Guest Information Commencement Home
Class of 2025 Commencement
10 a.m. Sunday, May 11, 2025
Richard and Norma Small Athletic and Wellness Center
Jonathan M. Brand, President of the College, presiding
2025 event details will be published in early May.
Cornell, Greater Be Thy Name
-
Graduate representatives sing: Thousands have, from far and near, heard our chimes so sweetly ring: Countless voices here will sing, praises of our college dear. Cornell, greater be thy name. Than e'er in the days of yore! Cornell, brighter be thy fame, in the years that lie before.
-
Graduate representatives sing: Here we stand, a loyal band, firm for all that's good and right; By the Purple and the White, may thy students ever stand. Cornell, greater be thy name. Than e'er in the days of yore! Cornell, brighter be thy fame, in the years that lie before.
-
Audience joins in singing: When from thee we're far away, tears of mem'ry dim our eyes;As loved scenes before them rise, then we'll sing and then we'll say: Cornell, greater be thy name. Than e'er in the days of yore! Cornell, brighter be thy fame, in the years that lie before.
Families are encouraged to meet up with their student after they pick up their diploma and brunch tickets from the Registrar's table for photographs inside and outside and proceed to brunch together at the Hilltop Café.
Academic Regalia
The president of Cornell College wears a medallion representing the official seal of the college, hung from a chain of hand-cut silver links. An identical medallion is embedded in the college mace, commissioned in honor of the inauguration of President Jonathan Brand. Cornell’s College Marshal, a senior faculty member, carries the mace just in front of the president in academic processions. The position of mace bearer comes from medieval England when officials were protected by a bodyguard holding a mace.
The academic dress worn by today’s participants stems from medieval Europe, when scholars were also clerics and wore the robe of the monastic orders. The hood, now ceremonially draped around the neck, was originally a cowl attached to the gown and could be slipped over the head for warmth.
The hood represents the highest degree earned by the wearer. The color of its silk lining indicates the institution granting the degree. The color of the velvet border indicates the kind of degree: brown, fine arts or architecture; dark blue, philosophy; drab, business; green, medicine; lemon, library science; light blue, education; orange, engineering; pink, music; purple, law; sage green, physical education; scarlet, theology; white, arts, letters, or humanities; yellow, science.
Ceremony Marshals
Hemie Collier, Senior Diversity Officer and Director of Intercultural Life
Jim Freeman, Professor of Mathematics
Lynne Ikach, Professor of Russian
Jackie Wilson, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students