White Coat Ceremony

Hsc White Coat Ceremony

With a grant from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation of New York, the University of North Texas Health Science Center began the celebration of a White Coat Ceremony in August of 1996. The White Coat Ceremony is a “rite of passage” for health science center students that encourages a psychological contract for professionalism and empathy. The event emphasizes the importance of the foundational mission of the institution: education, research, patient care and service.

The HSC ceremony takes place at the Will Rogers Memorial Auditorium in front of family, friends and selected faculty. The incoming students are welcomed by the President, Provost and Deans and will be addressed by an eminent professional role model. The students are then presented, “cloaked,” with their first white coats symbolizing the mantle of their chosen profession. Students swear a professional oath before the assembled group, publicly acknowledging their new responsibilities and their willingness to assume the obligations of their new profession.

The white coat is a symbolic, non-verbal communication used to express and reaffirm a fundamental belief in a system that society observes. The authority of dress is serious and purposeful, not social, casual or random. The dress of healers of primitive societies was an important part of the paraphernalia of healing. The uniform should imply a purely professional interest. It must convey to even the most anxious a sense of seriousness and purpose that helps provide reassurance and confidence that his/her complaints will be dealt with competently and seriously.

It is a cloak of compassion.

2024 White Coat Ceremony

Friday, August 23rd, 2024
9:00 – 11:00 am
Will Rogers Memorial Center Auditorium

Invitation Letter

If you would like to invite family or friends from abroad, students can provide an invitation letter to their visitor(s) to present with their visa application, we suggest that you, yourself write a letter for the visitor(s).

Invitation Letter

Consular officials from the U.S. Department of State have stated that B-2 tourist/visitor visa applicants do not need an invitation letter from the school in order to process a visa application and that the letters are not helpful. Invitation letters are not a documentation requirement in order for visitors to apply for a tourist visa.

For specific required documentation, please refer to the specific U.S. Embassy website that your visitor(s) will be going to for their interview: http://www.usembassy.gov