If you earn a PhD, DBA, EdD, etc. from University A and go on to teach at University B, which academic regalia do you wear when attending commencement ceremonies at University B? Are you supposed to wear the same regalia as you did when you graduated from your doctoral program, or are you supposed to wear the regalia and colors of the school you now teach at?
Hi Antz - I believe that you wear the regalia of the school where you earned your degree. This is why you see all sorts of outfits at graduations. Some of them are very cool. Some are pretty ugly. I tend to like the ones from the old, old schools like Oxford or some of the other old European universities.
That's true... However, some schools (both B&M and online) allow their instructors to rent regalia for a small fee, in order to save the instructor the expense of buying the robes. Those robes, then, would be for the teaching school instead. I purchased a good quality hood to wear when I participate in graduations as a faculty member - which is something that I really enjoy doing. I am looking forward to buying doctoral robes and wearing them someday!
I guess it's different school by school. I am the person in our institution who is responsible for lending gowns to visiting faculty, but they bring their own hoods.
Several of us have our own robes and hoods from our graduations but our college will buy a set for a faculty member if they don't have one. We always buy the robe that corresponds with their degree and the hood from the school for their highest degree. I have a question for those who are faculty members and participate in your schools graduation. Does your school require the faculty to wear their caps? I've taught two different places and it was different in both instances. Most of us hate wearing them, including myself, but I think it adds something to the graduation.
I loved my graduation from CNU. It was neat to see the different colors of faculty regalia. One of our history professors was actually referred to as Cardinal, because his robe was red. I can't recall where he earned his PhD though. At the graduation ceremonies for my high school, we haven't worn caps in the past few years. The reason? Our division superintendent doesn't like how the caps look on her hair. Bah. My personal belief is that if we are going to make the students wear them, WE should wear them as well. -Matt
I've never seen a graduation ceremony where faculty or students didn't wear the caps. However, before and after the official ceremony, it's common to see faculty and students without the caps. I too hate wearing a hat, but I would NEVER consider attending a formal graduation ceremony without wearing the cap.
I've never noticed an academic not wearing headgear at graduation ceremonies. I've seen a wide variety of caps worn by academics - some looked like they were from the Italian renaissance period.
In the US, unlike the rest of the world, many universities conform to a standardized pattern http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_dress with only the hood and the velvet on the sleeve and front of the gown distinguishing awarding institutions and discipline. Consequently, it's possible just to purchase a hood and then rent or borrow a gown for the rare events one needs to wear it. There has been a trend in which universities are developing doctoral gowns in distinctive colors rather than the traditional black: red, gray and dark blue are sometimes seen. I recently bought a hood off eBay for a colleague who wears an old choir robe. The hood was blue and white, UConn maybe. He went to UCLA. In contrast, I have a magnificent claret-colored gown and a hat that makes me look like a contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci. Attached picture is of someone else, but same gown. The other picture is of a former Boomtown Rat getting an honorary doctorate from East London. The ribbon-like effect of the colors perhaps reflects the Cockney heritage.
Yes, we wear our college robes. No one at my high school has a doctorate, so we all have black robes. The differences come in the color of tassles and hoods, and the sleeves based on whether or not the person has a BA, MA, etc. If I end up getting a doctorate, I'm wearing my darn cap I don't care what the superintendent (who DOESN'T have a doctorate) says. -Matt
When I earned my doctoral degree as a graduation gift to myself I ordered my own doctoral robe and tam. It was relatively expensive about $600 10 years ago for the robe and doctoral tam. I always wear the tam at graduations and at Baccalaurreate mass etc. The only time I don't wear the tam is when the event specifies robes only. I figure I earned the degree and I knew that I would have to rent regalia every year, so it just made sense to get my own set. I have not regretted it at all. On an earlier post someone mentioned a red "cardinal" colored robe. A faculty member where I teach graduated from Harvard and her robe is red. I thought Boston University's robe was red too, but can't remember? The prettiest robe I have ever seen though was from The New School in New York. A fellow faculty member had his and it was violet! Beautiful. ~Kim~
School colors in linings of Doctorate Hoods? In cleaning out the costume department of a community theatre, I found four beautiful Doctorate hoods. Two are Ph.D.s [dark blue velvet], one is a Doctor of Education [light blue velvet] and the last is a Doctor of Science or maybe Doctorate of Library Science [yellow velvet]. My question concerns the college colors in the linings. One Ph.D. hood lining is dark blue with one wide gold chevron. Is that Michigan, Kent State, U of Conn., or some other school? The second Ph.D. is gray with two small white chevrons. The D.Ed. is dark blue with one wide white chevron [Duke?]. The D. Sc. is a pure purple lining only, no chevrons. Each hood is well made, not a "made for the theatre costume piece," and each shows some wear. But, if I can learn which school goes with which hood, I can offer a bargain price either to my fellow faculty members at NCSU, my daughter's fellow faculty at CSI or someone online. My search online showed me the degree colors for the velvets, but the school color combinations have been elusive. Can anyone help me? Thanks.
I had a list at one time, but I can't find it right now. If you call a regalia supplier, they might have a cross-referenced list.
School colors lists. Thanks for the suggestion, but.... . My inquiries to commercial regalia suppliers [like Oak Hall] have come up empty. Unless I lie to them about why I want the information, they see me as a business competitor and are not very responsive. I did find a list of school team colors online, but that is not conclusive because, for example, the U of Maryland's team can use black and gold OR red and white. Do you recall where your lost list came from? Mr. Jack
How the different universities deal with professors that earned their degrees from schools without regalia? As is the case in many countries. I assume they let them use the host university regalia. Am I right?
