Chelsea Lyle and Logan Bulock knew each other before they got to the Graduate Studies Matriculation Ceremony on Aug. 20.
They knew each other pretty well, in fact — the Minnesota natives are married.
But their acquaintances at UNMC were fewer. Lyle, a Bethel University graduate who is entering the Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy graduate program, hadn’t really met anyone yet, while Bulock, an Augustana College graduate entering the Biomedical Research Training graduate program, had attended a brief BRTP orientation.
See a photo gallery from the Matriculation Ceremony here.
“We’re interested in getting to know what’s going on and meeting people,” Lyle said. “Other than Logan, I don’t really know anybody here, so I’m excited and nervous to get to know everybody I’m going to be working with in this new situation.”
Getting to know each other — creating a sense of community among the cohorts of incoming graduate students — is one of the reasons the Office of Graduate Studies instituted its Matriculation Ceremony in 2013. Along with a weeklong series of orientation events — some specific to graduate students, some not — the ceremony offers not only a celebration of the past accomplishments that have brought students to UNMC, but a chance to begin developing the friends and teammates students will lean on as they work toward their various advanced degrees.
The 2014 Matriculation Ceremony was held on what UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., called a “busy and beautiful August afternoon.”
“The single most important thing that I have to do this afternoon is to say thank you and extend a very warm welcome,” Dr. Gold said. “A warm welcome to our graduate students and a thank you to students and their families for being part of our family today.”
Dr. Gold told the students the story of a man called Dee Hock, the son of migrant farm workers who conceived the idea of a sort of credit “clearing house,” a small company that would be a repository of credit information.
“The world thought he was crazy,” Dr. Gold said. “First, he was not a whole lot older than you folks sitting in this room. Secondly, he was talking about a concept that had never been proven.”
Bank after bank, both in the U.S. and internationally, dismissed Hock, Dr. Gold said, in part because they didn’t see the need to work together.
“Eventually, though, every bank in the world worked with him, because he founded the VISA corporation, one of the largest and most successful financial management companies that was ever founded,” he said.
Dr. Gold pointed to two morals to the story relevant to the incoming graduate students.
1) A relatively young person can come up with a new and innovative idea that ultimately could change the world.
2) No matter how hard it is to get people with different visions and coming from different sections of society to work together, it is not only possible but can be highly successful if you have a great idea and you think you can change the world.
Karen Gould, Ph.D., who was awarded the Graduate Student Association’s Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award at May’s Convocation Ceremony, spoke to the students about the journey ahead.
“Reaching the finish line will require intensive training, unwavering commitment and intellectual fortitude,” she said. “You know the journey ahead of you will be difficult, but it will also be immensely rewarding and empowering.”
Dr. Gold also congratulated the UNMC Office of Graduate Studies on organizing the successful event.
“These events are not magical — they take planning and hard work,” he said.