Doctoral Students Granted Own Hooding Ceremony

For the first time at UNC, graduating doctoral students will participate in their own ceremony, accepting their diplomas the day before main Commencement.

The prospect of having their own ceremony -- complete with a separate speaker -- has been on the doctoral students' wish list for years, officials said.

"We talked about ... highlighting someone from a more intellectual approach, a more research-oriented approach," said Branson Page, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Federation. "This would be much more focused to Ph.D. students."

The doctoral ceremony is slated to take place the day before the May 19 graduation so it will not conflict with departmental ceremonies, officials said.

Chancellor James Moeser expressed his support for the idea at last Friday's Faculty Council meeting, saying several of the universities he had worked for held separate ceremonies for doctoral graduates.

With the chancellor's support, this spring will be the first opportunity for those students to perform a hooding ceremony. During the ceremony, dissertation advisers will place hoods over their students' heads when their names are called.

"The Ph.D. students deserve more recognition. ... Earning a Ph.D. is an incredibly arduous process, and the opportunity to pass on the mantle is very appealing," said Sue Estroff, Faculty Council chairwoman.

Many of the students and faculty who voiced their opinions to members of the council backed the separate ceremony.

"We have talked with graduate students, chairs and deans," said Bernadette Gray-Little, executive associate provost and chairwoman of the University Commencement committee. "There seems to be good support for it."

An additional bonus to having a separate ceremony is that more time and attention can be paid to the achievements of doctoral students.

"You have an opportunity to really highlight what they've done," Page said.

He said he is concerned, however, that deciding to hold the ceremony so late into the year might hinder the planning process. "There's time to do it right. ... I think experience will tell us."

At Friday's meeting, concern was expressed that faculty presence at the main ceremony might decrease as a result of the added doctoral ceremony.

But Gray-Little said she thinks the separate graduation will have a different effect on faculty interest. "It might actually enhance total faculty participation if students invited their advisers," she said. "We're making a concerted effort to involve more faculty (in the ceremonies)."

Though the project is still in its beginning stages, planners hope that the separate ceremony will add to the importance of graduation.

"It's a long-term effort ... to make sure that the Commencements here are dignified and memorable," Gray-Little said. "This is another effort to say, 'Maybe we can enhance the meaningfulness of the Ph.D. students' ceremonies.'"

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.