PROCESSIONAL INSTRUCTIONS

From the Perelman Theater, all graduates will process to Verizon Hall (main auditorium) in one line led by Faculty and Student Marshals. Graduates will be seated for the line-up in alphabetical order. It is extremely important that you stay in line and in order during the procession into Verizon Hall. PLEASE FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS OF THE STUDENT MARSHALS.

Once all graduates are in place, the Macebearer will process towards the stage. When the macebearer has reached the location on stage, the processional will begin. Faculty and Student Marshals will lead the graduates across the stage, in two lines, and descend the stairs into the graduate seating area in Verizon Hall where Student Marshals will seat graduates. Graduates will process with their academic hood draped over their left arm. We will demonstrate prior to the ceremony how the hood should be folded and carried. Please make sure your hood is unbuttoned.

CONFERRING OF DEGREE AND HOODING INSTRUCTIONS

Faculty Marshals will guide you from your row to the stage for the conferring of degrees. Each candidate will ascend the steps to receive their diploma, carrying their hood over their left arm as demonstrated. The graduate will accept the diploma with their left hand, leaving their right hand free to shake hands with the Deans and President. The graduate will then proceed to the hooding platform and stop directly in front of the farthest available medical school Faculty Hooder. The hooder will take the hood from the graduate’s left arm, then the graduate will turn facing the audience, and remove their cap with the right hand. The hooder slips the hood over the candidate's head. (If you are tall, please help and bend at the knees a bit.) The graduate then replaces the cap, turns to shake hands with the hooder, moves to the exit set of stairs and then returns to their seat row.

** So that the conferring of degrees runs smoothly, please do not stop to shake hands/hug all the hooders. Please go to the farthest available hooder, do not wait for a particular faculty member to hood you.

PLEASE WATCH YOUR GOWN AS YOU DESCEND THE STEPS.

RECESSIONAL INSTRUCTIONS

The graduates will process out of Verizon Hall in two lines. Student Marshals will direct the recessional.

After receiving her medical degree from the Sidney Kimmel Medical College (then Jefferson Medical College), Sarah S. Long, MD, completed pediatric residency and fellowship training in infectious diseases at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, and one year in research as a National Institutes of Health trainee at Temple University. She took her first job in 1975, as chief of infectious diseases at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, where she has spent her career.

She is the founding and current chief editor of the textbook Principles and Practice of Pediatric Infectious Disease (in its 6th edition) and an associate editor of The Journal of Pediatrics. She also was an associate editor for five editions of the Red Book Report of the Committee on Infectious Diseases (the pediatrician’s vaccine “bible”) of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She has chaired the program committee for annual scientific meetings of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.

Dr. Long has been honored repeatedly with medical student Golden Apples, house staff teaching awards, the all-university Great Teacher’s Award at Temple University, the Distinguished Service Award as well as the Distinguished Physician Award of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, an award for Lifetime Contribution to Infectious Diseases Education by the Section on Infectious Diseases of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Clinical Teaching Award from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (an internist-dominated subspecialist society). In 2015, she received the Drexel University all-university Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching and in 2019 was awarded the Drexel University College of Medicine Dean’s Heritage Medal.

In 2021, Dr. Long was invited to deliver The Great Teacher’s Lecture at the National Institutes of Health and was named the alumnus of the year of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. She has been named more than 25 times as Top Doctor in Philadelphia magazine and multiple times as among the top 5% of America’s most honored professionals. To date, Dr. Long has mentored 16 fellows in pediatric infectious diseases, as well as more than 1,000 residents and students in pediatrics. The Philadelphia Mural Arts Program included Dr. Long’s portrait, among storied St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children dignitaries Drs. W.E. Nelson and A. M. DiGeorge, on an edifice near the hospital in recognition of her service to north Philadelphia’s children and her contribution to the broad field of Pediatrics.

Dr. Long's principal areas of investigation are vaccine-preventable diseases and management of common infectious diseases in children. She has played key roles in molding vaccine policy nationally over decades, advising on vaccine licensure as a member of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. Currently she is a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, making national policy for use of vaccines. She has made more than 400 contributions to the medical literature, has given an average of more than 30 lectures nationally and internationally annually for more than three decades, and has performed more than 85 honorary lectureships and visiting professorships.

Despite national leadership and teaching roles, Dr. Long has prioritized an intensive schedule of clinical consultative care, to bring the best possible medical decisions to underprivileged children in North Philadelphia. She maintains that her most cherished moments are at the bedside of a child — with a parent, medical student, resident and fellow — all learning together.

I will represent my profession honorably by conducting myself and my professional endeavors in a manner that is above reproach. I pledge never to allow financial gain or ambition to cloud my judgment. I will pursue truth and create knowledge for the greater good, but never to the detriment of others. I will maintain scientific integrity in all my work. I will acknowledge and honor the contributions of those who have preceded me and will commit myself to lifelong learning. I will show compassion, embrace diversity and uphold excellence so that I become a worthy role model deserving of respect by all.

The Physician's Pledge:

AS A MEMBER OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION

I SOLEMNLY PLEDGE to dedicate my life to the service of humanity;

THE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF MY PATIENT will be my first consideration;

I WILL RESPECT the autonomy and dignity of my patient;

I WILL MAINTAIN the utmost respect for human life;

I WILL NOT PERMIT considerations of age, disease or disability, creed, ethnic origin, gender, nationality, political affiliation, race, sexual orientation, social standing or any other factor to intervene between my duty and my patient;

I WILL RESPECT the secrets that are confided in me, even after the patient has died;

I WILL PRACTICE my profession with conscience and dignity and in accordance with good medical practice;

I WILL FOSTER the honor and noble traditions of the medical profession;

I WILL GIVE to my teachers, colleagues and students the respect and gratitude that is their due;

I WILL SHARE my medical knowledge for the benefit of the patient and the advancement of healthcare;

I WILL ATTEND TO my own health, well-being and abilities in order to provide care of the highest standard;

I WILL NOT USE my medical knowledge to violate human rights and civil liberties, even under threat;

I MAKE THESE PROMISES solemnly, freely and upon my honor.

©2017 World Medical Association

A tradition that reaches back nearly a thousand years, commencement symbolizes not so much the culmination of the years of effort on the part of both students and teachers, but rather the beginning—the commencement—of a productive social and professional life, and a life of continued learning.

The first university, the University of Bologna, was founded in Italy in 1162 and offered specialized education in the major professional fields of the medieval world: law, medicine, government and theology—areas that would dominate European and American higher education until the 20th century.

From Bologna, the concept of university education spread throughout Europe and later to the New World. The pageantry and symbolism of commencement are typified by the cap and gown, which in their original forms were simply the everyday attire of the medieval scholar. The additions of the centuries have made them what they are today.

The academic costume has three basic parts: the cap, the gown and the hood. Three factors must be taken into consideration—the degree (bachelor, master, doctor); the branch of knowledge (nursing, medicine, etc.); and the university by which the degree is granted. The bachelor's gown is black, has long sleeves and is worn closed. The master's gown is black but has short sleeves and a crescent cut at the sleeve end. Some are open at the wrist; others have a slit in the upper part of the sleeve. The doctor's gown is often black, preferably silk, with full, round sleeves that are barred in either black velvet or velvet of the color used in the hood to designate the branch of learning.

Many American universities, as well as British ones, now have gowns of characteristic color for doctoral graduates. For instance, a graduate of Harvard University may wear a crimson gown, a New York University graduate a violet gown, and a University of Pennsylvania graduate a gown of red and blue. The shape and size of the American hood mark the degree of the wearer. The lining of the hood is indicative of the institution granting the degree and is usually the official color or colors of the school. If two colors are used, one is generally arranged as a chevron upon the other. The bachelor's hood is three feet long, the master's three-and-a-half feet long, and the doctor's four feet long. Bachelor of Science and Master of Science candidates wear sun-gold hoods; Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts candidates white hoods. Doctor of Philosophy candidates wear blue hoods. Doctor of Medicine candidates wear green hoods. Candidates with annotated degrees may wear hoods of other colors, such as apricot (Bachelor and Master of Science in Nursing), teal (Master of Physical Therapy), and blue with white trim (Master of Arts, Creative Arts in Therapy), to name a few.

Caps are traditionally black with a long tassel fastened to the mid-point. A doctor's cap may have a tassel of gold thread. The tassel is worn on the right side until a degree has been conferred; it is then worn on the left. Commencement begins and ends with the academic procession, led by the chief marshal carrying the mace. The mace traces its origins to the Roman fasces, a bundle of rods bound together around an ax with the blade projecting, which was carried before magistrates as an emblem of authority. The ceremony officially begins with the placing of the mace before the graduates and ends when the chief marshal retrieves it and leads the recession. The color guard follows the marshal, with the candidates for degrees marching behind in reverse order of seniority—certificate, associate, and bachelor's first, master's next and doctoral third. The faculty follows, also proceeding in reverse order from assistant to full professor. The final division of the procession is the platform party, composed of academic deans, administrative officers, trustees, honorary degree recipients and the president.

Throughout their long and proud history, universities have retained and cherished strong ties to their ceremonial roots. The faculties and graduates have gloried in the rich imagery and colorful panoply associated with commencement, one of the oldest continuing rituals in the Western world.