The Colors of Your College Degree

The history of academic dress goes back hundreds of years to the chill universities where cap, gown and hood were needed for covering and warmth.

In 1321, the University of Coimbra mandated that all Doctors, Bachelors, and Licentiates must wear gowns. In the latter half of the 14th century, excess in apparel was forbidden in some colleges and prescribed wearing a long gown. By the time of England’s Henry VIII, Oxford and Cambridge began using a standard form of academic dress, which was controlled to the tiniest detail by the university.

Graduation Hood ColorNot until the late 1800s were colors assigned to signify certain areas of study, but they were only standardized in the United States. European institutions have always had diversity in their academic dress, but American institutions employ a definite system of dress thanks to Gardner Cotrell Leonard from Albany, New York. After designing gowns for his 1887 class at Williams College, he took an interest in the subject and published an article on academic dress in 1893. Soon after he was asked to work with an Intercollegiate Commission to form a system of academic apparel.

The system Gardner Cotrell Leonard helped form was based on gown cut, style and fabric; as well as designated colors to represent fields of study.

For example, sleeves in the bachelor’s gown are pointed, in the masters gown they are oblong and the arms project at the elbow, and in the doctor’s gown they are bell shaped. Only the doctor’s gown has velvet facing. The hood is lined with the official colors of the degree issuing institution and the outside trimming of the hood signifies the subject in which the degree was obtained:

Agriculture
Maize
Arts, Letters, Humanities
White
Commerce, Accountancy, Business
Drab
Dentistry
Lilac
Economics
Copper
Education
Light Blue
Engineering
Orange
Fine Arts, including Architecture
Brown
Forestry, Environmental Studies, Sustainability
Russet
Journalism
Crimson
Law
Purple
Library Science
Lemon
Medicine
Green
Music
Pink
Nursing
Apricot
Oratory (Speech)
Silver Gray
Pharmacy
Olive Green
Philosophy, Political Science
Dark Blue
Physical Education
Sage Green
Public Administration, including Foreign Service
Peacock Blue
Public Health
Salmon Pink
Science
Golden Yellow
Social Work
Citron
Theology, Divinity
Scarlet
Veterinary Science, Husbandry
Gray

For more about the history and guidelines from academic ceremony costumes, check out An Academic Costume Code and An Academic Ceremony Guide by the American Council on Education.

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Author: COLOURlover
My name is Darius A Monsef IV & my friends call me Bub(s)(ba). Chief Lover at COLOURlovers.com / Cofounder of Hands.org Founder, Philanthropist, Designer, Builder & Writer. P.S. I love you.