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Commencement Ceremony

The 114th commencement ceremony of University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry will be held on Sunday, June 15, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. at the Nob Hill Masonic Center in San Francisco.

At the conclusion of the ceremony a reception will be held for graduates and their guests in the auditorium's lower level.

Tickets are not required for admission to the ceremony or the reception.

Following the presentation of the mace during the academic procession, University President Donald DeRosa and Dean Patrick J. Ferrillo, Jr. will confer degrees and certificates upon graduates in the Doctor of Dental Surgery, International Dental Studies, Advanced Education in General Dentistry, Graduate Orthodontics, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Dental Hygiene programs.

During the ceremony, graduates, faculty and staff will wear traditional academic regalia, which identify their academic degrees by distinctive gowns and colors. In addition, graduates who earned academic honors will wear key-shaped pendants with their regalia.

Pacific's Stockton campus will hold a separate University commencement on May 17, 2008.  Dental students will not be participating in Stockton's program.  Information on the Stockton event can be found at http://www.pacific.edu/commencement/Default.htm. 

Academic Honors

Highest Honor
Valedictorian:  the graduating student with the highest overall grade point average for the entire program.  The salutorian is the graduating student with the second highest overall grade point average for the entire program.

High Honors
Omicron Kappa Upsilon, the national dental honor society, was chartered the Delta Delta Chapter at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1934. The society's purpose is to encourage scholarship and advance ethical standards of the dental profession. Membership is limited to 12% of the graduating class on the basis of scholarship and character.

Phi Kappa Phi, an honor society in higher education with a chapter at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, was founded in 1897 at the University of Maine. It is the oldest and largest interdisciplinary honor society in existence. Admission to this honor society is by invitation only and requires both superior scholarship and good character as criteria for membership. The name Phi Kappa Phi comes from the initial letters of the Greek words forming its adopted motto: Philosophia Krateito Photon, "Let the love of learning rule humanity."

Honors
Tau Kappa Omega, the dental school's own honor society, was organized at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1927 for promotion of honor and service to the alma mater. Students are admitted on the basis of ideals, scholarship and character.

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Mace

Originally a weapon of offense used in medieval warfare by a king or a noble, the mace has been refined to a symbolic device used on ceremonial occasions.

The mace, as an academic symbol, dates back to 16th century England when Queen Elizabeth I presented a replica of her own royal mace to the corporation of the University of Oxford. She ordered that it be used in all ceremonies
to represent the royal presence and the authority given to the university to grant degrees under the royal insignia. King Charles I made a similar gift to Cambridge University in 1625.

Robert E. Burns, University of the Pacific President from 1946-1971, asked Stuart Devlin, an internationally renowned London silver designer, to create the Pacific Mace. It was commissioned in recognition of the University’s transition from a college to a university with several colleges and professional schools that were to be modeled after Oxford and Cambridge.

It was first used at a Founder’s Day Ceremony on March 6, 1966, and is constructed entirely of silver with a gold plated seal of the University in its head. The mace is approximately four feet long and weighs 15 pounds. It was a gift from Mrs. Winifred Olson Raney, a former regent of the University. The mace is displayed at all official University functions and generally is carried by the chair of the Academic Council at Convocation and Commencement ceremonies.

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Academic Regalia

Distinctive academic dress can be traced back to the universities of the Middle Ages when students and faculty of universities wore the robes of the clergy. Today, three ranks of degrees are distinguished through variations in the robes, which also indicate the discipline and the university that awarded the degree.

In the United States, gowns generally are black, although a few universities have adopted other colors for their doctoral gowns. The field of learning in which the degree is awarded is shown by the color of the edging of the hood, and in some cases by the color of the facing and crossbars on the doctoral gown. Some of the more frequently seen colors are: white (arts and letters), pink (music), dark blue (philosophy), light blue (education), scarlet (divinity), golden yellow (science), olive green (pharmacy) and purple (law).  The color of dentistry is lilac. 

The colors of the lining of the hood are those of the institution awarding the degree. For example, University of the Pacific is burnt orange and black. Doctoral tassels generally are gold. An olive green tassel is often worn on the cap to signify the field of pharmacy, although generally bachelor’s and master’s tassels are black. The left side of the mortarboard is the proper side to wear the tassel after graduation.

An individual’s degree is revealed by the type of gown and width of the edging on the hood.

Bachelor’s gowns have full, pointed sleeves with no trimming. The hoods have a two-inch edging.

Master’s gowns prior to 1960 had full, closed sleeves with the arm emerging through a slit at the elbow. The gown was the despair of wearers because, no matter how hot the day, a coat must be worn under it. In 1960, however, the gown was modified; in place of the elbow slit, an opening was made at the wrist and the gown was made to close. The hoods have a three-inch edging.

Doctor’s gowns are of silk, have rounded sleeves, velvet facing down the front, and three velvet crossbars on each sleeve. The hoods have side panels and a five-inch facing.

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History

University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry is one of the premier dental schools in the nation and has served the Bay Area community for 112 years.

Founded in 1896 as the College of Physicians and Surgeons (known as P&S), the school's curriculum originally included programs in dentistry, medicine and pharmacy. The college announced to its Northern California public and to the world, "It will, at all times, be the purpose of this school to elevate the profession through its students." Dr. Charles Boxton presided as the first dean of P&S and served briefly as mayor of San Francisco. In 1918, during Dr. Boxton's tenure as dean, the college focused its educational program solely on dentistry.

The original P&S campus, located at Fourth and Howard Streets near the present day Moscone Center, was completely destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire. As a result, the campus moved to its Fourteenth Street location in the heart of the Mission District, where it operated from 1906 until 1967. In 1962, the College of Physicians and Surgeons became part of the University of the Pacific. A new facility for the new dental school was constructed in 1967 on the corner of Sacramento and Webster Streets in San Francisco, where the school stands today. It was the first complete replacement of a dental school facility to be dedicated in the United States using federal aid-to-education funds.

The Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry has thrived through earthquakes and wars, legislation and depression, to forge and maintain its longstanding reputation for producing excellence in clinical and scientific training. At the same time, the school has built a parallel reputation for encouraging diversity, accessibility and opportunity, which has formed a strong sense of community. This translates to a special concern for people which prevails among students, faculty, alumni and supporters. Today, both of these traditions of excellence and of caring combine to form Pacific's model of humanistic education, where professors teach, faculty care and students learn.

Today, under the direction of Dean Patrick J. Ferrillo, Jr., the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry is a leader among dental schools, in curriculum, clinical excellence, technology and alumni support.  Students learn through the "humanistic" model of education in a technologically-advanced setting.

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