Regalia
| Academic Ceremonial Garments: A Quick View of Regalia |
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The origins of academic dress date back to the 12th and 13th centuries, when universities were taking form. The ordinary dress of the scholar, whether student or teacher, was the dress of a cleric. With few exceptions, the medieval scholar had taken at least minor orders, made certain vows, and perhaps been tonsured. Long gowns were worn and may have been necessary for warmth in unheated buildings.
The assignment of colors to signify certain faculties was a much later development, standardized only in the United States in the late 19th century. White taken from the white fur trimming of the Oxford and Cambridge B.A. hoods was assigned to arts and letters. Red, one of the traditional colors of the church, went to theology. Green, the color of medieval herbs, was adopted for medicine, and olive, because it was so close to green, was given to pharmacy. Golden yellow, standing for the wealth which scientific research has produced, was assigned to the sciences.
You may have noticed that the regalia for different degrees have differences in robe (gown) design, color, trimmings, and headwear. Here is a brief description of those differences.
Robes (Gowns)
Color and Shape
- all gowns are black
- The gown for the bachelor's degree has pointed sleeves. It is designed to be worn closed.
- The gown for the master's degree has an oblong sleeve, open at the wrist, like the others. The sleeve base hangs down in the traditional manner. The rear part of its oblong shape is square cut, and the front part has an arc cut away. The gown is so designed and supplied with fasteners that it may be worn open or closed.
- The gown for the doctor's degree has bell-shaped sleeves. It is so designed and supplied with fasteners that it may be worn open or closed.
Trimmings
- Gowns for the bachelor's or master's degrees are untrimmed.
- For the doctor's degree, the gown is faced down the front with black velvet; three bars of velvet are used across the sleeves. These facings and crossbars may be of velvet of the color distinctive of the disciplines to which the degree pertains, thus agreeing in color with the binding or edging of the hood appropriate to the particular doctor's degree in every instance.
Trim Color
For all academic purposes, including trimmings of doctors' gowns, edging of hoods, and tassels of caps, the colors associated with the different disciplines are as follows:
- Agriculture: Maize
- Arts, Letters, Humanities: White (this includes Communication)
- Commerce, Accountancy, Business: Drab
- Dentistry: Lilac
- Economics: Copper
- Education: Light Blue
- Engineering: Orange
- Fine Arts, including Architecture: Brown
- Forestry: Russet
- Journalism: Crimson
- Law: Purple
- Library Science: Lemon
- Medicine: Green
- Music: Pink
- Nursing: Apricot
- Oratory (Speech): Silver Gray
- Pharmacy: Olive Green
- Philosophy: Dark Blue
- Physical Education: Sage Green
- Public Administration, including Foreign Service: Peacock Blue
- Public Health: Salmon Pink
- Science: Golden Yellow
- Social Work: Citron
- Theology: Scarlet
- Veterinary Science: Gray
Hoods (all hoods are black, with a special lining)
Linings
The hoods are lined with the official color or colors of the college or university conferring the degree; more than one color is shown by division of the field color in a variety of ways, such as chevrons, equal division, etc. So, the students receiving master�s degrees from Communication will receive hoods with maroon and orange linings to signify Virginia Tech�s colors.
Trimming
- The binding or edging of the hood is velvet or velveteen, three inches wide for master�s and and five inches wide for doctor's degrees. The color is indicative of the subject to which the degree pertains (see above).
- In the case of the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree, dark blue is used to represent the mastery of the discipline of learning and scholarship in any field that is attested to by the awarding of this degree and is not intended to represent the field of philosophy.
Caps
Tassel. A long tassel is fastened to the middle point of the top of the cap only. The tassel should be black or the color appropriate to the subject, so students receiving the Bachelor of Arts in Communication wear a white tassel. The doctor's cap has a tassel of gold.
Excerpted from the American Council on Education's Academic Costume Code
http://www.acenet.edu/faq/costume_code.html
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