The 2011 White Coat Ceremony
The tradition of convocation marks the beginning of the academic year at colleges and universities worldwide. At UMass Medical School, Convocation week, Sept. 11 through 15, will be highlighted by celebrations that welcome new members of the community, reflect on recent accomplishments and look forward to future plans and honor faculty and benefactors for their contributions. Members of the UMMS community are invited and encouraged to attend any or all of the events listed below.
GEP Pinning Ceremony: Tuesday, Sept. 11, 6 p.m., Faculty Conference Room
The opening event of Convocation week will be the Graduate School of Nursing Pinning Ceremony. Students in the Graduate Entry Pathway (GEP) program will be ceremonially presented with their nursing pins and welcomed into the nursing community and profession by campus leaders.
Convocation and Investiture: A celebration of faculty: Thursday, Sept. 13, 4 p.m., Campus Green
Convocation itself celebrates the opening of the new academic year and features an address by Chancellor Michael F. Collins, recognition of new and newly promoted faculty members and the presentation of 2012 Chancellor’s Medals for distinguished teaching, scholarship, service and clinical excellence.
Investiture recognizes members of the faculty appointed to named professorships and the generous donors who make the appointments possible. Allan S. Jacobson, PhD, chair and professor of microbiology & physiological systems, will be invested as the Gerald L. Haidak, MD, and Zelda S. Haidak Professor of Cell Biology, and Robert H. Brown Jr., DPhil, MD, chair and professor of neurology, will be invested as the Leo P. and Theresa M. LaChance Chair in Medical Research.
White Coat Ceremony : Friday, Sept. 14, 3:30 p.m., Campus Green
The White Coat Ceremony welcomes incoming medical students to the medical community. JudyAnn Bigby, MD, secretary of Health and Human Services for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, will be the keynote speaker. Participating in placing the white coat on each student's shoulders are students’ mentors, individuals who represent the value system of the school and the new profession the students are about to enter.
Symposium: From Brain Trauma to Neurodegeneration: Saturday, Sept. 15, 9 to 11:30 a.m., Medical School building, Arthur and Martha Pappas Amphitheatre (I)
Sponsored by UMMS NeuroTherapeutics Institute, the symposium “From Brain Trauma to Neurodegeneration” will be led by Robert H. Brown Jr., DPhil, MD, chair and professor of neurology, and will review the major themes in the pathology and molecular biology of brain trauma and hypotheses about how such injuries cause delayed, progressive loss of neurological function. Guests include Christopher Nowinski, former Harvard football player and WWE wrestler; faculty from Boston University School of Medicine; and Jean King, PhD, professor of psychiatry, and Nils Henninger, MD, assistant professor of neurology.
To RSVP to any of these events, visit the 2012 Convocation Events website.
