Quick Tips: What to Wear (PDF)

graphic showing undergraduate regalia
graphic showing graduate regalia

Academic Regalia and other clothing guidelines  

  • Graduates must navigate steps from the staging area to the event floor. For
    your safety please wear appropriate footwear; avoid flip flops, clogs, very
    high heels, and loose fitting shoes.
  • Baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral caps and gowns differ from each other, as do the caps and gowns from other educational institutions. Please check your regalia for accuracy and quality before the day of the ceremony.
  • Uniforms of the armed forces are the only apparel other than academic regalia that is officially recognized and permitted.
  • No regalia (caps, gowns, and hoods) will be available at the ceremony. Please purchase at the Bookstore.

Undergraduates

  • Undergraduate academic regalia is a blue gown with wide sleeves and a blue mortarboard cap with a tassel, worn on the right front edge.
  • You will move the tassel to the left edge during the ceremony.
  • Regalia sets must be purchased. Purchase bachelor's regalia at the PSU Harrisburg Bookstore.

Graduate Students

  • Master's degree regalia sets must be purchased. Purchase master's regalia at the PSU Harrisburg Bookstore.
  • Doctoral regalia sets may be purchased or rented.
    An in-person fitting is required for doctoral regalia. Contact the Bookstore for details.
  • Graduate regalia is a black gown with pointed sleeves, a separate hood, and a black mortarboard cap with a tassel, worn on the left front edge of the mortarboard.

Academic Colors

For all academic purposes, including trimmings of doctors’ gowns, edging of hoods, and tassels of caps, the colors associated with the different disciplines are as follows:
Degree Program Color
Master's Degree Accounting Drab
American Studies White
Applied Behavior Analysis Gold
Applied Clinical Psychology Gold
Business Administration Drab
Civil Engineering Orange
Communications White
Computer Science Gold
Criminal Justice Purple
Criminal Justice Policy Administration Purple
Electrical Engineering(M. Eng.) Orange
Electrical Engineering(M.S.) Orange
Engineering Management Orange
Health Administration Sage
Homeland Security Gold
Information Systems Gold
Lifelong Learning and Adult Education Light Blue
Literacy Education Light Blue
Mechanical Engineering Orange
Public Administration Peacock
Teaching and Curriculum Light Blue
Doctoral Degrees American Studies Royal Blue
Engineering Systems Royal Blue
Public Administration Royal Blue
Joint and Concurrent Degrees Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration Purple
Juris Doctor and Master of Public Administration Purple
M.D./M.Ed. in Lifelong Learning and Adult Education Green
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences / Master of Business Administration Royal Blue
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences / Master of Science in Information Systems Royal Blue
Commencement Tip: Graduate Hooding Demo

Ornamentation

  • All ornamentation (including pins, cords, ribbons, scarves, stoles, sashes, medallions, etc.) representing honorary societies, nationalities, student clubs or organizations, professional organizations, fraternities, sororities, etc., is not permitted. 
  • Exceptions to this include students in the Penn State Harrisburg Honors Program, the Schreyer Honors College, and national honor society members, as listed below.

Penn State Academic Honor Cords

  • Undergraduate students graduating Summa Cum Laude will receive a blue and white cord; those graduating Magna Cum Laude will receive a blue cord; and those graduating Cum Laude will receive a white cord.
  • Students will receive email notification from the Registrar’s Office on how to receive their honor cords. The levels were determined by a student’s cumulative GPA at the end of the previous semester. 
  • Once degrees are conferred, students earning a different level of honors may contact the Registrar's Office to retroactively receive the corresponding honor cord.
  • Please note that graduate students do not earn honors. In American higher education, Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude, and Summa Cum Laude are unique to undergraduate education. 

Military Honor Cords

Undergraduate and graduate students who have honorably served, are serving, or are commissioned to serve in the U.S. military will be awarded an honor cord to wear at their commencement ceremony in recognition of their duty and sacrifice. The red, white and blue cords will be given to eligible graduating students, including associate degree recipients, in the following groups:

  • active duty, reserve and National Guard service members
  • veterans
  • graduates receiving a commission through Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and official U.S. Armed Forces recruiting programs

Students will receive email notification from the Veterans’ Affairs/Financial Aid Office on how to receive their honor cords.

Penn State Harrisburg Alumni Society Legacy Cords

The Penn State Harrisburg Alumni Society provides legacy cords to graduating students whose parents and/or grandparents are Penn State Harrisburg graduates. Celebrate your graduation and recognize your family ties by wearing the gold, blue, and white cord. Cords may be picked up at Grad Fair. Students are requested to provide their parents’/grandparents’ names, year of graduation, and degree(s) earned.  

National Honor Society Recognition

Members of nationally-recognized honor societies, who achieved their membership as a Penn State Harrisburg student, are permitted to wear ornamentation during the ceremony in the form of cords and/or pins. Penn State Harrisburg currently recognizes these honor societies:

  • Alpha Lambda Omicron (political science, government, international and public affairs) which awards a double cord of red and white
  • Alpha Phi Sigma (Criminal Justice), which awards a blue and gold braided cord
  • Beta Gamma Sigma (Business), which awards a royal blue and gold braided cord with the Beta Gamma Sigma key on one tassel
  • Kappa Delta Pi (Education), which awards a purple cord
  • Mu Kappa Tau (Marketing), which awards a double cord of navy blue
  • National Society of Leadership and Success (academic standing of leadership potential) which presents a black and white cord or a white stole with the Greek letters for Alpha Sigma Pi
  • Omicron Sigma Sigma (homeland security, intelligence, emergency management and protective security) which awards cords of blue and gold
  • Pi Alpha Alpha (Master of Public Administration and Undergraduate Public Policy) which awards a blue and gold braided cord
  • Phi Kappa Phi (excellence in all academic disciplines) which awards a gold satin stole, braided navy and gold cords, and a medallion
  • Psi Chi (Psychology), which awards a pin and platinum and blue cord
  • Sigma Tau Delta (English), which awards red and black cords
  • Upsilon Phi Delta (Health Administration), which awards a double cord of royal blue and red
  • Upsilon Pi Epsilon (Computer science, cybersecurity analytics and operations, human-centered design and development, information systems, information sciences and technology, and security and risk analysis), which awards a double braided cord of maroon and white