Modern academic regalia evolved from the kinds of apparel worn past monks and students in the 11th and 12th centuries to keep warm in the medieval castles and halls in which they studied. Bookish life as we know it today began in the Center Ages — kickoff in the church, and so in the guilds. The teaching guild was the Society of the Master of Arts, and the Bachelor was the amateur of the Master. Their dress was the outward sign of stature and responsibility. Academic regalia was thus a visible manifestation — in colour, pattern and design — that unified those of mutual bailiwick and like purpose. In later centuries, to preserve the regalia's dignity and pregnant, universities fix rules of academic dress. American universities agreed on a definite system in 1895, establishing a code of approved attire. In 1932, the American Council on Education revised this code, which, for the nigh part, governs the style of academic apparel today. The master features of bookish wearing apparel are iii: the gown, the cap and the hood.

THE GOWN — The gown has become symbolic of the democracy of scholarship, for it completely covers any wearing apparel of rank or social standing. The sleeves of the gown indicate the level of the degree held by the wearer. A long, pointed sleeve indicates the bachelor'south degree. The principal'southward gown has an oblong sleeve cut in an arc, with a slit at either the upper arm or wrist. The USF doctor'southward gown has bell-shaped sleeves and iii black bars on the sleeve. The doctoral robe also has the seal of the university on the velvet facing.

THE CAP — The freed slave in ancient Rome won the privilege of wearing a cap, and and then the bookish cap is a sign of the liberty of scholarship and the responsibleness and dignity with which scholarship endows the wearer. Old verse records the cap of scholarship every bit a square symbolizing the book, although other authorities claim that it is a mortar board, the symbol of the masons, a privileged social club. The color of the tassel on the cap denotes the subject field. The tassels on the caps (mortar boards) worn by the faculty may exist black or a colour indicating the degree. Those who hold a doctoral degree may vesture a gilt tassel. It is traditional for degree candidates to clothing their tassels on the right and for those property degrees to wear them on the left. Graduates transfer their tassels to the left after conferring of the degrees by the President.

The mace

THE MACE — The USF mace is a ceremonial staff like to those used past many institutions of higher learning to evidence the right to grant degrees to graduates. The mace is used during all Commencement ceremonies and is carried by the President of the Faculty Senate. Our mace includes a gold pino cone at its elevation to correspond growth and continuity. Eight silver semicircles, which support the pine cone, stand for the eight colleges in existence at USF when the mace was commissioned in 1998. When non in utilise, today'due south mace is displayed in the antechamber of the President'southward office. The original university mace is on display in the Alumni Eye.

THE MEDALLION — The medallion worn by candidates for the available'southward degree identify those graduating with honors based upon GPA.

THE SASH — The gilded-colored sash is made available to students who are members of university honors societies. The sash is embroidered with the university seal and the student'southward honors order. International students may cull to wear a special sash honoring their abode country. The colors of their sash reverberate the colors of their native flags.

THE HOOD — The hoods are lined with the official colors of the institution conferring the degree. They are edged and bound with velvet of the colour appropriate for the degree. At USF, the lining of the hood is dark-green with a gilt chevron, representing the university'southward colors.

THE COLORS — In regalia, academic disciplines are noted past color. These colors can exist found on undergraduate and masters tassels and on master and doctorate hoods on the velvet edging.

  •   Apricot — Nursing

  •   Blue (dark) — Philosophy (doctorate)

  •   Bluish (light) — Educational activity

  •   Blue (peacock) — Public Assistants

  •   Blueish (Rhodes) — Audiology

  •   Dark-brown — Visual and Performing Arts

  •   Citron — Social Work, Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling

  •   Crimson — Advertisement, Journalism and Mass Communications

  •   Copper — Economics

  •   Drab — Business organisation

  •   Green (Kelly) — Medicine

  •   Green (olive) — Chemist's shop

  •   Green (sage) — Political Scientific discipline (masters)

  •   Orange — Applied science

  •   Pinkish — Music

  •   Salmon — Public Health

  •   Ruby — Religious Studies

  •   Scientific discipline Gold — Anthropology, Biology, Biomedical Sciences, Chemical science, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Criminology,  Environmental Science, Geography, Geology, Gerontology, Wellness Sciences, Information Technologies, Medical Scientific discipline (masters), Medical Technology, Mathematics, Marine Science, Physics, Speech Pathology, Statistics

  •   Silver — Spoken language Communications

  •   Teal — Concrete Therapy

  •   Violet — Architecture

  •   White — Arts and Messages and Humanities, including African Studies, American Studies, Applied Linguistics, Art and Art History, Classics, English, Foreign Language, General Studies, History, Interdisciplinary Social Science, International Studies, Liberal Studies, Linguistics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Women's and Gender Studies

  •   Xanthous (lemon) — Library Science

  •   Xanthous (pineapple) — Hotel and Restaurant Direction