It all started last year when Anne Michael, visiting the UF Department of Medicine in Gainesville, noticed stacks and stacks of warehouse-type boxes in the departmental office.
“I saw all these boxes lined up and asked what was in them, and the office staff said they were rocking chairs for the graduating residents,” said Anne, administrative services coordinator in Administrative Affairs. “A light bulb went on in my head and I said ‘Tell me more!'” They did, and within minutes Anne was phoning the manufacturer for details – and a tradition was born on the Jacksonville campus.
In 2006 Anne established the Anne and Max Michael, Jr., Education Fund in memory of her late husband, who from 1962 to 1985 served as the first dean at the Jacksonville campus.
The fund awards a hand-crafted, lacquered-wood rocker, featuring a gold screen-printed seal of the University of Florida, to graduates who complete their three-year residency training program in internal medicine in Jacksonville.
“Awarding the rocker at graduation has quickly become a tradition, and graduates are proud of their chairs and the meritorious accomplishments they represent,” said Stanley Nahman, Jr., M.D., director of Jacksonville’s internal medicine residency program and professor of internal medicine. “The tradition has even spread to residents graduating before 2006, many of whom have called to purchase their own rockers.”
Tradition is what the rockers are all about. Dr. Michael graduated from tradition-steeped Harvard. “He really appreciated tradition and how it gives us a feel for something,” Anne said. “Awarding the rockers is also a way to acknowledge these young people who have worked diligently and given 36 months of their life to go out and take care of the sick.”
Anne has two rocking chairs – Dr. Michael’s Harvard rocker at home and a UF rocker in her Jacksonville campus office.
“Even though Max is not physically here, it makes me feel good knowing that somewhere some student, resident or physician appreciates the gift and knows his name.” she said.