Graduation Information

Commencement Ceremony

On May 16, 2009, graduate students (including MBA students) and baccalaureate students from the College of Arts and Sciences will participate in a 9:00 am commencement ceremony, which will be held on the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire campus in the W.L. Zorn Arena.

Candidates for the Master’s of Business Administration degree will be presented by Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost Marty Wood. Graduate degrees will be conferred by Chancellor Brian Levin-Stankevich. Students will be hooded and receive their diplomas from Andrew Phillips, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Director of Graduate Studies, and V. Thomas Dock, Dean, College of Business.

The length of the ceremony is determined by the number of candidates receiving diplomas but generally lasts approximately two hours.

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Diplomas

Graduates will receive only a diploma cover during the ceremony. Diplomas are mailed 4-8 weeks after commencement.

On-Campus Post-Commencement Party

Are you planning on participating in the on-campus graduation ceremony? If so, you and your guests are invited to join Dean V. Thomas Dock and the graduate faculty of the UW–Eau Claire College of Business and University of Wisconsin MBA Consortium at a special reception immediately following commencement. This event will be held in the Dulany Inn, UW–Eau Claire Davies Center. Cheese and crackers, fruit, champagne, and punch will be served. Please RSVP by Tuesday, May 12 to Jan Stewart, MBA program assistant, phone: 715.836.6019 or e-mail: stewarjm@uwec.edu

For a map and directions to campus, visit www.uwec.edu/home/tour/directions.htm

Academic Apparel

The academic apparel worn by the faculty and staff in the processional has its origins in the universities of the Middle Ages. Because the universities grew out of church schools, both faculty and students were regarded as part of the clergy and wore clerical clothing based on monastic dress.

The head covering developed from the skull cap worn to protect tonsured heads in cold weather. In the universities, the skull cap acquired a point on top, which gradually evolved into a tassel. In Europe the bonnet with tassel is still worn, but has been replaced in America by the mortar board cap or tam with tassel.

The style of the gown may have been borrowed from the Benedictine monk’s habit. In the Middle Ages, those with bachelor’s and master’s degrees could be distinguished by the simplicity or elaborateness of their gowns. The master’s gowns were often furred, a decoration surviving as the three velvet bars now used on the sleeves of the doctoral gown.

The hood was originally worn over the head in bad weather, and otherwise dropped onto the shoulders. First worn by faculty and students, the hood is now added to the apparel of those with master’s, specialist in education, and doctoral degrees. The color of the velvet trim on the hood indicates the graduate’s scholarly field, for example, drab (business), dark blue (philosophy), golden yellow (science), light blue (education), pink (music), apricot (nursing), and white (arts). The colors of the satin lining inside the hood are those approved and authorized by the college or university from which the degree was earned. The hoods of students graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire are lined in the colors blue and gold—the official colors of the university.

The traditional rule is that a candidate for a degree should not wear the hood of that degree until it is actually conferred.