Commencement

About Commencement

Bushnell University has been graduating leaders in our community since 1899!

Bushnell University has been holding commencement ceremonies and conferring degrees since the very first graduating class of 1899. While the largest and primary graduation ceremony occurs in May at the end of the traditional academic year, our evening and online students in non-traditional programs are completing degree requirements throughout the year. In 2007, an annual December graduation ceremony was added to serve this growing demographic.

Commencement Resources

There are generally two types of attendees at graduation: friends and family of the graduates, and those who are actually graduating. If you’re looking for dates and times for either Fall or Spring graduation, or directions or hotel accommodation recommendations, we have provided some general information for you. More specific information for graduates–how to apply for graduation, order regalia and other supplies, etc.–is available on My.Bushnell.

Academic Regalia

The pageantry and dress of the academic procession have been inherited from the medieval universities of the 11^th and 12^th centuries. Academic life as we know it today began in the Middle Ages, first in the Church, then in the guilds. The teaching guild was the guild of the Master of Arts, where the Bachelor was the apprentice of the Master and the dress was the outward sign of privilege and responsibility. Principal features of academic dress are the gown, the cap, and the hood. Both Cambridge and Oxford since the 15^th century have made the academic dress a matter of university control even to its minor details and have repeatedly published revised regulations. American universities agreed on a definite system in 1895. In 1932 the American Council on Education presented a revised code which, for the most part, governs the style of academic dress today.