Celebrating Your College Commencement
Enjoying the Academic Ceremony

Congratulations! You are soon to be a college graduate and what better way to honor that transition than by attending your college commencement.

Your college commencement is designed to honor your journey through higher education. It is a day set aside to honor the earning of your Bachelor’s Degree.

Celebrate your College Commencement with your family and friends.

Enjoy putting on your academic regalia and reflect on the hours of studying, learning, and sacrificing that it took you to get to this important point. By dressing in your Commencement Regalia, you become part of the rich tradition of higher education that is traced back to the 12th Century. Although the basis for higher education can be traced back to the work of Isocrates, in ancient Greece, it is not until the 12th and 13th Century that we see the emergence of universities in Europe.

Your Commencement Regalia consists of the academic robe and mortarboard with tassel. Some institutions use a baccalaureate hood, which contains the university colors and the appointed colors of the discipline. Depending on the honors and awards you have earned, you will also wear honor cords with your academic robes. Also, your honor designations will be announced and acknowledged in the commencement program.

CUM LAUDE: Graduating with distinction—3.5 grade point average or above out of a possible 4.0 in bachelor's degree program.

MAGNA CUM LAUDE: Graduating with great distinction—3.7 grade point average or above out of a possible 4.0 bachelor's degree program.

SUMMA CUM LAUDE: Graduating with highest distinction—3.9 grade point average or above out of a possible 4.0 bachelor's degree program.

View our KSU commencement speeches.

Part One: History of College Commencement

I. Academic Regalia:

• Academic Robe
• Hood
• Mortarboard or Cap
• Tassel
• Honor Cords
• Honor Medallions
• Presidential Medallion

When you attend your commencement you will experience students and faculty dressed in academic regalia. The academic regalia represents the degrees earned by those where the robes.

The origins of academic regalia can be traced back to the 12th and 13th centuries, when university classes were taught by clerics that wore robes for warmth. The original college classrooms in those days did not have central heating! So, the teaching clerics wore robes with hoods. The hoods had a scarf tail that they want wrapped around their necks to keep in the warmth. Hood today represent a conferred doctoral or masters degree. However, some universities use a bachelor’s hood. The university colors and the color of the discipline are lined in the hood. Today the scarf tail has been removed but the significance of the hood remains intact since the 12th century.

Why so much detail about the robes and the heat? Well, our modern day academic regalia, consisting of robes, mortarboard or caps, hoods, and tassels are the direct academic descendants of the cleric robes. When you put on your academic regalia you become part of the rich tradition of university life spanning over 900 years!

The mortarboard or cap is from the hood of the clerics. You will notice that your cap has a tassel on it. At the beginning of the commencement the tassel hangs on the right side before the commencement and is moved to the left side after the commencement. The moving of the tassel symbolizes the exact moment you are granted your degree. This is a very powerful part of the ceremony.

The tassel represents the academic mace. The academic mace is the symbol of authority for the degree granting institution of higher education. The academic mace can be traced to medieval times, as well. It represented the university's power to grant degrees. Therefore, your academic tassel on your mortarboard or cap is directly connected to the academic mace. It was added to the mortarboard to represent the power of the academic mace. When the commencement ceremony begins, your tassel is on the right side of the mortarboard. When your degree has been officially conferred during the ceremony, you move your tassel to the left side of the mortarboard. The movement of the tassel represents the symbolic power of the academic mace. The academic mace, originally a weapon of war, can be traced back to ancient Greece government, is used to symbolize the power the university has to confer degrees. Visit the Bentley Rare Book Gallery to view KSU's mace, designed by Dr. Pat Taylor, and the other wonderful manuscripts from 900 A.D. plus.

Governing bodies, such as the United States Senate and Congress, the British Parliament, United States State Government, and Universities across the world, have a mace, which represents the power of the governing institutions. The academic mace has now become the symbol of the power of universities to confer degrees to candidates who have earned the privilege of the degree.

Research your University’s academic mace; it is steeped in the rich history of your institution. The students enjoy the day we visit and reflect on the symbolism of our academic mace. When the grand marshal of your commencement leads the entering procession carrying the mace, then displays the academic mace in its stand next to the platform party, and then conversely, leads the exiting procession carrying the academic mace, you will have a greater appreciation of your connection to the history of higher education.

II. Academic Ceremony:

• Academic Mace
• Chief Marshall
• Administrators
• Platform Party
• Faculty
• Degree Candidates

The commencement ceremony has three parts:

• The Entering Procession: usually lead by the chief marshal carrying the mace, the university administrators, trustees, speakers, faculty, and then the candidates for degrees assembly to begin the tradition of conferring of the degrees.

• The Commencement Ceremony: earned degrees are conferred in ascending order; with baccalaureate degrees first and then doctorates last. There is always a commencement speaker to mark the importance of the occasion. The commencement speech is central to marking the celebration. The culmination of the ceremony is receiving your college diploma.

• The Exiting Procession: usually lead by the chief marshal carrying the mace, the platform party, and then the conferred degree recipients, that is,
the new college graduates!

For more information about the College Commencement Ceremony visit the Website of the American Council on Education (ACE). ACE has been the governing body that authorizes the code for academic dress, the academic colors for each discipline of learning. ACE was established in 1895 to regulate the code of academic dress. ACE continues to authorize all academic dress codes.

Academic Discipline Colors Code:
American Council on Education (ACE)

Maize:	Agriculture
White:	Art, Letters and Humanities
Drab:	Business Administration
Lilac:	Dentistry
Copper:	Economics
Light Blue:	Education
Orange:	Engineering
Brown:	Fine Arts, Architecture
Russet:	Forestry
Maroon:	Home Economics
Crimson:	Journalism
Purple:	Law
Lemon:	Library Science
Green:	Medicine
Pink:	Music
Apricot:	Nursing
Silvery Gray:	Oratory/Speech
Olive Green:	Pharmacy
Dark Blue:	Philosophy
Peacock Blue:	Public Administration
Salmon Pink:	Public Health
Gold-Yellow:	Science
Citron:	Social Science
Gray:	Veterinary Science

Visit the American Council on Education Website for more information about College Commencement:
http://www.acenet.edu/faq/costume_code.html

Commencement Speeches delivered at Kennesaw State University’s recent Graduation Ceremonies:
http://access.kennesaw.edu/distinguished_lectures/distinguish_lectures_index.html

Senior-Year Experience Program—Kennesaw State University
Content Provider: Dr. Joan E. Leichter Dominick

Resource for graduating college seniors addressing issues such as: Citizen Leadership, Portfolio Preparation, Career Search Preparation, Graduate School Preparation, History of Commencement, Sample Commencement Speeches, Community Service Opportunities, Alumni Connections:
http://www.kennesaw.edu/university_studies/sye

Suggested Reading:

An Academic Costume Code and An Academic Ceremony Guide. Eugene Sullivan. (1997). From American Universities and Colleges. 15th Edition. Walter de Gruyter, Inc.: American Council on Education.

Joan E. Leichter Dominick
Copyright 2003, All Rights Reserved

Send emails regarding this web site to: rbirrell@kennesaw.edu
This page last modified February 4, 2009
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