Although some masters and honorary doctoral degrees were granted by the University of Cincinnati in the 19^th century, graduate programs (including those for earned doctoral degrees) did not begin to expand until 1900, culminating in the establishment of a graduate school at the university in late 1906. Since hoods would have been used at commencement ceremonies for doctoral students, the Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume (IBAC) probably assigned a hood lining to Cincinnati during the 1900-06 period.

So even though it may have been assigned earlier, the academic hood lining design for the University of Cincinnati was not cited until a 1918 Encyclopedia Americana article on academic costume written by Gardner Cotrell Leonard, the Director of the IBAC. Leonard stated that the university had been assigned a hood lining that was bright red with two black chevrons. “Bright red” was the term the Bureau often used to describe scarlet, and two chevrons were used to distinguish Cincinnati’s hood from the hood lining the IBAC had assigned to Haverford College in 1895 or 1896 (scarlet with a black chevron). The Intercollegiate Bureau did not change or modify Cincinnati’s hood lining assignment thereafter.