Commencement

A commencement ceremony for the College of Law will be held Saturday, May 17, at 10 a.m. A live stream will be available beginning at 9:30 a.m. on ONU's YouTube channel.

Join us for the Pharmacy Commencement Ceremony (Bachelor of Integrated Health Science and PharmD) on Sunday, May 18, at 9 a.m. in the ONU Sports Center Field House. A live stream will be available beginning at 8:30 a.m. on ONU's YouTube channel.

A ceremony for the undergraduate students (Arts & Sciences, Engineering, Business, and including MSA) will be held on Sunday, May 18, at 1:30 p.m. inside the ONU Sports Center Field House. A live stream will be available beginning at 1:45 p.m. on ONU's YouTube channel.

ONU holds all Commencement ceremonies indoors in the ONU Sports Center Field House.

The ONU Sports Center is located on W. Lincoln Ave. Please drive to the King Horn parking lot entrance off of W. Lincoln Ave. and parking attendants will direct you to available spaces.

Tickets will not be required for the commencement ceremonies.

Doors open 90 minutes before each ceremony. All seating is first come first served with seating available for those with physical impairment. The processional starts approximately 15 minutes before the ceremony. Those not seated at that time will need to wait to enter the Field House until the procession has concluded in order to be seated. All guests, regardless of ceremony, are requested to remain in their seats throughout the ceremony.

SATURDAY, MAY 17, 2025
10:00 a.m. | Pettit College of Law Commencement 

• Law commencement guests should be at the Field House by 9 a.m. and in their seats by 9:30 a.m.
• A reception for graduates and guests will be held in the college following the ceremony.

SUNDAY, MAY 18, 2025
9:00 a.m. | Raabe College of Pharmacy Commencement

• Pharmacy commencement guests should be at the Field House by 8:00 a.m. and in their seats by 8:30 a.m.
• A reception for graduates and guests will be held in a tent near the Robertson-Evans Pharmacy Building following the ceremony.

2:00 p.m. | Undergraduate/MSA Commencement

• Undergraduate/MSA commencement guests should be at the Field House by 1:00 p.m. and in their seats by 1:30 p.m.
• A reception for Arts & Sciences graduates and guests will be held in the King Horn Middle Gymnasium following the ceremony.
• A reception for Engineering graduates and guests will be held in the King Horn South Gymnasium following the ceremony.
  • The Order of the Engineer and Pledge of the Computing Professional will take place 45 minutes after the completion of the commencement ceremony in the Field House, Sports Center.
• A reception for Business graduates and guests will be held in Dicke Hall following the Ceremony.

The University has arranged for each graduate to be photographed receiving the diploma. Graduates will receive information about the photographer prior to the ceremony and have the opportunity to purchase the picture after commencement from an online portal. Sign up information for Graduation Foto will be provided to graduates prior to the commencement ceremony.

Photographs of graduates in the procession must be taken as the procession is moving into the Field House since students will not recess. For the convenience of guests wishing to take their own photographs, a posted area is provided on the north side of the platform (audience left) for this purpose. In this area, a picture of the graduate after they come off the stage and before they are seated can be taken. Guests are requested to plan their entrance into the area approximately three to five graduates ahead and then return to their seats immediately after. At all other times, guests are asked to remain in their seats throughout the ceremony.

Graduates also are encouraged to take photos on our beautiful campus. Some popular places include the Ohio Northern sign in front of Lehr Memorial, the campus boulevard entrance near Dukes Memorial, the fountains in front of McIntosh Center and Freed Center, The H.S. Lehr statue, and on the Tundra. 

May 17
A reception for law graduates and guests will be held in the college following the ceremony.

May 18
Receptions for graduates and guests will be held following each ceremony.

• Pharmacy – Tent west of Robertson-Evans Pharmacy Building by the Rho Chi statue
• Arts & Sciences – Middle Gym, King Horn
• Engineering – South Gym, King Horn
• Business/MSA – Dicke Hall

Parking for persons with special needs will be provided near the Field House. Security personnel will direct guests to parking. Special seating will be provided for those with physical impairments. Please contact an usher for assistance if needed. 

No babysitting and nursery service will be available.

A nurse will be available in the training room of the Field House during the commencement ceremonies. Ushers are available for assistance.

Yes, the Gear Shop hours during commencement are as follows:

Law Commencement (May 17th): 11am-1pm 
UG/Pharm D/MSA (May 18th): 10am-1pm

Yes, Dining Services offer catering and pick-up-and-go options. Please email catering@onu.edu with a few details about what you are looking for and your contact number, and they will be glad to give you a call to discuss options.

Awarding academic degrees to signify reaching a certain level in a branch of learning goes back at least eight centuries, even prior to the creation of universities. In the twelfth century, large bodies of students would gather together in one place, as they did in Paris and Bologna. In such a scholarly milieu, some naturally decided on a career in teaching.

Their first step was to become baccalaureus, a step which preceded by several years permission to teach. Following more years of study, the student was admitted to a select circle of teachers through a series of special initiation rites. The installation in a teaching post followed practices of Roman Law among students in Paris. Some vestiges of the ceremony are seen in today’s commencement exercises, namely the investment with a square cap. The new master would embark upon his teaching career with his first lecture, his inceptio, meaning commencement.

From these origins has come our commencement, a special academic ceremony for the purpose of awarding degrees, which begins and ends with an academic procession. As a descendant of clerical processions of the churches, it is carried out with great dignity and impressiveness. All participants wear the academic regalia appropriate to their highest degree. Faculty members process in order of their academic rank, with senior full professors first, followed by their colleagues of successively lower rank. The procession is formed in ranks of two except for special dignitaries or honorees who may walk alone. The entire procession is headed by a senior faculty member bearing an ornate institutional banner and another serving as grand marshal and carrying the institutional mace, a traditional emblem of authority of the bearer.

The high point of the commencement program is the awarding of degrees. Placing a hood on the shoulders of the graduate is the time-honored gesture denoting the investiture of the degree. Since this practice is most often retained solely for advanced degrees in contemporary commencement exercises, today’s bachelor’s degree recipients symbolize the hooding through the simple act of moving the tassel on the cap from the right to the left side. Only a few institutions maintain the practice — as we do at Ohio Northern University — of the candidate receiving their diploma at the commencement ceremony.

Evolving culture and customs have changed the details of awarding degrees. Yet it remains a rich and memorable experience for participants and witnesses, a ceremony sensitive to tradition and conveying great significance in the lives of the new graduates.

Academic attire dates back at least to the 14th century. Its origin is attributed to ecclesiastical influence, to the need for warmth in unheated rooms used by medieval scholars, and to avoidance of “excess in apparel” by wearing a long gown. Ultimately, there developed distinctive caps, gowns and hoods denoting the institution that granted the degree, the field of learning in which the degree was earned, and the level of the degree –bachelor, master or doctorate.

American universities, unlike those of England and Europe, have adopted a standard code of academic costume in which the cut and material of the gown, the color of the tassel on the cap, and the pattern and colors of the hood all have special significance.

Bachelors’ gowns are closed at the throat and have long, pointed sleeves. Masters’ gowns may be worn open or closed and have long, oblong sleeves, square and closed at the end, the arms coming through slits near the wrist. Doctors’ gowns, worn open or closed, are faced with velvet and have full, bell-shaped sleeves. Each sleeve carries three bars of velvet, called chevrons. Trustees, presidents and marshals of colleges or universities may wear caps and gowns that are especially designed and colored.

Academic caps are usually mortarboards, though soft caps are also worn. The cap is black; the tassel is black or the color appropriate to the discipline or field of study, or, for a doctor’s cap, it may be gold.

The hood gives color and real meaning to the academic costume. The color of the lining identifies the university granting the highest degree held by the wearer. The color of the trim indicates the field of learning in which the degree is received.