Spring 2024 BBA Graduation Celebration
Friday, May 10 | 2:00pm – 4:00pm
Let’s Celebrate!
Join us for the BBA Graduation Celebration honoring December 2023 & May 2024 graduates from the Wisconsin School of Business Undergraduate Program. The celebration will be held at the Alliant Energy Center on Friday, May 10, 2024 from 2:00 – 4:00 pm, doors open at 12:30 pm. More details to come.
RSVP
RSVP’s are due Friday, May 3. Seating is estimated based on guest count provided and is available first come first served.
2024 Student Speaker – Tess A. Trueblood, BBA ’24
The 2024 BBA Graduation Celebration selected student speaker is Tess Trueblood, a Marketing major with a certificate in Consulting. Tess joined UW-Madison from Kohler High School in Kohler, Wisconsin after a life changing leukemia diagnosis three weeks before her high school graduation. Circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic allowed Tess to participate in her freshman year at UW along with her incoming peers in a virtual learning environment as she worked closely with her medical team managing her diagnosis.
Upon returning to campus Tess has thrived academically, in co-curriculars and medically. She is the current marketing director for AreaRED, an on-campus tutor and has been a member of Her Campus, MKT, and WIRE. Through her experience with AreaRED, Tess says, “I have made lifelong friends and have gained such a rich experience of UW-Madison by taking over 30,000+ photos from Badger sporting events! The people and experience will for sure be missed after graduation!”
Outside of her campus involvement, Tess has founded her own photography business, t.a.t.photography, and is the inspiration and advisor to Shoes 4 Hope, a charity with the mission to spread hope by amplifying the voices of pediatric cancer patients. Tess would like to extend thanks to her support system, “I would like to thank my career coach, Debbie Whitman, and favorite professor, Tom Burkard, as well as my family, UW friends, and medical teams that have gotten me to where I am today and have helped me become the most successful student I could be throughout the last four years.”
Tess is has accepted an offer after graduation in Chicago as a management specialist for an engineering consultancy firm. Her speech will focus on the importance of everyone sharing their stories as a way to foster human connections.
“Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.”
Robert McKee
UW Campus Commencement
Graduates are encouraged to attend both the BBA Graduation Celebration as well as the official campus commencement at Camp Randall on Saturday, May 11 at 12:00 pm. Be sure to check out the University’s Commencement website for additional information.
Information for Graduates
Post-Graduation Survey
Please fill out this 4-minute Post-Graduation Survey on Handshake telling us about your plans after graduation. The data helps inform students of what makes an offer competitive, so by completing this survey, you will help us help future Badgers.
This link will only work if you are on track to graduate or have applied to graduate.
Reserve Your Cap and Gown
Graduates should wear academic regalia (cap and gown) over business professional attire for the Spring BBA Graduation Celebration and the official campus Commencement at Camp Randall. View the University Book Store’s timeline for deadlines to order and pick up your regalia.
Diploma Covers
Graduates will receive their diploma cover as they cross the stage with their name read. All gradates will complete a name card upon arrival and will take that to the stage for their name to be read. Please consider if you will need to use phonetic spelling to ensure your name is pronounced correctly.
Arrival & Seating
All graduates should arrive no later than 1:30 pm and report to Hall B. There you will receive your name card to complete and further instructions. All gradates will enter the main Hall together, but there is no assigned seating. Graduates are welcome to stand by their friends and process into the Hall together for seating.
Guest Information
Food and Beverage
Water stations with disposable cups are located throughout the Alliant Energy Center. No other food or beverage is provided for this event. There are no concessions or vending machines available. Guests are welcome to bring their own bottled water into the event and personal snack items.
Restrooms
Restrooms are located in the general seating area in Halls C&D along the far wall, past the seating. Please look for signage upon arrival.
Arrival and Seating
Doors open at 12:30 pm, and we ask that all guests are seated by 2:00 pm to begin the program. Upon arrival, graduates should report Hall B, however, guests can go directly to Halls C&D to find seating. Seating is first come – first served. Most seating is located on the ground level, with some additional bleacher seating along the back wall.
Live Stream
The program will be live streamed starting at 2:00 pm CST. A link will be provided on this website closer to the event.
Program
A downloadable program will be available on this website closer to the event. A printed program with graduate names will be available for all attendees of the Saturday, May 11 Camp Randall Commencement. Graduates must have applied to graduate prior to March 29 to have their name featured in the Camp Randall program.
Accessibility & Parking
Accessibility
The Wisconsin School of Business is committed to creating an inclusive and accessible event. If you need a reasonable accommodation to attend this event, please have your graduate include this request in their RSVP, or contact BBA Graduation at bbagraduation@wsb.wisc.edu. All reasonable accommodation requests should be made before Friday, April 28, 2023. We will attempt to fulfill requests made after this date, but cannot guarantee they will be met.
Most seating is on the ground level of the Alliant Energy Exhibition Hall. Reserved seating will be available near the entrance for those with accessibility needs and wheelchairs plus one guest.
Wheelchairs are not available at the Alliant Energy Center. Guests should provide their own equipment for accessibility needs.
The event is live-streamed online, and also projected on large display screens at the event. On the live-stream and screens, closed captioning is provided for the hearing impaired.
Parking
Parking at Alliant Energy Center – Exhibition Hall is complimentary to BBA Graduation Celebration attendees. Accessible parking is available first come first serve, but everyone is welcome to use the drop-off lane next to the entrance prior to parking. For a parking map, please see Alliant Energy Center parking information.
If you do not have transportation to the Alliant Energy Center, consider taking the bus or using a ride share service, such as Uber or Lyft. Bus Route O runs from Johnson Street to the Alliant Energy Center every hour.
Check it out!
Want a preview of what to expect? Check out last year’s graduation celebration website for photos and videos.
Questions can be sent to bbagraduation@wsb.wisc.edu