Commencement traditions

The University of New Mexico’s first commencement in 1894 took place in Grant’s Opera House in downtown Albuquerque. Over the past century, the ceremonies have occurred in several locales, including the original Rodey Hall, Tight Grove, the Art Building Quadrangle, Zimmerman Stadium, Carlisle Gym, University Arena, Johnson Center, and University Stadium.

At that first commencement, six graduates of the Normal Department received the degree of bachelor of pedagogy. (The territory of New Mexico had no public high schools when it created its university in 1889, so UNM’s first students were teenagers in high school-equivalent courses and young people, mostly women, studying to become teachers.) The first graduation of the College Department was not until several years later.

The University Mace

The procession is led by the Secretary of the University and the President of the Faculty Senate. The President of the Faculty Senate carries the University Mace. The mace, originally a medieval weapon and later carried by sergeants at arms guarding kings and high church officials, gradually assumed a purely ceremonial character symbolizing authority. When used in academic processions, the mace usually precedes the entire procession.

Academic Regalia

The colorful academic procession is formed under the direction of marshals, who wear da Vinci caps which display the colors of The University of New Mexico. Academic dress has its beginnings in the Middle Ages. When the English universities were taking form in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the scholars were also clerics and adopted robes similar to those of their monastic orders. Caps were a necessity in the drafty buildings, and copes or capes with hoods attached were needed for warmth. The hood was selected by these early scholars as the article to be made distinctive for the various degrees by its color, trimming, and binding. As the universities gradually passed from the control of the ecclesiastics, costumes took on brighter hues, and even today the robes of Oxford and Cambridge remain among the most colorful of all.

The use of academic costume in the United States has been continuous since Colonial times. The idea of a well-defined system, however, did not arise until about 1893 when an intercollegiate commission was formed which prepared a uniform code for caps, gowns, and hoods designed to show not only the various degrees but the sources of the degrees as well. The commission offered its code to all institutions of higher learning and was soon adopted.

The cap, originally round, is now a square mortarboard and is the same for all degrees. Gowns and hoods, however, are markedly different for the respective degrees. The hood not only varies in length and design for the various degrees, but the color and width of the velvet binding or edging of the hood indicate the degree it represents:

Color	Degree
Apricot	Nursing
Blue	Philosophy
Light Blue	Education
Brown	Fine Arts
Blue Violet	Architecture
Drab	Business Administration
Lilac	Dentistry
Green	Medicine
Sage Green	Physical Education
Olive	Pharmacy
Orange	Engineering
Pink	Music
Purple	Law
White	Arts, Letters, Humanities
Golden Yellow	Science
Peacock Blue	Public Administration

The hood not only indicates the type of degree but is lined with the official color or colors of the university conferring the degree, to be charged with a chevron or chevrons when the institution uses more than one color. For example, the official UNM colors are cherry and silver, so the hood is lined with silver gray with a chevron of cherry red. In the case of today’s candidates for Bachelors’ degrees, hoods are not worn, but the color of the cap tassel serves the same purpose in identifying the wearer’s degree. Candidates for Masters degrees are hooded and have black cap tassels. Doctors are hooded and have gold cap tassels. University Honors students are identified by a silver tasseled cord worn over the academic robes.

College and School Banners

The banners carried in the processional represent the University’s colleges and schools, and bear the colors traditionally associated with various disciplines.

Color	School/College
Lavender	Architecture and Planning
Golden Yellow	Arts and Sciences, Humanities, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Brown	Fine Arts
Light Blue	Education
Orange	Engineering
Silver	Honors
Royal Blue	Graduate Studies
Purple	Law
Olive	Pharmacy
Salmon Pink	Public Health
Apricot	Nursing
Drab	Management/Business Administration
Green	Medicine
Cherry	University College
Lemon Yellow	University Libraries and Learning Sciences