Graduate Accoutrement

[macwilkin]

Dr Hays,

Greetings from Iowa. Thank you for your response. I, myself, graduated from Iowa State University, and my lovely niece is currently attending the U of Iowa. Were you by any chance a Highlander?

Yours aye,
Jared Brus, Class of '00

Jared,

Two of my cousins are Iowa State almuni, although the rest of the family are Iowa or Northern Iowa folks. Besides them, the only other connection I have to ISU was a great uncle who was with a training battalion there during WWI.

My family has been in Iowa since the time of statehood; Mostly in Marion County (Knoxville) and Wright County, just about 70-80 miles north of Ames along old Highway 69. My grandmother was born in East Village, in the shadow of the Iowa State Capitol building.

Even though I reside "south of the border" in Missouri, I pay tribute to my Iowa-Scottish blood by wearing the Iowa state tartan.

GO HAWKS! GO PANTHERS! GO CYCLONES!

T.

[Mike_Oettle]

Congratulations are a little premature, The Brus, but I do look forward to seeing you in your magisterial gown!
Graduate gowns and hoods do vary considerably from university to university.
I graduated (BA and BA Hons) from the University of South Africa, which follows the Oxford/Cambridge tradition. The graduate gowns are much the same in style, being black for bachelors and masters, and red for doctors, while the hoods vary only in colour (doctoral hoods also featuring red).
But my son (BSc Hons) and daughter (MPharm) graduated from our local university (now called Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University) and wore rather differently coloured and styled gowns and hoods.
Your US universities might have quite different styles.
Certainly our gowns (Unisa and NMMU) are worn open, but where the hood is placed (over or under the tie) varies a fair bit.
Some graduands wear the hood quite low over the chest (which I think is sloppy).
When graduating a second (or third or fourth) time, one wears the hood of the last degree earned, and carries the hood newly awarded onto the platform/stage. The registrar then places it over one’s head (over the old one). If the older hood is under the tie, the new hood will have been placed over it.
In the case of doctoral graduations, I think the older hoods and gowns are dispensed with and the doctoral hood is simply placed over the doctoral gown.
If I graduate again (and I hope to) I will definitely be wearing a kilt!
Regards,
Mike