| Director of admissions and student recruitment at the university, Gordon Craig, is in the United States on a whistle-stop tour of four states with strong Scottish connections.
His visit will end in New York, where the new university tartan will be launched as part of the huge Tartan Day Parade on Saturday.
The tartan incorporates the colours of the Scottish Saltire, which reflects the historic association with St Andrews University, from 1897 to 1967.
The red and gold of the crown of Scotland refers to the name of Queen’s College, bestowed in 1954 as a mark of royal favour.
In 1967, the University of Dundee became an independent university, and the four main colours — red, gold, purple and blue — represent the four colleges of the University.
“On our last visit to the USA we were overwhelmed by the interest in Scotland, and how fashionable and, indeed, trendy tartan has become,” said Gordon. “With the huge ‘Dressed to Kilt’ shows now in Los Angeles and New York, and its popularity as a fashion garment, it seemed a good idea to register our own tartan and use it to promote the university in America and worldwide. In time we will roll out a variety of garments.”
Gordon, together with Shannon Hersage, of the university’s international office, is on a recruitment tour of four of Dundee’s Study Abroad partner institutions.
These include private and state Universities in Pittsburgh (the home of Andrew Carnegie), Baltimore (the home of Betsy Ross, who sewed the original stars-and-stripes and whose great uncle was a Scottish minister), New Jersey (whose first Governor, Andrew Hamilton, was a Scot) and the State University of New York (whose Vice Chancellor in 1845 was John Greig, from Moffat). |
