Commencement

With the approval of the Kenton Hardin Health Department and consistent with the guidance described in Responsible RestartOhio Graduation Ceremonies, the University will hold all four commencements indoors in the ONU Sports Center Field House. As a result, the health and safety of the ONU community will continue to be our top priority as we celebrate with our graduates and their families.
 
Remember, all guests will be seated in four-person pods. A TICKET IS REQUIRED FOR EACH GUEST. Covid-19 protocols will be in place for the entirety of the event. We ask that you wear your mask and maintain social distancing throughout the ceremony. Masks are required.

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.

Doors open 90 minutes before each ceremony. All seating is first come first served with limited seating for those with a physical impairment. All guests, regardless of ceremony, are requested to remain in their seats throughout the ceremony.

SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2021
9 a.m. | Pettit College of Law Commencement classes of 2020 and 2021

• Law commencement guests should be at the Field House by 8 a.m. and in their seats by 8:30 a.m.

1:30 p.m. | Raabe College of Pharmacy Commencement class of 2021

• Pharmacy commencement guests should be at the Field House by 12:30 p.m. and in their seats by 1 p.m.

SUNDAY, MAY 9, 2021
9 a.m. | Dicke College of Business Administration (including MSA) class of 2021
              and T.J. Smull College of Engineering class of 2021

• Engineering and Business commencement guests should be at the Field House by 8 a.m. and in their seats by 8:30 a.m.

1:30 p.m. | Getty College of Arts and Sciences class of 2021

• Arts and Sciences commencement guests should be at the Field House by 12:30 p.m. and in their seats by 1 p.m.

SUNDAY, MAY 23
9 a.m. | Raabe College of Pharmacy Commencement class of 2020

• Pharmacy commencement 2020 guests should be in the Field House by 8 a.m. and in their seats by 8:30 a.m.

1:30 p.m. | Undergraduate (including MSA) class of 2020

• Undergraduate commencement 2020 guests should be in the Field House by 12:30 p.m. and in their seats by 1 p.m.

The University has arranged for each graduate to be photographed receiving the diploma. Graduates will receive information from the photographer prior to the ceremony for ordering photographs. Guests are only permitted to take photographs from their seats in the Field House. Guests are asked to remain in their seats throughout the ceremony.

All Commencement ceremonies are now being held inside the ONU Sports Center Field House due to unseasonably inclement weather forecasts.

Graduates and families should note that ONU will not be able to host a graduation dinner or offer any other meals or receptions due to the pandemic.

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 next to one guest. 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.

Bookstore hours during commencement are as follows:

Saturday, May 8: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Sunday, May 9: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Sunday, May 23: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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.