Parents’ Day to Offer Insight into Dental Student Experience; White Coat Ceremony to End Day
Parents of first-year and incoming dental students probably wonder what opportunities are available to help “their” member of the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Dentistry community succeed.
On Friday (March 6), these family members will have an opportunity to learn and ask questions on that very subject, as School leaders and students welcome them to an all-day program. The day begins at 11 a.m. with greetings from Dr. John Buchanan (DDS Class of 1983), president of the UNC Dental Alumni Association, and concludes with the White Coat Ceremony at 5:15 p.m.
About 150 family members are expected to attend the daylong event.
Registration for Parents’ Day begins at 10:30 a.m. at the Carolina Inn. After Buchanan’s greetings, Dean John N. Williams and Dr. Ted Roberson (DDS Class of 1968), director of alumni and professional relations at the School, will talk about “Carolina Dentistry.”
The next part of the program will feature administrative, student and faculty leaders discussing opportunities for students available within research, student aid and overall academics – and for parents to stay informed through the Parents and Family Association.
During lunch, Dr. Mark Hyman (DDS Class of 1983) will serve as featured speaker. Student-guided tours of the School of Dentistry will conclude the program.
For more information on the invitation-only event, sponsored by the UNC Dental Alumni Association, call (919) 966-4563.
Students in the DDS Class of 2012 will then participate in the White Coat Ceremony at 5:15 that afternoon; their family members are invited to attend the event. The location is the auditorium within the University’s Medical Biomolecular Research Building (located behind Thurston Bowles Building, which is across Manning Drive from the School of Dentistry).
The ceremony symbolizes the first-year dental students’ transition from preclinical coursework to clinical education, or patient care.
Dean Williams and Dr. Albert D. Guckes, assistant dean for predoctoral education and admissions, will preside at the ceremony, with a student address from Spurgeon Dental Society president David Walker and the Class of 2012’s recitation of “The Dentist’s Pledge” and the “Mission to Serve.” A reception will follow the event.
The Office of the Dean, Spurgeon Dental Society, Dental Foundation of North Carolina and Office of Academic Affairs are sponsoring the White Coat Ceremony. For more information on the ceremony, call (919) 966-4451.
