In the presence of family, guests and faculty members, students in the Graduate Entry Pathway (GEP) program are ceremonially presented with their nursing pins and welcomed into the nursing community by campus leaders.The GEP program, for individuals with a baccalaureate degree in a field other than nursing, leads first to registered nurse licensure and then to advanced nursing specialties. The pinning ceremony symbolizes successful completion of the courses and clinical experiences required for taking the licensure exam.

Members of the UMass Medical School scientific community, including students and faculty from all three schools, gather to recognize the accomplishments of their future colleagues.

The Qualifying Exam marks an important milestone in the educational and professional development of basic science and clinical research graduate students, the transition from classroom-based learning to candidacy for a doctoral degree. Our ceremony recognizes those who have successfully completed the exam and are proceeding with thesis research in the laboratory of their faculty advisor.

UMass Medical School celebrates the beginning of each new academic year by coming together as a campus community to reflect on our shared values and our vocation as caregivers, researchers, teachers, students and community members. Convocation and related events are traditionally scheduled for the third week in September. 

Investiture honors members of our faculty who have been appointed to named professorships and the generous donors who made these appointments possible. The first Investiture Ceremony was held in 1999 when there was such an extraordinary roster of honors to bestow that a new celebratory event to reflect this achievement was created. Today, there are 40 named professorships, a sign of the growth and maturity of the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Unlike some academic events that encompass centuries of tradition, the White Coat Ceremony was initiated by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation on August 20, 1993, at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, where Dr. Arnold Gold has been a teacher and pediatric neurologist for more than 40 years. A White Coat Ceremony or similar rite of passage now takes place at nearly all U.S. medical schools, as well as at osteopathic schools of medicine and schools in several other countries.

The event emphasizes the importance of both scientific excellence and compassionate care for the patient. The cloaking with the white coat—the mantle of the medical profession—is a hands-on experience that underscores the bonding process. The white coat is placed on each student’s shoulders by individuals who represent the value system of the school and the new profession the students are about to enter.