Class of 2019 Dons White Coats in Ceremony
Class of 2019 students take their places at the opening of the white coat ceremony.
| The Class of 2019 at the UAMS College of Pharmacy on Aug. 21 shared a milestone experience by participating in a white coat ceremony recognizing their transition into the life of a student-pharmacist.
Sponsored by the Arkansas Pharmacists Association (APA), it was the college’s 13th annual White Coat Ceremony.
More than 500 people attended, including college faculty and staff, and friends and family.
Representing the APA were Mark Riley, Pharm. D., the association’s executive vice president and CEO, and John Vinson, Pharm. D., the association’s president and medical director for UAMS Regional Programs. Riley, College of Pharmacy classes of 1977 and 1998, opened the ceremony, and Vinson, class of 2005, delivered the keynote address.
The college’s Class of 2019 stand together for a formal photo in conjunction with the ceremony.
Following the keynote address, Elisabeth Mathews, president of the UAMS Academy of Student Pharmacists, led the Class of 2019 in reciting the Student Pledge of Professionalism.
The students then came on to the stage one by one to put on their white coats and be formally welcomed into the college.
The average grade point average of the incoming class, which includes 50 males and 71 females, was 3.53. Seventy-one students have undergraduate degrees, four have master’s degrees and one student has a law degree.