A doctoral candidate pinning ceremony at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette is both a celebration and a reminder.
During the annual event – held in conjunction with Graduate Student Appreciation Week – students receive a circular, brass lapel pin bearing the designation “Doctoral Candidate.” It’s exactly the size of a U.S. quarter – but carries a message that’s much more valuable.
You’re entering a new phase of your doctoral journey – but you’re not done yet.
“Advancement to candidacy is a significant milestone,” said Dr. Mary Farmer-Kaiser, dean of the Graduate School at UL Lafayette. “It means that a doctoral student has completed their coursework and other requirements. It signifies that they are ready – that they have the scholarly ‘right stuff’ – to move forward as an expert who is prepared to create new knowledge, to contribute to new creative works or to provide authoritative guidance in their individual field of study.”
Doctoral candidacy is demanding, Farmer-Kaiser explained, “but it’s also where the exciting work really begins. Doctoral candidacy is a new, exhilarating phase when students can focus exclusively on research and writing their dissertations or, in the case of our Doctor of Nursing Practice students, their synthesis projects.”
The pinning ceremony is emblematic of the University’s commitment to retaining doctoral candidates and ensuring they become doctors. Since 2010, that promise has seen results – doctoral enrollment at UL Lafayette is up almost 40%. During the same period, doctoral degree completion has increased by 203%.
“Retention of doctoral candidates is a challenge, so we wanted to create a ceremony that enabled newly minted doctoral candidates to celebrate what they’ve achieved and to remind them that there’s still a road ahead, one that our faculty and staff members are here to support them on as they move toward the finish line of Commencement.”The ceremony was first held in 2016. Thanks to livestreaming, it’s since grown to include an audience of family members, friends and others who can’t attend in person, but who want to show their support. It’s particularly meaningful for international students to share the moment with their loved ones, Farmer-Kaiser said.
“The virtual audience is nearly as large as the in-person audience. Family members from across the globe join us to see their students recognized.”
In addition to the lapel pin, doctoral candidates receive a certificate denoting their new status. One international student told Farmer-Kaiser he sent his certificate home, where his family displayed it with pride. “When we started this, I knew it was an opportunity to celebrate a significant milestone, but I don’t think I fully appreciated how meaningful it would be for our doctoral students and their families.”
During the ceremony, audience members – both in-person and virtual – are asked to give the doctoral candidates a solitary clap. It’s an idea borrowed from Dr. Ansley Abraham, director of the SREB-State Doctoral Scholars Program.
“There’s only one clap at that moment because students aren’t done yet,” Farmer-Kaiser said. “They get all the applause at our doctoral hooding ceremony – when we welcome doctoral candidates to the stage, where they are hooded by the University president and their committee chair, and when they are addressed as ‘doctors’ for the first time.
“That moment at the hooding ceremony is special, and the pinning ceremony’s ‘one clap’ at is a taste of the celebration that’s still to come.”