Frequently Asked Questions

Please register on the RSVP page. If you are having trouble with your registration, please call 617-353-2122.

Please check the email address you are using. If you received an electronic save-the-date or invitation, please register using the email address to which those communications were sent.

If you received a printed invitation and are not sure which email address to use, please contact presidential functions at 617-353-2122 or pres2024@bu.edu.

Please visit the Where to Stay page on this website for information about blocks of rooms available at select area hotels at various price points.

Information specific to delegates will be posted on the Delegate Information page as it becomes available. 

Yes, we would be happy to have your institution represented at our historic event. If a president is unable to attend and would like to send a delegate, please use the RSVP form and include the name and email to whom the invitation was originally sent to begin. There will be an option within the RSVP form to indicate that someone other than the original recipient will be attending and a request for the delegate’s information.

Yes, we will be live-streaming Research on Tap, the Inauguration Service of Prayer and Thanksgiving and the Inauguration Ceremony.

If your institution would like to send a message of good wishes or other acknowledgement to our new president, correspondence may be sent to President Gilliam by the following methods:

The Inauguration of President Melissa Gilliam will take place at 2 pm on Friday, September 27, 2024, at Boston University’s Agganis Arena (925 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA) on the Charles River Campus. A community reception will follow.

Details for the festivities are available on the Events page. We hope you will join us.

Yes. You may view it on the Inauguration website, and a recording will be available in the days following the event. The live stream will include ASL interpreters and captioning.

Yes. Agganis Arena complies with, and exceeds, requirements set forth in the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Yes, all participants in the academic procession will wear regalia (cap, gown, and hood, if applicable). Delegates representing institutions other than BU will wear regalia provided by their institution. BU faculty will wear their own regalia or, if they do not have their own, rented regalia provided by the University.

Yes. In June 2024, you were invited to RSVP and order academic dress. The link to RSVP and order can still be accessed. Please register by July 31. If you have questions, please email michaelc@bu.edu or pres2024@bu.edu.

Yes, we would be happy to have your institution represented at our historic event. If a president is unable to attend and would like to send a delegate, please use the RSVP form and include the name and email to whom the invitation was originally sent to begin. There will be an option within the RSVP form to indicate that someone other than the original recipient will be attending and a request for the delegate’s information.

Trustees, advisors, President Gilliam’s personal guests, University leadership, President Emeritus Brown and Dr. Beverly Brown, government and community elected officials and civic leaders, presidents and delegates from other universities and colleges, International Advisory Board members, Boston University Alumni Council members, Dean’s Advisory Board members, and special members of BU’s alumni, donor, faculty, staff, and student communities.

Yes.

Festive.

This is an invitation-only (nontransferable) complimentary event.

Yes, complimentary parking will be available in the lot adjacent to the SoWa Power Station.

Yes.

Yes. Please provide their names, and we will make every effort to seat you with them. It may not be possible for us to honor all such requests, but we will make every effort.

Around 10 pm.