Ohio Northern will hold three in-person commencement ceremonies the weekend of May 17 and 18, 2025. All three ceremonies will take place in the 鶹ý Sports Center Field House. Tickets will not be required for the commencement ceremonies.
The College of Law Commencement will take place Saturday, May 17, at 10 a.m.
The College of Pharmacy Commencement will take place Sunday, May 18, at 9 a.m.
The Undergraduate/MSA Commencement will take place Sunday, May 18, at 2 p.m.
Doors open 90 minutes before each ceremony. All seating is first come first served with seating available for those with physical impairment. As a courtesy to all guests in attendance, we ask that seats not be held for others. The processional starts approximately 15 minutes before the ceremony. Those not seated at that time will need to wait to enter the Field House until the procession has concluded in order to be seated.
A commencement ceremony for the College of Law will be held Saturday, May 18, at 10 a.m. A live stream will be available beginning at 9:45 a.m. on .
Saturday, May 17 |
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8:30 a.m. | Sports Center Open | Sports Center | Guests should arrive by 9 a.m. and be seated by 9:30 a.m. |
9 a.m. | Processional Assembly | Gymnasium, Sports Center | Graduating students assemble. |
9:15 a.m. | Processional Assembly | Gymnasium, Sports Center | Faculty assemble. |
9:30 a.m. | Musical Prelude | Field House, Sports Center | |
9:45 a.m. | Academic Processional | Field House, Sports Center | |
10-11:30 a.m. | Commencement | Field House, Sports Center | LIVE STREAMING AVAILABLE |
11:30 a.m. | Recessional | Field House, Sports Center | |
Reception After Graduation | A dessert reception for graduates and their guests will be held in the Pettit College of Law Building about 15 minutes after the Commencement Recessional. | ||
Join us for the Pharmacy Commencement Ceremony (Bachelor of Integrated Health Science and PharmD) on Sunday, May 19, at 9 a.m. in the 鶹ý Sports Center Field House. A live stream will be available beginning at 8:45 a.m. on .
Sunday, May 18 |
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7:30 a.m. | Sports Center Opens | Sports Center | Guests should arrive by 8 a.m. and be seated by 8:30 a.m. |
8:00 a.m. | Processional Assembly | Gymnasium, Sports Center | Graduating students assemble. |
8:15 a.m. | Processional Assembly | Gymnasium, Sports Center | Faculty assemble. |
8:30 a.m. | Musical Prelude | Field House, Sports Center | |
8:45 a.m. | Academic Processional | Field House, Sports Center | |
9-11:15 a.m. | Commencement | Field House, Sports Center | LIVE STREAMING AVAILABLE |
11:15 a.m. | Recessional | Field House, Sports Center | |
Reception After Graduation | A reception for graduates and their guests will be held in a tent near Robertson-Evans {Pharmacy Building) about 15 minutes after the Commencement Recessional. |
A ceremony for the undergraduate students (Arts & Sciences, Engineering, Business, and including MSA) will be held on Sunday, May 19, at 2 p.m. inside the 鶹ý Sports Center Field House. A live stream will be available beginning at 1:45 p.m. on .
Sunday, May 18 |
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12:30 p.m. | Sports Center Open | Sports Center | Guests should arrive by 1 p.m. and be seated by 1:30 p.m. |
1 p.m. | Processional Assembly | Gymnasium, Sports Center | Graduating students assemble. |
1:15 p.m. | Processional Assembly | Gymnasium, Sports Center | Faculty assemble. |
1:30 p.m. | Musical Prelude | Field House, Sports Center | |
1:35 p.m. | Academic Processional | Field House, Sports Center | |
2-4:30 p.m. | Commencement | Field House, Sports Center | LIVE STREAMING AVAILABLE |
4:30 p.m. | Recessional | Field House, Sports Center | |
Reception After Graduation |
Receptions for graduates and their guests will begin in each college about 15 minutes after the Commencement Recessional. Locations of the receptions are: Arts & Sciences-Middle Gym, Sports Center |
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45 Minutes after Graduation | Order of the Engineer and Pledge of the Computing Professional Ceremonies | JLK 103 |
The Order of the Engineer and the Pledge of the Computing Professional will take place 45 minutes after the completion ofthe commencement ceremonyin the Engineering Activities Room (JLK 103) and Atrium. |
Herff Jones is 鶹ý's official supplier of commencement caps and gowns, announcements, thank you notes, envelope seals, announcement covers, class rings, and premium appreciation certificates.
Last day to place orders is April 12, 2025. After April 12, contact the 鶹ý Bookstore.
鶹ý celebrates an important milestone in the lives of its students during commencement exercises each May. The dates and times of these ceremonies are listed above.
鶹ý holds all Commencement ceremonies indoors in the 鶹ý Sports Center Field House.
The 鶹ý Sports Center is located on W. Lincoln Ave. Please drive to the King Horn parking lot entrance off of W. Lincoln Ave. and parking attendants will direct you to available spaces.
Tickets will not be required for the commencement ceremonies.
Doors open90 minutesbefore each ceremony. All seating is first come first served with seating available for those with physical impairment. The processional starts approximately 15 minutes before the ceremony. Those not seated at that time will need to wait to enter the Field House until the procession has concluded in order to be seated.All guests, regardless of ceremony, are requested to remain in their seats throughout the ceremony.
SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2024
10:00 a.m. | Pettit College of Law Commencement
SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2024
9:00 a.m. | Raabe College of Pharmacy Commencement
2:00 p.m. | Undergraduate/MSA Commencement
The University has arranged for each graduate to be photographed receiving the diploma. Graduates will receive information about the photographer prior to the ceremonyandhave the opportunity to purchase the picture after commencement from an online portal. Sign up information forwill be provided to graduates prior to the commencement ceremony.
Photographs of graduates in the procession must be taken as the procession is moving into the Field House since students will not recess. For the convenience of guests wishing to take their own photographs, a posted area is provided on the north side of the platform (audience left) for this purpose.In this area, a picture of the graduate after they come off the stage and before they are seated can be taken. Guests are requested to plan their entrance into the area approximately three to five graduates ahead and then return to their seats immediately after. At all other times, guests are asked to remain in their seats throughout the ceremony.
Graduates also are encouraged to take photos on our beautiful campus. Some popularplaces include the Ohio Northern sign in front of Lehr Memorial, the campus boulevard entrance near Dukes Memorial,the fountains in front of McIntosh Center and Freed Center, The H.S. Lehr statue near Hill building, and on the Tundra.
May 18
A reception for law graduates and guests will be held in the college following the ceremony.
May 19
Receptions for graduates and guests will be held following each ceremony.
Parking for persons with special needs will be provided near the Field House. Security personnel will direct guests to parking. Special seating will be provided for those with physical impairments. Please contact an usher for assistance if needed.
No babysitting and nursery service will be available.
A nurse will be available in the training room of the Field House during the commencement ceremonies. Ushers are available for assistance.
Yes, thehours during commencement are as follows:
Saturday, May 18: 11:00am - 1:00pm
Sunday, May 19: 10:00am - 2:00pm
Yes, Dining Services offer catering and pick-up-and-go options. Please email catering@onu.edu with a few details about what you are looking for and your contact number, and they will be glad to give you a call to discuss options.
Awarding academic degrees to signify reaching a certain level in a branch of learning goes back at least eight centuries, even prior to the creation of universities. In the twelfth century, large bodies of students would gather together in one place, as they did in Paris and Bologna. In such a scholarly milieu, some naturally decided on a career in teaching.
Their first step was to become baccalaureus, a step which preceded by several years permission to teach. Following more years of study, the student was admitted to a select circle of teachers through a series of special initiation rites. The installation in a teaching post followed practices of Roman Law among students in Paris. Some vestiges of the ceremony are seen in today’s commencement exercises, namely the investment with a square cap. The new master would embark upon his teaching career with his first lecture, his inceptio, meaning commencement.
From these origins has come our commencement, a special academic ceremony for the purpose of awarding degrees, which begins and ends with an academic procession. As a descendant of clerical processions of the churches, it is carried out with great dignity and impressiveness. All participants wear the academic regalia appropriate to their highest degree. Faculty members process in order of their academic rank, with senior full professors first, followed by their colleagues of successively lower rank. The procession is formed in ranks of two except for special dignitaries or honorees who may walk alone. The entire procession is headed by a senior faculty member bearing an ornate institutional banner and another serving as grand marshal and carrying the institutional mace, a traditional emblem of authority of the bearer.
The high point of the commencement program is the awarding of degrees. Placing a hood on the shoulders of the graduate is the time-honored gesture denoting the investiture of the degree. Since this practice is most often retained solely for advanced degrees in contemporary commencement exercises, today’s bachelor’s degree recipients symbolize the hooding through the simple act of moving the tassel on the cap from the right to the left side. Only a few institutions maintain the practice — as we do at 鶹ý — of the candidate receiving their diploma at the commencement ceremony.
Evolving culture and customs have changed the details of awarding degrees. Yet it remains a rich and memorable experience for participants and witnesses, a ceremony sensitive to tradition and conveying great significance in the lives of the new graduates.
Academic attire dates back at least to the 14th century. Its origin is attributed to ecclesiastical influence, to the need for warmth in unheated rooms used by medieval scholars, and to avoidance of “excess in apparel” by wearing a long gown. Ultimately, there developed distinctive caps, gowns and hoods denoting the institution that granted the degree, the field of learning in which the degree was earned, and the level of the degree –bachelor, master or doctorate.
American universities, unlike those of England and Europe, have adopted a standard code of academic costume in which the cut and material of the gown, the color of the tassel on the cap, and the pattern and colors of the hood all have special significance.
Bachelors’ gowns are closed at the throat and have long, pointed sleeves. Masters’ gowns may be worn open or closed and have long, oblong sleeves, square and closed at the end, the arms coming through slits near the wrist. Doctors’ gowns, worn open or closed, are faced with velvet and have full, bell-shaped sleeves. Each sleeve carries three bars of velvet, called chevrons. Trustees, presidents and marshals of colleges or universities may wear caps and gowns that are especially designed and colored.
Academic caps are usually mortarboards, though soft caps are also worn. The cap is black; the tassel is black or the color appropriate to the discipline or field of study, or, for a doctor’s cap, it may be gold.
The hood gives color and real meaning to the academic costume. The color of the lining identifies the university granting the highest degree held by the wearer. The color of the trim indicates the field of learning in which the degree is received.
Arts, Letters, Humanities,White | Law,Purple | Philosophy, Dark Blue |
Commerce, Business, Drab | Library Science, Lemon | Physical Education, Sage Green |
Education, Light Blue | Music, Pink | Public Service, Peacock Blue |
Engineering, Orange | Nursing, Apricot | Science, Golden Yellow |
Fine Arts, Brown | Pharmacy, Olive Green | Theology, Scarlet |