Parchment

Today, I got my “new” diploma in the mail. As many of you know, I graduated from Southwest Texas State University. Well, gone the way of the dodo is SWT(SU) and it is now known, simply, as Texas State University. Now, fundamentally, there is nothing wrong with that, I actually quite dig it - except I didn’t graduate from TSU, I graduated from SWT. Sure, it is the same buildings, same city, same colors, it just doesn’t seem like the same school anymore.

Because of the name change, Texas State is offering (I imagine they still are, at least) new diplomas with the new "Look, Feel and Name" of this inevitably prestigious university. I love my old diploma. It is class. It is refinement. It is TSU. But, I won't have people giving me confused German shepherd looks when they see it, so I buckled under the pressure and got a version of the new one as well. Like the school traveled back in time with the new name and issued me the diploma like it would had I walked today.

A couple of differences:
1) Obviously, the name. Duh… So now it says Texas State University. Yeah. Interestingly enough, however, the city locale is treated differently. San Marcos is more pronounced, some 10 pts larger at least, maybe more. And they removed “Texas”. Of course, I am not sure why they really needed to identify the state Southwest Texas State was located in, but hey.

2) No color. On my old diploma (I graduated in ’98 during the centennial celebration) there is this gorgeous 4-color logo mark at the bottom. Sure, the school’s seal is absent, but my diploma celebrates 100 years of higher education. So, with the new one — seal. Foil stamped in gold. Nice. Elegant. I think foil stamping is cheaper than 4-color (it’s just one pass through the press).

3) My name. Ya, I’m pretty sure they screwed this up. On all my official documents I go ahead and accept my middle name and show it off. Old diploma = Full name, all spelled out. New diploma = middle initial. I know for a fact I put my full middle name for something such as this. Aside from that - it is a slightly different font. Same Old-English style, but just enough of a variance to be distinguishable.

Overall - I like it. It really is nice. The font is bigger across the board for all elements and the foil is a nice touch. 50 years from now, I will be just as pleased with my old diploma though. There’s something about getting your bachelor’s that makes a single piece of parchment worth more than anything else. My wife’s on the other hand is, hands down, cooler than mine. St. Edward’s has a regality that completely overshadows any state school.

PS: In the envelope containing my diploma, there was also another “new” diploma. One for Mindee L. Thweatt, BS – Computer Science, ’92. Summa Cum Laude even. Nice. Congrats Mindee! Now I just gotta figure out how to get it back to the university.