These academic regalia were worn by president Jo Young Switzer when she served as Manchester College Vice President and Dean for Academic Affairs and then as President from 1993-2014.

The doctoral gown was originally owned and worn by R. Nelson Snider, highly-regarded principal of Fort Wayne South Side High School from 1926 – 1963.  He wore it at the school’s and the city’s academic ceremonies.  The current R. Nelson Snider High School is named in his memory.

After Snider’s death, his widow gave the gown to Jo Young Switzer’s father, John F. Young, Manchester alumnus, who was the fortunate recipient of Mr. Snider’s mentoring, guidance, and friendship from 1962 through Mr. Snider’s death.

When John F. Young died in 1995, the gown came to Jo Switzer, the oldest of the four Young daughters, all of whom attended Manchester.

The fabric is very heavy, more like a grosgrain ribbon-type fabric than the polyester fabrics of today.  Like gowns of earlier times, it holds heat very well.

The cap and hood belonged to Jo Young Switzer, and she wore them many, many times through her work as a professor (at Manchester and IPFW) and then dean and president at Manchester.  They represent her doctoral Alma Mater, the University of Kansas, her discipline (communication), and terminal degree, the Ph.D.  Interestingly, Switzer graduated from Fort Wayne South Side High School in 1966, three years after R. Nelson Snider’s retirement after 37 years as principal.

Received from Jo Young Switzer, November 7, 2014