Commencement Attire
About UHCL's Commencement Attire
Gown styles vary depending on the type of degree. Bachelor-level gowns feature black, full-cut, long sleeves cuffed with a blue band on which "UHCL" is emblazoned in green. Master-level gowns feature black, long sleeves with an arc-shaped panel on each sleeve. The panel is finished with a blue band on which "UHCL" is emblazoned in green. Doctorate-level gowns are black, with black velvet down the front along with a golden seal school crest. The sleeves consist of three velvet stripes outlined in gold. Candidates for degrees at University of Houston-Clear Lake wear the black mortarboard with a blue-and-green tassel.
Ordering Your Cap and Gown
Cap and gown must be ordered online through the UHCL's vendor, Herff Jones as soon as you have applied for graduation. If you miss the deadline for ordering your cap and gown, the UHCL Campus Store will have limited supply and sizes of caps and gowns available for purchase.
More information on picking up or replacing your cap, gown, tassel and hood will be available shortly.
For students who are experiencing a crisis or unforeseen emergency, the Gowns for Grads program lends donated caps and gowns. To apply, or to donate gently used UHCL graduation regalia, visit Gowns for Grads.
Attire Guidelines
- You can only wear the usual academic regalia on the cap and gown. Honor cords are an acceptable addition, but other items like ribbons and shawls are not.
- Women wear their academic caps throughout the ceremony. Men remove their caps for the Invocation and Benediction.
- Master's degree students wear a master's hood during the ceremony.
- Master's candidates wear their tassels on the left side of the cap.
- Bachelor's candidates start out with the tassel on the right side of their caps and move them to the left side after degrees are conferred by the President.
- Be sure to leave anything that cannot fit into your pockets in your vehicle or with a guest/family member. Graduates are not permitted to bring coats, bags, purses, etc. into the staging area.
Any excessive decorations on caps and gowns are distracting and therefore inappropriate. The university reserves the right to require you to remove any embellishment deemed inappropriate by authorized university officials before you are permitted to participate in the ceremony. Examples of inappropriate embellishment include, but are not limited to:
- Mortarboards with vulgar language, inappropriate verbiage or photos/graphic images
- Mortarboards with lights, balloons and other items that could pose a safety hazard
- Decorations that obstruct the view of people seated behind the graduate
- Designs with vertical structures or décor; elements used in the design must lay as flat to the mortar board as possible
How do I wear my cap and gown?
Our partners at Herff Jones have put together helpful videos to guide you through the ins and outs of cap and gown outfitting.