2025 Undergraduate Recognition and White Coat Ceremony
Nov. 8, 2025
Old Cabell Hall Auditorium
Family Weekend Celebration
Welcome
Marianne Baernholdt, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN
The Pew Charitable Trusts Dean and Professor
Dean of Professional Nursing, UVA Health
Remarks
Emily Montemuro
President, Nursing Student Council
BSN class of 2026
White Coat Cloaking
Malinda Whitlow, DNP, RN, FNP-BC
Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Lead
UVA School of Nursing
Pinning
Malinda Whitlow
Closing Remarks
Dean Baernholdt
Faculty Marshals
Class of 2029 – Christine Connelly, MD
Class of 2028 – Emily Evans, PhD, RN, WHNP-BC
Class of 2027 – Sharon Bragg, DNP, RN, CCRN, CNL program specialty lead
Class of 2026 Accelerated BSNs – Katy Hall, PhD, RN
Class of 2026 – Crystal Chu, PhD, RN
RN-BSNs – Gretchen Wiersma, DNP, RN, CNE, CHSE, RN to BSN program specialty lead
The Next Generation UVA School of Nursing Pledge
As we enter the nursing community, we pledge to move forward and be a part of the next generation of nurses by learning from the past to make an even greater difference in the future. By taking this pledge, we each promise to do the following:
- I will not take part in any act of incivility against my colleagues, educators, or patients;
- I will not just take orders but I will be empowered to fully understand them, to question when necessary, and, in doing so, remembering that to be respected, I must respect;
- I will not only advocate with the utmost integrity and impartiality, but will also show true compassion and beneficence on behalf of my patients, coworkers, and myself;
- I will work hard to build an environment conducive to the cultivation of well-being and dignity that ensures the inherent worth of every person I serve and work beside;
- I will not only be known for educating and taking care of my patients, but also for educating and taking care of myself, so I can be an active professional for the sake of my future patients, for the sake of my fellow colleagues, and for the sake of the future of healthcare.
I pledge to be a Next Generation Nurse.
Written by the Classes of 2013 and 2014
Edited by Zahra Alisa & Milania Harris Class of 2022
Edited by Emily Montemuro Class of 2026
UVA School of Nursing has held an annual White Coat Ceremony as part of its annual Undergraduate Recognition Ceremony since 2014, part of the now-expected roster of UVA Family Weekend events.
The year it began, the cloaking ritual for nursing students - a ceremony originally reserved for medical students transitioning to patient care and clinical rotations - was one of about 100 new events at nursing schools around the nation thanks to coordinated support and funding from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Today, the White Coat is a beloved and expected part of honors bestowed upon BSN students in their second year of study, and an acknowledgement of these students' transition to caring for human, rather than simulated patients on their clinical rotations, which, at UVA, begins second semester of BSN students' second year.
Though early White Coat Ceremonies saw nursing students cloaked by faculty members, today, nursing students choose who helps them first don the starched white garment for the first time. Many times, it's a parent, sibling, other family member, a beloved friend, partner, or mentor.
Though early and COVID-era ceremonies were held in McLeod Hall auditorium, today, the White Coat is traditionally held in Old Cabell Hall, on UVA's storied Lawn. Once students don their white coats, they read the Next Generation Nursing Student pledge, written by School of Nursing alumni, in unison before faculty, staff, undergraduate student peers, and a full complement of family members, loved ones, and friends.
Before and after the White Coat Ceremony, first-, second-, third-, and fourth-year students also receive a UVA School of Nursing pin, a symbolic marker of their academic and clinical progress through the program. Over the years, the School's unofficial mascot, Kenny, the therapy dog (owned and raised by Edie Barbero, a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner and former faculty member), also earned several nursing pins alongside his nursing student friends.
Marcia Day Childress, associate professor and director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Humanities at UVA, told students to leave their white coats symbolically unbuttoned at the inaugural event in 2014, "remembering that you're part of a group that is curious of, and fiercely protective of, patients. Leave your coat unbuttoned to get that rich mix of giving and receiving, and consider how leaving your coat unbuttoned can open you up to a patient's secrets, society's cruel injustices, colleagues' confidence, even your own grief and growth.
"You and your coat will grow into each other," Childress added. "Put on the coat, softly crease the collar, stuff the pockets, keep it unbuttoned, and be a great nurse."