Commencement is the pinnacle of our students’ academic careers. Of course, none of our graduates achieve their college goals alone. We look forward to joining with hundreds of family members and friends each year to celebrate our graduates’ achievements.
Information on parking while attending commencement will be available soon.
Please refer to the following in case of emergency:
• Emergency exits
• Emergency shelters
Details for the spring 2026 Cap and Gown event will be available soon.
2025 grads: We captured the moment you received your diploma! Find and download your photo.
Academic Honors and Apparel
Take your celebration on social media to the next level with some fun #sncgrad content!
Academic Honors
Students who have Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude or Summa Cum Laude after their names have attained a specific grade-point average (GPA) during their education at St. Norbert College. The honors are calculated on grades earned through January, with final honors determined after all grades for the current semester have been entered on students’ records. This average is computed from all courses taken at St. Norbert College. The designation with accompanying GPA shows the high academic standards students have attained:
Cum Laude — 3.50-3.74
Magna Cum Laude — 3.75-3.89
Summa Cum Laude — 3.90-4.00
Students graduating Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude and Summa Cum Laude wear double gold cords.
Honors Program
The St. Norbert Honors Program provides highly motivated, intellectually curious and creative students with a college experience that challenges them academically and engages them in a diverse and dynamic intellectual community. Students who graduate from the Honors Program have demonstrated the ability to approach complex issues through the application of reason and critical thinking, as well as the ability to clearly and effectively communicate their analyses. They have successfully completed all honors courses and project requirements, have maintained a cumulative grade-point average of 3.5 or above, and have modeled academic integrity.
Honors students are challenged personally as well as academically: They are expected to actively engage with the Catholic, Norbertine mission of the college and the ideal of communio by treating all members of the community with respect, being conscious of and attentive to the needs of the greater community, and pursuing a life that includes service to others.
Academic Apparel
Graduates of the master’s programs wear hoods depicting the colors historically associated with St. Norbert College — green, white and gold. Hoods additionally feature a band of red for Master of Theological Studies graduates, white for Master of Arts in Liberal Studies graduates, and drab for Master of Business Administration graduates.
Membership in one of the national honor societies may be indicated by the following:
In addition to academic regalia, students may be wearing approved regalia in celebration of any of the following: their study abroad location, their national origin or identity, or their campus leadership roles.
Faculty Gowns
In an academic procession, college faculty display their doctoral and master’s degree colors on their robes, tassels and hoods. Following are the colors associated with each academic degree field:
Arts, Letters and Humanities — White
Business Administration, Commerce, Accountancy — Drab
Economics — Copper
Education — Light Blue
Engineering — Orange
Fine Arts, including Architecture — Brown
Journalism — Crimson
Library Science — Lemon
Music — Pink
Nursing — Black
Oratory (Speech) — Silver-Gray
Philosophy — Dark Blue
Physical Education — Sage Green
Public Administration, including Foreign Service — Peacock Blue
Science — Gold-Yellow
Social Science — Citron
Theology or Divinity — Scarlet
Symbols and Their Meanings
The Mace of St. Norbert College
In medieval times, a mace was a spiked club wielding effective authority among combatants. Later, it became a conventional symbol of authority, and, when vested within the academic community, it often signifies teaching authority.
The teaching mission of St. Norbert College offers preparation for all good works. The college mace bears a cross theme since preparation for good works is rooted in a full awareness of the significance of the cross.
The design is one of dynamic contrast. There is an interplay of contrasting and diametrically opposed sculptural elements, which serve to symbolize the richness of Christian values. A cross with its extension of equal arms in four directions in brilliant gold is suggestive of peace (“the tranquility of order”), richness, brilliance and smoothness. The four roughly hammered elements (suggestive of the world) are in diametric opposition and are of contrasting color and texture, which suggests the opposite of the cross, i.e., disorder, poverty, darkness and roughness.
The ebony surface is carved with a number of abstract forms suggestive of constituent elements that are separate yet integral with the whole (community). At the top of the staff are three sterling medallions — the seal of the Norbertine fathers, the seal of the college and the seal of Wisconsin.
The St. Norbert mace symbolizes the communal spirit that presents the cross with its richness and imparts its significance and worth to a darkened, impoverished and contrary world environment.
This mace was designed and crafted by Paul A. Cavanagh, Greenville, Rhode Island, in 1983.
The Sculpture of St. Norbert
Norbert of Xanten was born on the German-Dutch border in the Castle of Gennep c.1075. His father was the count of Gennep, and his mother was a cousin of Emperor Henry IV.
After serving in the courts of the archbishop of Cologne and of the emperor, St. Norbert decided to undertake a life of poverty and simplicity. After years as an itinerant preacher, he settled in the valley of Prémontré, France, and founded the Premonstratensian order in 1120. In 1126, he was chosen as archbishop of Magdeburg.
The sculpture captures St. Norbert as a young itinerant preacher. The Norbertine scapular stole and cincture identify the order that he founded. Holding his walking stick in one hand, he impulsively plucks a living branch and forms a cross that is symbolic of the renewing of the church he seeks. With the cross as a focus, he strides up an inclined path that faces off the campus toward the outside community.
St. Norbert models for all ages selfless sharing and reaching out to allothers with love. Following his lead, graduates are encouraged to take their knowledge, service and leadership gifts out into the world.
The bronze sculpture was designed and handcrafted by Paul T. Granlund, sculptor-in-residence at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. Mary and Norman Watermolen ’47 underwrote the project with assistance from the St. Norbert College Centennial Class of 1998.
Seal of the President of St. Norbert College
The seal symbolizes the responsibilities of the president to provide leadership to the academic community, to ensure the continuation of the tradition and heritage of the college, and to represent the college to other constituencies.
The circle connotes responsibility, as there is an encompassment and integration of what is within. The square symbolizes the academic community: administration, faculty, student body and alumni.
The crest in the center symbolizes the heritage of the college. The cross extensions suggest the emanation of Christian values. All are within the outer circle, within the aegis of the president.
The disc on the reverse side is a suitable location for the names of the college’s presidents. The metal has been hand-wrought. The wood is ebony.
This presidential medallion was designed and sculpted by Paul A. Cavanagh, Greenville, Rhode Island, in 1983.
St. Norbert College strives to be a community that is welcoming to all and affirms the sacred dignity of all by engaging in practices of inclusion.
All human resources policies, including those on employment, compensation, benefits, transfers and staff-development programs are administered without discrimination.
