Arrangements are being made for a virtual White Coat Ceremony in June to recognize members of the College of Veterinary Medicine’s DVM Class of 2021 during their transition into their clinical year. As the spring semester concluded with courses being moved to online formats due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the traditional White Coat Ceremony that would have taken place in the Purdue Memorial Union in April was postponed, and plans were put in place to conduct the event virtually. As a result, the College will host the White Coat Ceremony as a Facebook Live event June 6 at 3:00 p.m., EDT.
The DVM students each will receive a package prior to the event containing their white coats and programs. They are encouraged to gather with loved ones, while safely following social distancing guidelines in their homes for the event, and participate via their Facebook accounts. The program will feature remarks by Dean Willie Reed and the IVMA president, Dr. Aaron Smiley, as well as an address by Dr. Nickie Baird, professor of large animal surgery and Large Animal Hospital chief of staff, who was selected by students to speak at the event. Dr. Baird will give a talk entitled, “The Journey Ahead… A Clinician’s Insights.”
Several students will be recognized as well. The Holly Watts Memorial Award and Dr. William Carlton Award for Aptitude in Clinical Pathology will be presented and the Open House co-chairs will be honored for all the work they did leading the team that planned the event, which had to be suddenly cancelled due to the pandemic just a month before it was scheduled to be held.
PVM faculty and staff are encouraged to participate in the virtual White Coat Ceremony along with the students and their families. Instructions for how students, their loved ones, and members of the Purdue Veterinary Medicine family can join the event will be shared in a separate announcement. For those students and their families who are not able to participate, a video link to a recording will be provided by private invitation after the event.