Location and Tickets

Ceremonies are held in the WWU Carver Academic Building on the Bellingham campus.

Diverse crowd watches the ceremony from the stands.
View from behind graduates in their regalia with crowd blurred in the background.
Crowd cheers as graduates participate in the ceremony.

Guest Seating Notice

Doors open one hour prior to each ceremony. Saving seats is discouraged. To allow as many guests into the facility as possible, we follow a first come, first seated process. Seats will be filled with guests who are on site.

WWU Commencement ceremonies are non-ticketed events. Seating is first come, first served. Doors open one hour prior to each ceremony, and guests should be seated ten minutes prior to the ceremony start time because entrances will be closed while the graduates process into Carver. Doors will reopen when the procession is complete.

This is a joyous time for all graduates to celebrate their many accomplishments with friends and family, and we will do our very best to accommodate as many guests as we can. Our ticketless experience (and the first-come, first-seated practice) is dependent on your goodwill. We ask that families refrain from saving large numbers of seats in Carver. We will need your help to ensure that all graduates and their loved ones have a good experience.

Ceremonies may exceed the capacity of Carver. When capacity is reached we will direct guests to overflow seating to view the livestream. Overflow seating in SMATE hall (south of the Carver facility) is available one-hour before each ceremony time with open seating. SMATE classrooms have chairs with backs and tables. Some guests may want to consider whether or not viewing will be more comfortable via the livestream from off campus.