photo by: Mike Yoder/Special to the Journal-World

University of Kansas graduates from the School of Medicine celebrate by popping bottles of champagne at the 2025 University of Kansas Commencement on Sunday, May 18, 2025, at KU’s David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.

Lawrence will be full of families and soon-to-be University of Kansas graduates this weekend.

KU’s Commencement ceremony is set for 10:30 a.m. on Sunday at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium at 11th and Mississippi streets.

While the main traditions will remain the same – graduates walking through the Campanile and down The Hill into the stadium have long been the dominant graduation day scenes – there will be at least one difference in the ceremony.

Spectators won’t be sitting in the traditional spot of the stadium’s east bleachers because those seats have been torn down as part of a renovation of the stadium. Spectators instead will be sitting on the west side of the stadium in upgraded seats that were installed as part of the stadium’s first phase of renovations that were completed last year.

Parking may be the bigger aspect of the event impacted by the renovation. Several hundred parking spaces on the east side of the stadium are no longer available due to the construction activity.

Most other parking lots throughout the Lawrence campus, however, are open and free for the Commencement ceremony. Parking permits are not required for the lots, and the university will be operating a free shuttle service throughout the Lawrence campus from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday.

As always, the Commencement ceremony is weather dependent. KU has no plans for an indoor Commencement event, if severe weather arrives on Sunday. However, KU officials will delay the ceremony and attempt to hold the event later on Sunday, if weather becomes a problem. KU will post updates about any such delays on its social media sites.

Other items to know about the ceremony include:

• Graduates will walk down The Hill in two paths, and spectators wanting to catch a view of the walk will need to know whether their graduates will be in the east or the west line. Graduates from the followings schools will be in the east line: Law, Medicine, Engineering, Business, Health Professions, Nursing, Music, and Professional Studies. Graduates from the following schools will be in the west line: Pharmacy, Education & Human Services, Social Welfare, Journalism & Mass Communications, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, and Architecture & Design.

• Keep an eye on how quickly seats are filling up in the stadium. Tickets are not required to enter the stadium, and seating is on a first come, first served basis. Due to construction, only sections 1 through 17 are available for seating. There will be no overflow seating on the field this year. Gates to the stadium open at 9 a.m..

• A livestream of the Commencement ceremonies will be available on KU’s website. People can access the livestream at commencement.ku.edu.