Heraldry

The heraldic banners of the schools of the University combine the colors normally used on the hoods of the various disciplines with symbols illustrating the activities of the histories of the disciplines, particularly at Stanford. The element which appears in all the flags is a triple frond of the redwood tree. By long usage, the Palo Alto redwood tree has been taken as the symbol of the whole University. The triple frond is used to symbolize the botanical function performed by leaves, namely the synthesis involved in the organization, transmission, and generation of knowledge which takes place in the schools and on which the scholarly growth of the University vitally depends. The common function of the schools is represented in the cardinal red flag, the redwood frond in a white circle.

University Flag

This flag, which is intended for University-wide use, takes as its principal design element the triple redwood frond which is common to all the school flags.

Presidential Flag

The President's Flag is derived from the seal adopted by the University's first president, David Starr Jordan. The Palo Alto redwood tree represented in its natural colors, on a white ground, is set off from the cardinal red field by the same decorative ring used around the edges of the University seal.

Graduate School of Business

The hood for this school--drab or biscuit--is not a heraldic color and is used sparingly on the flag. The design elements are the true knot, illustrating the unifying function of management, and the lion. The lion not only reflects the concern of this school with finance--the red lion representing gold--but also commemorates the first dean of the school, Professor Willard E. Hotchkiss, whose family bore the red lion on its coat of arms.

Year School Established: 1925

Graduate School of Education

Pale blue, the academic color for this school, is used as background for the lamp of learning, commonly employed as a symbol for education. The open book is an additional symbol for education widely used by universities and colleges.

Year School Established: 1891

School of Engineering

Orange, the color for the engineering hood, is used in the form of a flexible, expandable framework called a mascle, which illustrates the growth of this discipline in response to the growth of science and of public needs. The deep blue reflects the extensive commitment of Engineering to doctoral studies.

Year School Established: 1925

School of Humanities and Sciences 

White (silver) for the arts and yellow (gold) for science are combined in this flag with a red diagonal cross symbolizing the extent to which this school directs the studies of the majority of Stanford undergraduate students. The small black design element, the ermine, recalls the ermine-trimmed hood commonly worn by medieval scholars.

Year School Established: 1948

School of Law

Royal purple, the academic color of the law hood, is combined with a pattern of ermine on white. Ermine- trimmed robes are traditionally associated with justice, and the flag represents the dual concerns of law and justice.

Year School Established: 1893

School of Medicine

The green used for the degree hoods for medicine and allied subjects forms a background for the Aesculapian staff and serpent long used as the symbol for medicine. The geometric pattern of white on red repeats the design element so prominently displayed on the walls of the Medical School building.

Year School Established: 1908

Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability

The blue and green peaks and valleys, a reference back to the School of Earth, Energy, and Environmental Sciences, represents mountains and sky. The light blue color also represents education, and the green represents medicine – two disciplines that are now central in the school.

Orange is the color of engineering, and the dark blue represents graduate education. The circular knot is gold – the color of science – on a background of white – the color of arts and humanities. Together they represent the interconnectedness of disciplines required to understand our complex planet and the life it supports.

Year School Established: 2022