Commencement-Fall-2019

Honors Honors designations for the purposes of the commencement ceremony are determined according to the academic record exclusive of the last semester of attendance. Undergraduate students who have achieved a cumulative grade point average of 3.40 or higher at the time they obtain their cap and gown will be provided an honors medallion as part of their regalia to be worn during the ceremony. Those who have been approved to participate in the commencement ceremony prior to this program going to press, also will have the honors designated in the program. Undergraduate students who achieve the honors designation following the completion of the current semester are recognized through a notation on the diploma and their official transcript. The following cumulative quality point averages must be earned to achieve graduation with honors: cum laude 3.40, magna cum laude 3.60 and summa cum laude 3.80. Latin, the medieval language of scholars, is still used on the commencement program to keep with tradition in designating honors. * Cum laude — with honor ** Magna cum laude — with high honor *** Summa cum laude — with highest honor A NOTE ON ACADEMIC REGALIA Academic regalia worn at American college exercises today goes back in its essential features to the middle ages. The oldest universities of northern Europe, such as Paris and Oxford, grew out of church schools, hence they wore clerical garb largely borrowed from the monastic dress of their day. The head covering was developed out of the skullcap worn by the clergy in cold weather. In the universities this skullcap acquired a point on top that gradually evolved into a tassel. In this country it has been replaced by the familiar mortarboard, which still however, retains the medieval tassel. The gown worn today is the medieval roba and seems to have been borrowed from the habit of the Benedictine monks. Bachelors and masters could be distinguished by the simplicity or elaborateness of their gowns – the masters’ gowns were often furred – and this survives today in the ornamentation found on doctoral gowns. The wide velvet borders extending down the front of the doctoral gown, the velvet chevrons on the lined bell sleeves, and the borders of most hoods, are in the color of the scholarly field of the wearer. The hood (the medieval caputium) was originally worn over the head, and otherwise dropped onto the shoulders like a cowl. Master's degree holders wear distinctively colored hoods that signify the wearer's degree. The most common of these seen in the procession are: Arts, Letters and Humanities....................... White Business..........................................................Drab Criminal Justice.............................. Midnight Blue Economics..................................................Copper Education ............................................. Light Blue Engineering. ...............................................Orange Fine Arts......................................................Brown Journalism. ...............................................Crimson Law.............................................................. Purple Library Science........................................... Lemon Medicine.......................................................Green Music.............................................................. Pink Nursing......................................................... Peach Oratory (Speech)................................. Silver Grey Philosophy............................................. Dark Blue Physical Education.............................. Sage Green Public Health..................................... Salmon Pink Public Administration.......................Peacock Blue Science............................................................Gold Social Science.............................................. Cream Social Work................................................. Citron Theology......................................................Scarlet