Ceremony Traditions

The Kennesaw State University Mace is a ceremonial staff carried by the chief faculty marshal of the academic procession; an honor given to the chair of the Faculty Senate. Steeped in rich tradition, the practice of carrying a mace dates to the Middle Ages. Originally designed as a weapon, a mace was carried by a respected senior member of the community chosen to protect and guide leaders as their group traveled through crowded streets.

Kennesaw State takes special pride in its mace, which was designed by Patrick Taylor, former chairman of the Department of Visual Arts, and hand-crafted on campus. The polished bronze handgrip is a stylized owl. In addition to being Kennesaw State’s mascot, the owl is the symbol of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom.

A large bronze medallion displaying the university seal, along with festive ribbons representing university colors, adorn a globe near the top of the mace, symbolizing graduates venturing out into the world. Atop the globe sits the traditional symbol of higher education – a lamp of learning, with a flame representing the quest for knowledge.

The Chain of Office is a tradition that dates to the Middle Ages as a symbol or badge of office. Universities continue the tradition by incorporating the chain and medallion during ceremonial occasions, denoting the president's status as the presiding authority over the ceremony. Our four-inch medallion bears the official University seal. The medallion is suspended by a chain link with the names and years in office of the previous University presidents suspends the medallion. During the ceremony, the Chain of Office will rest on a pedestal on stage.

The caps and gowns worn at commencement connect contemporary graduates with scholarly tradition that dates back as long as universities have existed. Clerics, ecclesiastics and scholars wore hoods or caps and heavy gowns at European universities during the Middle Ages. Beginning in the middle of the 14th century, scholars at English universities wore an academic costume of “bunge-and sand-colored habits.” A costume for commencement has been a tradition since the beginning of higher education in America. In 1895, the Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume was created and a standard code of academic dress for commencements was adopted. It calls for the existing cap and gown (the traditional bachelor’s gown with long, open, pointed sleeves) and the master’s gown (with its long sleeves hanging down from the elbow) to set apart the graduates. The doctoral gown has bell-shaped sleeves, with three velvet stripes on each sleeve.