The first academic gowns were worn to provide warmth in the unheated buildings of the 12th and 13th centuries. As caps were not used at that time, hoods provided cover for tonsured heads. Colors were added in the 19th century to signify various degrees. The color used in the hood velvet should indicate the subject to which the degree pertains.
A recipient of the degree Master of Arts in Education should wear the light blue of Education rather than the white of the Arts.
No hood may represent more than one degree.
At the Doctoral level, the PhD degree is represented by dark blue and is used instead of the individual subject colors awarded under this degree.

For all academic purposes, the following colors represent some of the various degrees and disciplines.

Arts, Letters & Humanities; History, English	White
Audiology	Spruce Green
Business Administration, Accounting	Drab
Chiropractic	Gray
Dentistry	Lilac
Dramatic Arts, Fine Arts	Brown
Economics	Copper
Education	Light Blue
Engineering	Orange
Home Economics	Maroon
Journalism: Communication	Crimson
Law, Jurisprudence	Purple
Library Science	Lemon
Medicine	Hunter Green
Music	Pink
Nursing	Apricot
Oratory, Speech	Silver
Philosophy	Dark Blue
Physical Education	Sage Green
Physical Therapy	Teal
Public Administration, Foreign Service	Peacock Blue
Public Health, Occupational Therapy	Salmon
Science; Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Anthropology	Gold
Social Work	Citron
Theology, Divinity	Scarlet
Urban Planning; City Planning	Blue Violet
Veterinary Medicine	Gray
Criminology, Criminal Justice	Dark Navy

In addition to these degree colors, each college or university has its own school colors. If you know your school colors please let us know, but more importantly, fill in the name of your school and its location. This will help us to determine the design of the satin school colors inside your hood, ie. whether to use solid colors, chevrons, stripes, etc. as pictured below.