No matter your role on that auspicious day in May — excited graduate, proud family member, engaged faculty, staff or alumni — Commencement ends too soon.

Cameras do their part, brought out in droves to record the moment, reminding us of all that Emory’s graduates have achieved. Still, during Commencement ceremonies, so much passes in a blur. It has always been thus, even in the earliest years when Emory graduations were marathons of speechifying (sometimes, painfully, in Latin).

Long-held anticipation of the big day gives way too soon to closing remarks. Caps are sent sailing, some bearing messages. The last notes of the recessional linger just a moment in the air. A new phase in the life of these extraordinary Emory alumni has begun.

 More than a few of us want the frames to move more slowly and the chance to take everything in. Here, then, is a guide to Emory Commencement traditions old and new — a hedge against forgetting this special scene on a day of joyful distractions.

Emory’s Commencement begins with an iconic sound that calls everyone to order:

“From the back of the gathered crowd, a single bagpipe wails its first martial notes, followed by a roll of drums and a crashing skirl from the rest of the Atlanta Pipe Band. The chief marshal of the university steps out in stately time, followed by the bagpipers, then university trustees, officers and honorary degree recipients.” (From Emory historian emeritus Gary S. Hauk’s essay “The Feast of Reason and the Flow of Soul.”)

These days the mellow tones of the Atlanta Symphony Brass Quintet alternate with the stir of the Atlanta Pipe Band, led by Emory alumnus Henry D. Frantz Jr. 71C 74L. The pipers carry the colors of both Emory University and the University of St Andrews, Emory’s sister university in Scotland. In recognition of the significant relationship between the two institutions, Pipe Major Frantz composed “The Emory and Old St Andrews March” used in the processional.

The video captures those stirring sounds indicating that another Emory graduation is officially underway.

Many of the band’s members are prize-winning soloists. All, however, take special pride in ensemble performance, producing a technically challenging and musically satisfying experience for the listener.

“Hail we now our alma mater, hail the gold and blue!”

Marvin Rast 1918C 29T sang in the Emory Glee Club and was elected to membership in D.V.S. Senior Honor Society. He is also the author of Emory’s alma mater — a project he undertook when, in the spring of Rast’s senior year, the glee club director was lamenting the absence of a song about Emory for the season’s final concert.

In 1945, the original line “Loyal sons and true” was wholly out of place as women were graduating from every school of the university. Two weeks after Commencement that year, once female graduates lodged complaints, the line was emended to “Sons and daughters true.”

During the presidency of James T. Laney (1977-1993) and for a decade afterward, the alma mater was not performed. It was Jason Hardy 95C — who founded Emory’s first a cappella singing group, No Strings Attached — who approached the administration about reviving the tradition. Another needed update was made to the language — replacing the line “In the heart of dear old Dixie” with “In the heart of dear old Emory” — and No Strings Attached began performing it. The alma mater came back into the Commencement lineup in 2005.

Emory’s alma mater is set to “Annie Lisle,” which is the tune of hundreds of alma maters for high schools, colleges and universities across the country — and even in China.

Society of Corpus Cordis Aureum (Latin for “Golden Core of the Heart”), established in 2004, honors Emory alumni who have graduated 50 or more years ago. These “Golden Eagles” are invited to don their gold robes for the Commencement procession, leading the candidates for graduation into the ceremony.

Members of the society number 14,000 worldwide. With the understanding that not everyone can come to Atlanta to receive their medallions, Emory has begun conducting regional medallion ceremonies.

 A Golden Alumni Brunch takes place in the fall, associated with Homecoming, and events throughout the year offer members educational, cultural and social enrichment. 

The word “society” was added recently to more fully identify members as being part of a special and deeply valued group that shares a common memory of Emory. This enhancement acknowledges the fellowship of shared experience and honors the group’s collective wisdom and perspective.

Graduating students who have a parent, grandparent or sibling who is also an Emory graduate may wear specially commissioned medallions hanging from blue and gold ribbons. The medallions are expressions of the university’s gratitude to those families who have chosen to continue the Emory education tradition throughout the generations.

Legacy activities begin in a student’s first year during a pinning ceremony that includes family members.

The awarding of honorary degrees has been a tradition at Emory since 1846, when the Rev. William H. Ellison received a doctor of divinity. Ellison was a Methodist minister and a leader in establishing higher education in Virginia, Alabama and Georgia. He typified the sort of selection the university made in the 19^th century — namely, to honor individuals for their contributions to the church and education.

More recent honorees include Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, who has dedicated his career to helping the incarcerated; Temple Grandin, animal behaviorist and autism expert; former Georgia congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis; and Natasha Trethewey, two-term U.S. Poet Laureate and former Emory faculty member.

Emory honorary degree recipients have achieved the highest distinction in a field of scholarship — the arts, humanities, social sciences, sciences, health, business, law and all the professions — or in public service.

The university suggests its values and priorities with honorary degrees. For instance, the 14 Nobel Peace Prize winners with Emory honorary degrees include 10 peace laureates, two in literature and one each in economics and medicine. Although public servants and philanthropic business leaders tend to outnumber all others, writers also abound among the honored — appropriate for a university with a top-ranked undergraduate creative writing program.

View a full list of recipients.

At some institutions, the Kermit the Frogs of this world have earned honorary degrees. At Emory, it’s people only.