Baccalaureate Ceremony 2016

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Intro

• Thank you so much for the honor and the privilege to speak to you today. 2012 was the most challenging academic year of my life. The leader of our anatomy course, whom I worked with for the previous 26 years, was unexpectedly not available. I suspect that when you interviewed you heard about Dr. Zagon. Our Dean of Medical Education handed the reins to me for the 2012 session. I was not alone. Over 50 people worked together to make gross anatomy the best that we could. There was my new co-director Dr. Kaufman, my anatomy colleagues Dr. Lazarus and Dr. Phelps, our graduate students - Zeinab Nasralah, Amanda Troy, Jessica Immonen, Amada White, and Leslie Hammer. Zeinab and Leslie will be with you tomorrow. Our clinical correlate director, Dr. Bollard, who glued laboratory anatomy together with clinical application. And many of you came to know Denise Clarke. She made sure that it all happened. In all, there were more than 50 anatomy and clinical faculty. But most importantly, there was 150+ of you. You learned as much as your hard work allowed. You taught us. I mean that literally. I read approximately 12,000 pages or your handwritten essay answers.
• You know that I may not finish by 2 PM. Thus, let me make certain that I say this now. This class, through your generosity, your understanding, and your professionalism gave me the best academic year of my career. I Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
  • The bottom?!!! Remove scissors from pocket with tags falling to the floor. I thank you from the inferior most margin of my heart. That part of the heart that rests upon the endothoracic fascia lining the superior margin of the central tendon of the thoracic diaphragm. All of this, of course, making up contents and boundaries of the middle mediastinum.
• Also, I must thank each of you who supported these graduates. Had you not been there to take the phone calls; I may have had a few additional emails to read. Thank you. By supporting these graduates, you made the best investment possible.
• Advice. Appreciate those who support you. And you do.

The Pennsylvania State University

• I awoke at 3 AM this morning in a panic. What was the correct pronunciation of "the?" I got out to bed and Googled "the" pronunciation. To my horror, "the" when followed by a word starting with a consonant is pronounced with a short e. When followed by a word starting with a vowel; a long e. But in my discussion with you about decorum, I followed "the" with Pennsylvania. I should have used a short e. I read further. However, if "the" is being used to emphasize, it may be correctly pronounced with a long e regardless of the following word.
• On the first day of gross anatomy I said to you that the gravity of the adventure that was about to begin was immense. I said that we would have a great time. That we would have fun. I tempered my levity by saying that are patients who come to this Institution with the primary hope that they may live. Another day, another week, another month. I suggested that, within this context, we might best think of ourselves as students of "The Pennsylvania State University." And you did.
• A few weeks later; I was asked to visit the left corner table by the window in the far room. We discussed, at length, the relationships the defined the identification of a particular structure. Later that day, I was asked to return to this same table. When I returned, I saw that the previous structure we had discussed was dissected away. I doubt that I hid my sadness. As I walked away, one of your classmates said to me. "But Dr. Evey, it was not "the" superior medial genicular artery." I often think of that moment and break into a smile. It shall persist as a fond memory.
• Advice. Having responsibility for the lives of others is ominous. Nonetheless, don't take yourself, or me, too seriously.

The Essay Examination

• More the 60% of the exmination consisted of handwritten essay.
• You had the opportunity to write 26 pages of prose. Plus, if you needed more paper, we had 5 reams for you at the front of the room.
• Read the nutcracker question
• Read the Uterus question
• Read the T/F question - 1/4 of 1% of the exam value.
• A brawl in lecture room C. I applaud you. You were passionate about it. I did not throw it out though. Maybe I should have.
• Advice. Continue to seek justice. Be leery of mnemonics.

Parting Advice (imagine, me giving you advice)

• Merit of being factual - already discussed
• Merit of loyalty - already discussed. To my thinking, that I am standing here now is a testimony to your loyalty. I can only hope that I have deserved it. Please, never underestimate the peace and the direction that comes from loyalty.
• Merit of commitment. Removes picture of Chartreuse Liquor. * I told that the small mouth bass in the Susquehanna River have fondness for Chartreuse. * Remove the bottle and read Matt Fanneli. * Remove the card and read sustentaculum tali and Lisa P.
• I once told you that you were in the midst of the best anatomy course available to humankind. Possibly overstated, but I don't think so. Not because of me. Because of the team and because You made it that way.
• It would be my greatest honor to place my life into your hands.
• Thank you

Introduction

• Entry:
  • Thank you!!! Truly an honor and so poetic.
  • My most tumultuous year filled with trepidation. You made it the best year of my life.
  • Folding white stand and yellow tag hanging out of pocket
  • Lecture carrying case
    • colored pens, carrying case, tag in front pocket (place in pocket)
    • Lecture folder with overlay of vertebral triangle and Pancoast Tumor - I was told I had 15 min
    • Allow me to describe my relationship with these characters..... this remarkable class.
• Introduction
  • The Team - 50 clinical, anatomy, and graduate student
  • And you taught each other = a team of over 200 faculty and students combined.
  • Lectures started at 1 and ended promptly at 2 - well... maybe not, ever.
  • Three hour labs
  • Then we came back after dinner and enjoyed ourselves until the early morning hours and then back into the lab at 9:00.
• Were we expecting too much?? The limits of human capability
  • We could not even think about gender specific bathrooms. Nearest one and back into the laboratory
  • Out of concern that maybe this class was working too hard, we implemented a wellness program.
    • After three weeks, we sat a day aside where we could simply sit down, relax, reminisce, and enjoy ourselves
• Introduce essay examination
  • T/F and Labeling
  • Short Answer
  • Essay
  • Friday to Monday - wrist shaking; left handed, right handed, amnidextrous
  • Discussing carpal tunnel
• Debriefing on the Examination
  • Any questions up to this point?
    • Interaction between the interaction between the Autonomic and Somatic NS pertaining to recreational activity?
    • You know that all of that time I was grading those thousands of pages of essay questions that were so neatly written
    • You were so proactive, forward looking, After the written exams you wanted to discuss carpal tunnel syndrome; We had not begun our studies of the upper limb.
    • You are my immortality
    • I am so proud of what you accomplished
    • You have my total trust - I would seek you out in a heart beat (pause)
• White Coat Ceremony - "The Pennsylvania State University"
  • Dr. Ian Zagon was not available to lead you.
  • Lost my co-director Don McKay.
  • The Fall of 2012 was to be the final year for a traditional anatomy course at The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine.
  • We worked so hard. It was you who gave me the strength to keep going.
  • Professionalism? You walked the talk.
  • We are The Pennsylvania State University
  • A mischevious classmate at the end left table in the far room; the left corner at the window.
    • Ask to verify a structure - as you may remember, I never say yes or no to an identification. I always have to carry on and tell stories.
    • Went back to the table and the structure had been dissected away. I was in disbelief.
    • But it was not "the aberrant obturator artery."
• Bottle Chartreuse liquor - Hey look, my wellness program!
  • You gave me so much; including the best year of my academic life.
  • Sometimes I "invest" in a stock. Friends ask me what to buy so they know what to sell.
  • But the investment I made in you; that we made in each other, shall have unlimited returns
  • This, I shall cherish down to my final synaptic activity. And beyond. Do you think it will fit in an urn?

Background

Reflections From the Lecture Hall

• Point and shoot

Reflections from the Laboratory

• Words provide the means to meaning and for those who will listen; the enunciation of the truth.
  • And the truth is; there is something terribly wrong with this tag; isn't there.

Reflections from the Message Board

• Content

Reflections from our Examinations

• Retrorectal paristalsis
• Point and shoot (This is not our cult. Pull a few punches)
  • The role of the autonomic nervous system in recreational activity
  • The complexities

Reflections from our Parting

• Chartreuse with envy
  • Buried with my urn.
  • There will be a red tag tied to my toe so that this remembrance and I shall go forward