The sea of graduates assembled for this year\u2019s commencement ceremonies may bear more of a resemblance to an actual sea than in previous years.<\/p>\n
The traditional black robes in use since the University started using caps and gowns in 1907, are being replaced with robes of a new color: navy blue.<\/p>\n
There is no momentous reason for switching colors other than the fact that the University\u2019s cap and gown vendor, Oak Hall, offered another option \u2013 a shade of deep blue that is close to UConn’s color, said Cara Workman, director of university events and conference services.<\/p>\n
The gowns\u00a0also have a \u201cgreen\u201d aspect to them.<\/p>\n
Each gown in Oak Hill\u2019s GreenWeaver line is made from recycled water bottles \u2013 about 23 bottles per gown. The gowns are lighter weight and wrinkle-resistant but ironing, for obvious reasons, is not recommended. On the upside: after graduation, the gowns can be recycled.<\/p>\n
The new gowns went on sale at the UConn Bookstore the week of March 20. By the end of the week, which included a two-day Grad Fair, an estimated 1,900 gowns had been purchased, said Rob Dunnack, an assistant manager at the bookstore.<\/p>\n
Xinyi Cui, a business major, gave the new look a thumbs-up when she picked up her gown. \u201cIt\u2019s like the UConn color, so I like it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Another senior, environmental sciences major Nathan Gallo, perked up upon learning the gowns are made from recyclables.<\/p>\n
The change applies to gowns for undergraduate and graduate students. It will not, however, be instituted\u00a0in all ceremonies, Workman said. Professional schools, the School of Law, and UConn Health graduates will continue wearing black caps and gowns.<\/p>\n
Nor does the change impact other popular commencement traditions, she said. The practice of decorating caps is a way to personalize commencement attire and express Husky Pride, or send a message of thanks to family members or friends and mentors at UConn.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Commencement Office encourages graduates to decorate their caps using any medium,\u201d Workman said.<\/p>\n
Return to UConn Today for a\u00a0photo gallery of decorated caps on\u00a0Monday, May 8.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The blue gowns could also be referred to as ‘green.’ Each is made from about 23 recycled plastic water bottles. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":125157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2229,173,92,174,2225,90,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2021],"class_list":["post-124351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commencement","category-uconn-avery-point","category-uconn-hartford","category-uconn-stamford","category-uconn-storrs","category-uconn-waterbury","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 09:43:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124351"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125161,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124351\/revisions\/125161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/125157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124351"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=124351"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=124351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}