Academic Regalia. May 17, 2018

Copyright © 2018                                      John F. Oyler

May 17, 2018

Academic Regalia

I have been privileged for the past twenty-five years to be associated with the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Pittsburgh, as an adjunct professor. Legally my assignment has been half-time, teaching two courses each semester. Despite being an outsider I have managed to insert myself into the department structure sufficiently to be invited to Faculty meetings.

Commencement at a large University tends to be highly impersonal because so many students are involved. Traditionally the School of Engineering has had a separate, additional ceremony in which each student is recognized individually. Even that process has become unwieldy, so this year it was decided it would be replaced by individual ceremonies for each department.

At a recent meeting our Department Chairman reported this change and added that our graduating seniors this term had requested that our Faculty members participate in full academic regalia. Although I thought this was a fine idea, some of my colleagues protested, mainly because they didn’t possess caps and gowns. That was resolved by finding a cost-effective way of acquiring them.

I was sure I still had the cap, gown, and hood I wore when I was awarded my doctorate at Carnegie Mellon in 1972. I have very pleasant memories of that day. The ceremony was held outdoors on the campus on a lovely Spring Day. Our children were three, four, and six years old at the time and had a great time playing on the lawn. I saw a television photographer taking pictures of them and resolved to watch the 11:00 news that night. Much to my surprise, they were ignored, but the one graduate shown receiving his diploma was me.

My route to the degree was tortuous. After I returned from the service and went back to work at Dravo, I began taking night courses at Carnegie Tech, mostly because it was obvious there was a lot I didn’t know about Civil Engineering. Eventually I acquired enough credits to qualify for a Master’s Degree, which I received by mail.

Four years later I had acquired a wife and was quite proud of her when she earned her Master’s Degree at Pitt and went to work for the Pittsburgh Guild for the Blind as a counsellor. At that point we were living comfortably on two salaries, with no offspring in sight. Knowing how much I enjoyed learning, she suggested I investigate pursuing a doctorate.

I quickly determined that this would require my spending two semesters in residence as a full-time student, passing a qualifying examination, and then working on a dissertation part-time. My employer agreed to let me take a partial leave of absence, as long as I could work half-time.

Shortly after I entered into this schedule, my wife announced that she was pregnant. We eventually went from two good salaries to half of one, but starting a family was well worth it. Despite numerous setbacks I did eventually complete my obligations and was awarded with a degree. I will always be grateful to my wife for encouraging it.

Fortunately I have retained my regalia all these years; sure enough I found it in the back of my closet, in the original plastic bag that housed it when it came back from the cleaners forty six years ago. I was pleased that the fancy hood with its deep blue lapels and Tartan plaid lining appeared to be in good shape. The gown however had obvious mold spots; a trip back to the cleaners was obviously required.

All that was missing was the mortar board; it had to be under all the trash on the closet shelf, or, worse yet, the trash on the floor. This precipitated a massive cleaning operation which uncovered all manner of surprising things, but no mortar board.

Not to worry, I will purchase a new one at the University Store on Fifth Avenue (fancy name for the old Book Store). Sure enough, they have manikins displaying academic regalia in their front windows. Once inside it was not obvious how one goes about ordering regalia. Eventually someone in information put me in touch with a lady who understands such things.

Turns out faculty isn’t permitted to wear mortar boards; they have their own unique headgear. “We can order it for you, but we can’t guarantee it will arrive in time for this term’s Commencement.” Frustrated, I resorted to twenty-first century technology and accessed Amazon.

I was pleased to learn that I could order a “tam” at an affordable cost and have it delivered in a few days. Unfortunately it came in a variety of colors – decisions, decisions, decisions ! When I reported my dilemma to my colleague, Julie Vandenbossche, she promptly advised me that dark blue was appropriate for Engineering Schools. A week later I took a selfie of myself in a dark blue tam and circulated it to my colleagues.

Actually an interesting alternative to the tam is a “beefeater”. Whereas the tam is octagonal (or sometimes hexagonal), the beefeater has a circular rim and a floppy top. The ones I found on Amazon were only available in black. Perhaps I will consider one for my next academic affair.

In addition to our department affair, I learned that I needed academic regalia for another event, the Graduate School Commencement services in the Peterson Event Center. Shawn Platt, one of my favorite students, defended his doctoral dissertation successfully and was scheduled to graduate this term.

His advisor, Kent Harries, is on sabbatical at the University of Bath in England this year. He was able to come back for the defense but not for the graduation ceremonies. Shawn asked me to substitute for Kent and perform the “hooding” function. This was a great honor, one that I deeply appreciate.

In the Graduate School Commencement, each doctoral candidate is recognized individually. He goes onto the platform where his advisor then carefully places his hood over his head, avoiding the mortar board corners. The newly hooded doctor is then presented with his diploma by the Chancellor.

It was a grand affair, appropriately full of dignity. I found it to be very impressive and was honored to be part of it. It, of course, was dominated by foreign students. At least three fourths of the School of Engineering Ph. D’s were foreign nationals; it is easy to wonder if this is an appropriate use of our academic resources.

Our Department Graduation ceremony was held in the Ballroom in the Student Union. It was a real treat to see all of my colleagues in their formal attire. In the past forty-six years academic regalia fashions have evolved dramatically. I am comfortable with my somber but elegant black gown, but it almost is out of place today compared with the colorful robes than are so prevalent today.

I had concluded that my favorite was a tie between Leonard Casson’s bright orange robe and Andy Bunger’s burgundy one, until my daughter Elizabeth showed up in her Stanford ebony and cardinal robe, complete with university symbols on the lapels. It was more red-winged blackbird than cardinal, easily the fanciest of all.

I was delighted with our ceremony; it was well attended by students and faculty, plus a large turnout of friends and family. It began with a formal procession of all the elegantly robed Faculty, followed by the equally elegant students. Chairman Radisav Vidic welcomed the students and guests. Then Dr. Tony Iannichione and Senior Pete Eyre each gave excellent, relevant talks. After that each of the forty-two students graduating this semester was individually introduced and formally congratulated by the Chairman.

The recessional seemed almost regal to me; it was followed by a reception in the lounge that once was the Schenley Hotel side porch, with its marvelous views of the Cathedral of Learning across Bigelow Boulevard. The reception provided the Faculty with the opportunity to meet the families of these wonderful students who are entering into a new phase of their lives.

They are a remarkable group of young people. They score well for diversity – twelve women; four black students; and students from Nepal, China, Thailand, and Latin America. We do have lots of local students; Amadeo Hirata, who was elected outstanding Senior is a graduate of Taylor Allderdice and one of numerous students benefiting from the Pittsburgh Promise.

Six of them have earned commissions from ROTC programs and are heading off for active duty. At least five of them are going on to graduate school in the Fall. Most of the rest already are committed to good jobs and will soon be functioning as effective engineers-in-training. If, as I suspect, they are representative of Civil Engineering students throughout our country, our future is in good hands.