2025 Undergraduate Commencement Program

Joanne Jodry, Ed.D., DMH, LPC, LCADC, associate professor and director of the Clinical Mental Health Counseling graduate program, has been a faculty member at Monmouth University for 22 years. Professor Jodry received her master’s degree in psychological counseling and post-master’s certificate from Monmouth in 1998 and has been a Hawk ever since. She continued her education, receiving doctoral degrees in medical humanities and counselor education and supervision.

This is a second career for Professor Jodry. She earned her bachelor’s degree in business management and began her first career in senior retail management. Seeking something more personally fulfilling, she turned to professional counseling and discovered her passion for teaching. Professor Jodry teaches from a feminist pedagogy and co-creates the classroom experience so that each student can grow at their own pace. She says it has been a joy watching students grow and find their voices over the last 22 years.

Her recently published theoretical book, “Feminist Intersectional Therapy,” displays her passion for helping people understand social, cultural, and political internalized messages, and empowers them to decide if and how they may want to navigate the often-oppressive macro systems. Another research area of interest includes integrating other humanities disciplines into mental health counseling, such as philosophy, storytelling, and spirituality—specifically Buddhist psychology and drama therapy.

In addition to her academic work, Professor Jodry maintains a private clinical practice grounded in feminist intersectional theory. She specializes in adults struggling with finding meaning in their lives.

The history of academic dress reaches far back into the earliest days of the oldest universities. A statute of 1321 required that all “Doctors, Licentiates, and Bachelors” of the University of Coimbra wear gowns. In England, in the second half of the 14th century, the statutes of certain colleges prescribed the wearing of a long gown. In the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe, the wearing of a robe often signified a degree candidate’s political or religious affiliation; in the northern universities and those of the British Isles, the robes signified that tuition and boarding fees of the wearer had been paid and also entitled them to special immunities in civil law, as well as providing them warmth at lectures and chapel.

When American colleges and universities desired to adopt some suitable system of academic apparel, a conference held at Columbia University in 1895, made up of representatives from various institutions, drew up a “By-Law, Regulation, or Statute” for the establishment of a suitable code of academic dress for colleges and universities in the United States. This code, with modifications made in 1959 by the Committee on Academic Costumes and Ceremonies of the American Council on Education, is still in force; the costumes and colors, trimmings, and patterns you will see are traditional, and interpret both the degree and field of learning. The bachelor’s gown, designed to be worn closed, has pointed sleeves; the master’s gown, which may be worn open or closed, has an oblong sleeve open at the wrist that hangs down in the traditional manner. The rear part of its oblong shape is square cut, and the front part has the arc cut away. The doctoral gown has bell-shaped sleeves. It may be worn open or closed.

Black is the recommended color for all academic gowns. Bachelor’s and master’s gowns are untrimmed. Doctoral gowns are faced with black velvet, with three bars across the sleeves; the color of the velvet may also be that which is distinctive to the degree, agreeing with that of the edging of the hood. In the 1960s, many American land-grant universities adopted the British and the Scottish tradition of using the official school color(s) for the robes of their doctoral recipients—for instance, Yale: sky blue; Harvard: crimson; University of Pennsylvania: scarlet and blue; Columbia: slate gray; Rutgers: scarlet and black.

The hoods, differing in length for the three degrees—bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral—are lined with the official colors of the university or college conferring the degree, usually with one color forming a chevron pattern over the other. Hoods are edged and bound with velvet or the color appropriate for the degree. You will see in our procession many hoods edged with dark blue, representing doctor of philosophy.

Mortarboards are the approved headgear. The tassel, worn on the left side of the cap, maybe gold if the holder has a doctoral degree.