Commencement

Graduates with special recognitions had the option of wearing honor cords.

Graduating Cum Laude

Students graduating with honor or praise, completing with a cumulative 3.5 to 3.749 GPA.

Graduating Magna Cum Laude

Students graduating with great honor or praise, completing with a cumulative 3.75 to 3.999 GPA.

Graduating Summa Cum Laude

Students graduating with highest honor or praise, completing with a cumulative 4.0 GPA.

The Alpha Tau Xi (Fort Wayne) and Beta Zeta Kappa (Warsaw) chapters of the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society recognize students for their academic achievements. Membership is by invitation only and requires the student to have a 3.5 grade-point average or higher. Members wear golden honor stoles.

The Ivy Tech Honors College is a selective honors program that helps students reach their academic and transfer goals. Students in the Honors College program have been accepted to dozens of public and private colleges and universities not only in Indiana, but across the country.

The Ivy Tech Student Leadership Academy provides opportunities to Ivy Tech students to develop their leadership and professional skills while learning more about the history and traditions of the College. Members wear Ivy Tech medallions.

Ivy Tech’s ceremonial mace is a traditional symbol of power and authority. It is often used in academic ceremonies and by governmental bodies. Ivy Tech Community College’s beautiful ceremonial mace is carried in the procession by the marshal and displayed in a place of honor on the platform. The Country Carvers of LaGrange County created the mace for Ivy Tech Fort Wayne. The mace is constructed of cherry wood that came from trees on the lawn of the Indiana governor’s mansion and features ivy leaves carved in relief. It has been signed by both the Country Carvers and former Indiana Governor Frank O’Bannon. The mace was first used during the 1999 graduation ceremonies.

Academic costume of today has a history of nearly eight centuries. In medieval Europe, all townspeople wore long, fl owing robes or gowns. The materials and colors varied greatly according to the wealth and rank of the individual and were governed by royal decree. Gradually, there developed distinctive gowns for the various professions, trades, and guilds. They survive today in the gowns of religious orders, the judiciary, and in academic costume. In Europe, there is still great variation in the colors and shapes of academic costume, but in the United States, usage has been standardized by the Intercollegiate Code.

Students in the medieval universities of Paris, Bologna, Oxford, and Cambridge organized themselves into guilds, just as other groups did. Gradually, their costume became distinctive for bachelors (apprentices of arts), masters (teachers), and doctors (teachers, again, but having completed postgraduate studies). The distinctions appeared mostly in the hood. The hood derives from the cloak, which in medieval times was worn over the gown as overcoats are worn today.

Attached to the cloak at the back of the neck was a kind of cowl or hood that hung down or could be pulled over the head for warmth. After a time, this cowl or hood became a separate article, worn over the head and hanging far down the wearer’s back. When caps and hats came into fashion in the 15th century, the hoods became merely ornamental, draped over the shoulders and down the back.

Today, the bachelor’s gown has long, pointed sleeves; the master’s gown has closed sleeves with a slit for the arm; the doctor’s gown has round, open sleeves with three bars of velvet on each arm and velvet facing outward.

Most distinctive are the hoods, one for each of the three degrees. All hoods are made of the same materials as the gown and lined with silk in the official colors of the institution granting the degree. The trim is velvet—3 inches wide for the master’s and 5 inches for the doctor’s. The color denotes the degree.

The associate degree, originating in England in 1865 and first awarded in the United States in 1900, is used to denote completion of a college program of less than four years. The academic cap was a later development, first conferred as a symbol of the Master of Arts. Some caps were stiff, some soft, some square, and some round with a tuft in the center. The tassel of today is an elaboration of the tuft. Round caps are used at some institutions; the mortar board style comes to us from Oxford.

Gray – Certificate

White – Technical Certificate

Green – Associate Degree

Gold – Honors

Red, White, and Blue – Military Veteran

Green and Silver – High School Students Receiving Credentials

Navy and White – Northeast Indiana FAME

Silver with Green Ribbon – Student Leadership Academy

Gold with White Ribbon – Phi Theta Kappa Officers

Gold and Blue with Red, White, and Blue Ribbon – All Indiana Academic Team

Gold – Phi Theta Kappa

White – TRIO

Multicolor – GOAL y Amigos

Dr. Sue Ellspermann - President
Courtney Roberts - Senior Vice President / President of Ivy Tech Foundation
Matt Hawkins - Executive Vice President for Administration
Dean McCurdy - Senior Vice President / Provost
Molly Dodge - Senior Vice President Workforce Alignment
Mary Jane Michalak - Vice President for Public Affairs
Dominick Chase - Senior Vice President for Business Affairs & Chief Financial Officer
Matt Etchison - Senior Vice President / Chief Information Officer
Michelle Simmons - Vice President of Internal Relations
Rebecca Rahschulte - Vice President of K-14 Initiatives & Statewide Partnerships
Jo Nahod-Carlin - Vice President of Recruitment, Enrollment Management, & Marketing
Amber Williams - Vice President of Diversity, Equity & Belonging
Russell Baker - Vice President of Academic Affairs

Kim Barnett-Johnson, Ph.D. - Chancellor
Heidi Fowler, J.D. - Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Susan Brown - Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Services & Student Success
Valerie A. Eakins - Vice Chancellor of Finance & Administration
JoAnne Alvarez, Ed.D. - Executive Director of Diversity, Equity, & Belonging
Tracy Davis - Interim Executive Director of Campus & Community Relations
Saw Htoo Kapaw - Director of Information Technology
Joe McMichael - Executive Director of Ivy+ Career Link
Jessica Neuenschwander - Executive Director of Marketing & Communications
Tracina Smith - Executive Director for Foundation
Tina Sullivan - Executive Director of Human Resources

Lindsay Adams - School of Nursing

Eric Allmon - School of Business, Logistics & Supply Chain, School of Public Affairs & Social Services, School of Information Technology, Garatoni School of Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Rebecca Bishop - School of Arts, Sciences & Education

Deborah Pitzer - School of Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering, & Applied Science

Matthew Shady - School of Health Sciences

Stephanie Bibbs - Chair
Andrew Wilson - Vice Chair
Kim Emmert O’Dell - Secretary
Terry W. Anker - Member
Jesse Brand - Member
Jennie Dekker - Member
Michael Dora - Member
Tanya Foutch - Member
Larry Garatoni - Member
Marianne Glick - Member
Gretchen Gutman - Member
Paula Hughes-Schuh - Member
Harold Hunt - Member
Stewart McMillan - Member
Kerry M. Stemler - Member

Meg Distler - Chair
Phil Metcalf - Vice Chair
Christopher Brown - Member
Greg Gunthorp - Member
Jeff Hansen - Member
DaVita Mitchell - Member
Anthony Tranquill - Member
Tonya Weaver - Member
Debra Faye Williams-Robbins - Member

Karin Tauer - President

Crystal Horne - Vice President of Students

Maggie Becraft - Vice President of Communications