Two traditional UMass Medical School fall events will take place virtually this year. The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences will recognize the 56 students who have successfully completed the qualifying exam, and the Graduate School of Nursing will congratulate its 38 newly minted nurses at the Graduate Entry Pathway Pinning Ceremony.
The GSBS Recognition Ceremony will be streamed on Monday, Sept. 14, at 3 p.m. via Zoom and FaceBook Live. Passing the qualifying exam is a significant milestone for PhD students, marking their transition from classroom-based learning to dissertation research as formal candidates for doctoral degrees. Students will hear from school leadership and be presented with laser pointers and business cards to take into the next phase of their academic journey.
The GEP Pinning Ceremony will be streamed later the same day at 6 p.m., also on Zoom and FaceBook Live. This event welcomes into the profession students with bachelor’s degrees in other fields who have qualified for licensure as registered nurses after one year of accelerated coursework. They will don their specially designed GSN pins and recite a pledge to serve their communities and their profession as they continue further graduate study to become nurse practitioners, nurse educators and nursing executives.
Other events that typically take place in September have been postponed. The annual Convocation and Investiture proceedings will be rescheduled at a time to be determined. The School of Medicine White Coat Ceremony will take place on Friday, June 4, as part of Commencement weekend.
While the usual full slate of activities to kick-off the new academic year has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, it remains one of the Medical School’s priorities to bring together members of the academic community, albeit virtually, for continued discussion and exploration of ideas that open minds, advance the institutional mission and engender a sense of community. Therefore, there will be campus-wide diversity and inclusion programming later in the fall that will address societal issues including racism, gender equity, sexual orientation and health care disparities. The series will culminate in the fifth annual UMMS Diversity Summit.
