Doctoral hooding: ‘We’ve got your back!’

Carolina honored nearly 600 doctoral graduates May 10 at the 2025 doctoral hooding ceremony at the Dean E. Smith Center. The keynote speaker was Don Baucom ’71, ’76 (PhD), a distinguished professor emeritus in the psychology and neuroscience department of the UNC College of Arts and Sciences. In his 50 years at Carolina, he became an internationally recognized scholar in cognitive behavioral couple therapy and was the longtime leader of the University’s couples therapy clinic.

Chancellor Lee H. Roberts also made remarks, congratulating the graduates on earning a doctorate, “the highest degree this University confers,” an accomplishment that “requires a level of dedication unmatched in the academy.”

Roberts described how a bicycle trip through rarely visited communities in North Carolina opened his eyes to the complexity and beauty of the state. He urged the graduates to focus on serving “people who are overlooked and at the margins.”

“And as you complete one stage of your journey and move on to the next,” he said, “I urge you to keep forgotten communities at the top of your mind and deep in your lives.”

Dean of The Graduate School Beth Mayer-Davis emphasized the promise of Carolina’s doctoral graduates, saying they represent “the pinnacle of excellence in their disciplines” and praising their perseverance despite recent challenges to academic research funding.

“This University has stood for 235 years, and it has faced difficult times before,” she said. “Through it all, Carolina graduate students and alumni have been expanding the boundaries of human knowledge to solve the world’s greatest challenges.”

Don Baucom ’71, ’76 (PhD), a distinguished professor emeritus in the psychology and neuroscience department of the UNC College of Arts and Sciences, gave the ceremony a new slogan in his keynote address. (Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill)

Baucom, who retired in 2024 after more than four decades on the faculty, delivered remarks celebrating the power of relationships. “Fill your life and surround yourself with good people,” he said. “The single best predictor of the quality of your life, the extent to which you thrive, and how you will age is the quality of your close relationships.”

Before faculty mentors began to drape doctoral hoods across the shoulders of the graduates, he remarked on the symbolism of the gesture, suggesting a new slogan for the ceremony: “At Carolina, we’ve got your back!”

Baucom closed by imploring the graduates to seize their opportunity to change the world.

“We’re not talking about some time in the distant future for you to make a difference. This is your time, now,” he said. “Come and formally receive your hood and take up your mantle. It is time for you to soar like an eagle!”

The Graduate School, founded in 1903, oversees more than 80 programs and 160 graduate degrees. It conferred 1,487 master’s and 598 doctoral degrees during the 2025 Commencement season.

Chancellor Lee H. Roberts shakes a graduate student’s hand on stage during the Doctoral Hooding ceremony Saturday at the Dean E. Smith Center. (Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill)

Faculty Award for Excellence in Doctoral Mentoring

At the ceremony, Troy Sadler, the Thomas James Distinguished Professor of Experiential Learning and area chair for culture, curriculum and teacher education in the UNC School of Education, received The Graduate School’s 2025 Faculty Award for Excellence in Doctoral Mentoring.

Rebecca Lesnefsky, one of the inaugural recipients of the Graduate School Dean’s Award, nominated Sadler for the award. “One of the greatest testaments to Dr. Sadler’s mentorship is that I now look forward to advising students someday because of his example,” she wrote. “He sees potential in his students, often before they see it in themselves, and he provides space for us to develop into confident, capable scholars.”

Because he creates opportunities for his students to build their professional identities, doctoral students have worked on major NSF grant-funded projects, been first author on multiple peer-reviewed articles in top-tier journals and made presentations at conferences. Students emphasized that Sadler’s impact as a mentor extends well beyond their graduation and noted his unfailing kindness, humility and belief in his students.