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Over 170 years of traditions contribute to the pomp and circumstance of convocation, bringing faculty, family, and friends together to recognize academic achievements of Queen’s students as they graduate.

Spring convocations begin on Thursday, May 24, and will continue until Wednesday, June 6. With 21 ceremonies in total (all but two in Grant Hall), there is a lot to take in at Queen’s over the next three weeks. Venues, speeches, music, and the academic regalia all have a place in the festivities, and their origins come from well over a century of tradition.

These hallowed halls

During the first convocation ceremony at Queen’s on June 2, 1847, the Senate awarded only three degrees. The ceremony was likely held at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. Since then, the venue has changed to the Old Medical Building in 1858, Convocation Hall in the Theological Hall in 1878, and Grant Hall in 1905, where it remained until the 1970s when spring class sizes were too large and instead hosted in the Jock Harty Arena. Grant Hall continued to host the fall ceremonies with overflow into the Queen’s Centre. After Jock Harty Arena was dismantled in 2007, Grant Hall was reinstated as the primary location for convocation.

Honourable mention

After the principal’s (or senior administrator’s) speech, many convocations feature an honorary graduate’s speech. This tradition dates back to 1858 with the first honorary degrees given to two prominent Presbyterian clergymen, Rev. James C. Muir and Rev. Alexander MacGillivray.

Honorary degree recipients are chosen twice per year through Senate Committee on Honorary Degrees of Queen’s University. Any member of the Queen’s community may nominate someone who has contributed something outstanding to a discipline, field of work, community, society, or to the university, and the committee considers these nominations. Learn more about , and .

Musically inclined

The chancellor grants degrees during convocation while “Flourish for the Chancellor” plays, an organ composition written specifically for convocation by Queen’s music professor Fred Clarke.

Swaths of colours

Students graduating don the traditional outfit of a gown and hood at convocation. Each degree has a different colour scheme, from the red, gold, and blue of a Doctor of Philosophy, to the black and red of a Bachelor of Arts. You can find more designs listed on .

Interested in more information on convocation? Check out for details on what to expect before, during, and after the ceremonies.