saturday, May 16. Hood College President Debbie Ricker, Ph.D., will confer degrees upon 523 undergraduate and graduate students in the Class of 2026.

Commencement will feature split ceremonies for undergraduate and graduate classes. The undergraduate ceremony will begin at 10 a.m., and the graduate ceremony will begin at 3 p.m. The undergraduate and graduate ceremonies will be livestreamed in their entirety via the Hood College YouTube channel and will also be livestreamed to screens on campus.

Commencement Ticketing

Tickets to this year’s ceremony will be issued to students digitally. Tickets are available to participating students now.

Undergraduate students will receive six tickets each, and graduate students will receive eight tickets each. Students who do not need all their tickets are encouraged to donate unused tickets. Unused ticket donations will be redistributed to those who make additional ticket requests beginning on May 4.

Ticketholders have the option to print their tickets and present them physically, or scan tickets via their mobile device. If your ticket is lost or you cannot retrieve it from email or text, contactmarketingoffice@hood.edu.

The Class of 2026

Hood’s undergraduate Class of 2026 totals 277 students from 14 different states and Washington, D.C. The three most popular majors for the undergraduate class are biology, psychology and business administration. The undergraduate class includes 30 “legacy” graduates, indicating that a direct relative of theirs also attended Hood. Additionally, 10 members of the undergraduate class are veterans and/or active-duty service members.

Hood’s 2026 graduate class totals 243 members. The class features 48 students who are graduating with a 4.0 grade point average, as well as 22 legacy graduates and seven students who are veterans and/or active-duty service members. Included in the graduate class of 2026 is the first-ever cohort of students from Hood’s low-residency MFA in Creative Writing.

The class also includes nine graduates from Hood’s doctoral program, with three students receiving their Doctor of Business Administration degree and six receiving their Doctor of Organizational Leadership degree. 

Featured Commencement Speakers

Nilah Magruder ’05 and Derrick Harrigan ’07, MBA ’14, will serve as the featured speakers for the College’s 129th undergraduate and graduate Commencement ceremonies.

Magruder became the first Black woman to write for Marvel Comics in 2016 and has since worked on more than a dozen Marvel projects including “Marvel Rising,” “Edge of Spider-verse” and “Vault of Spiders.” Following her graduation from Hood in 2005, Magruder earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Computer Animation from Ringling College of Art & Design in 2010 and has since built a more than 15-year career in television animation and marketing for television and film.

Harrigan earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology in 2007 and a Master of Business Administration in 2014 from Hood. He was among the first class of men admitted to Hood in fall 2003 when Hood became a co-ed institution. Harrigan has served on Hood’s Board of Associates since 2022, serving as vice chair from 2023 to 2025 and now as chair since 2025. He is currently a fiscal and policy analyst in the Office of Management and Budget, Montgomery County Government.

Additional speakers include Hood College President Debbie Ricker, Ph.D., as well as undergraduate Senior Class President Kate Weir ’26 and doctoral student Angie Auldridge ’05, DOL’26.

More Commencement-related Events

Saturday, May 9

Doctoral Hooding Ceremony | 12:30-5:30 p.m. | Coffman Chapel

The doctoral hooding ceremony is a specialized academic tradition where doctoral candidates are formally recognized by having their academic hood placed over their heads by faculty advisers.

Monday, May 11

Nutrition Pinning Ceremony | 3-5 p.m. | Whitaker Campus Commons

This event celebrates graduating dietetics and nutrition students, marking their transition into the profession and recognizing their hard work.

Wednesday, May 13

Graduate Degree Recipient Reception | 6 p.m. | Coblentz Dining Hall

Hosted by April Boulton, Ph.D., dean of the graduate school, this event for faculty, graduate degree recipients and their guests includes the presentation of Graduate Student Awards and Graduate Teaching Excellence Awards.

Friday, May 15

ROTC Commissioning Ceremony | 9 a.m. | Whitaker Campus Center, Commons

Graduating members of the U.S. Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program at Hood are formally commissioned as Army officers with the rank of second lieutenant and the intent to serve on active duty, either in the Army Reserve or with the National Guard.

Nursing Pinning Ceremony | 1 p.m. | Coffman Chapel

The annual Nursing Pinning ceremony is a symbolic welcoming into the nursing profession of newly or soon-to-be graduated students from Hood’s nursing program. Nurses are presented with pins by either faculty members, family or a person of significant importance to them. A reception will follow the ceremony on the Blazer Hall patio.

Baccalaureate Service | 7 p.m. | Coffman Chapel

Graduating students, their families and community members are invited to an annual Baccalaureate Service, which includes a multi-denominational service as well as a celebration and farewell of the graduating class.

Senior Sunset | 8 p.m. | Coffman Chapel Patio

Members of the graduating class are invited to join in celebration of their achievements and one final evening together on the Quad with music, games, a photobooth and more.

Saturday, May 16

Strawberry Breakfast | 7:30-9 a.m. | Coblentz Dining Hall

Strawberry Breakfast is a Hood tradition dating back to 1928, which invites graduates and their families to a breakfast buffet that includes strawberries, ice cream and sticky buns on the morning of Commencement.

A ticket is required for all attendees, including the graduating student. Each graduating student is entitled to one complimentary ticket. Complimentary tickets are available online until noon on Wednesday, May 13.

Additional tickets will be available for purchase by card (cash not accepted) at the door in Coblentz Hall Dining Room the morning of Commencement. Children aged five or younger eat free. 

For frequently updated information regarding the ceremony, visit hood.edu/commencement.

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