Nurses get pinned and doctors have their white coats. Most ceremonies and rites of passage happen at the end of the students’ academic career. Business majors (pictured above) participated in the inaugural Professional Black Coat Ceremony and received black jackets emblazoned with a business crest created by Senior Business Major Antanee Pitts. While most participants were juniors and seniors, a few students who were eligible were sophomores.

 

College of Business Assistant Dean Carolyn S. Davis conceived the Professional Black Coat Ceremony to recognize current students who have completed the pre‐business requirements to be formally admitted in their respective business majors.

Ms. Davis believes these types of public recognition events can go a long way toward improving student retention and student engagement (belonging). The event was held in the evening to allow parents, mentors, faculty, and staff to participate and encourage the students on the next step in their journey. President Ruth J. Simmons was the keynote speaker for the event and injected just the right tone and sentiment during her remarks.

In order to participate in the Professional Black Coat Ceremony, students must be 100% admitted to the College of Business. Admission to the college is a two‐step process: upon admission to the university, students are identified as “Pre‐Business” students unless they satisfied the following requirements:

  • Students must be in good academic standing with the university;
  • Students must have satisfactorily completed at least 45 semester credit hours including the ten foundation courses outlined by the college; and
  • Students must have an earned a cumulative GPA of 2.30 or higher with no grade lower than a “C” in all required courses. Students must also have the recommendation of a College of Business advisor as well as the approval of their respective department head and dean of the College. After the preliminary program, students took the College of Business oath and were “coated” by their mentor, department head or dean. Congratulations to the students who were recognized for their achievement during the ceremony and thank you to the members of the Dean’s Advisory Board and alumni who purchased jackets for a number of the recipients.