From the Dean: Commencement time!
Commencement 2022 is here at the UND SMHS! Tomorrow, 69 medical students officially will join the medical profession as they are awarded their MD degrees. Following a celebration brunch where outstanding students and faculty are recognized, we will reassemble in the Chester Fritz Auditorium for the afternoon Commencement. You can watch the ceremony, which starts at 2:30 p.m., live here. UND President Andy Armacost will be on hand, since he, as university president, is the official conveyor of degrees. Selected by the graduating students, the guest speaker will be Rhome Hughes, M.D., a former faculty member at the SMHS who now serves as an instructional associate professor for Texas A&M University. His talk is entitled “Intelligence plus character.” During his time at UND (2018–21), Dr. Hughes was a three-time recipient of the Outstanding Block Instructor Award, a two-time recipient of the UND Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching, and recipient of the UND Portrait Award for Outstanding Support of Medical Students.
Commencement for our other graduating students will be the following week in conjunction with UND’s General Commencement. Graduate student Commencement will take place in the morning and undergraduate Commencement in the afternoon of Saturday, May 14. The guest speaker at both events will be Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond, chief of space operations for the U.S. Space Force. Several of our programs will be sponsoring their own recognition ceremonies prior to the Commencement event itself.
It promises to be a busy time, with much joy for students, families, friends – as well as for faculty and staff! Graduating students obviously have had the extra burden of the pandemic for much of the time that they’ve been studying with us. What an added obstacle! But they’ve persevered and excelled nonetheless. Congratulations to all and best wishes in the future. We hope to see many of you in clinical practice across North Dakota soon.
Joshua Wynne, MD, MBA, MPH
Vice President for Health Affairs, UND
Dean, UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences
