“Behind the Scenes” of Commencement: How Afsheen Lakhani DMD 06 AEGD 07, Director of Group Practices and Clinical Associate Professor of General Dentistry, Prepares as Commencement Announcer
Names matter—but too often names from different backgrounds are chronically mispronounced, with the excuse that the name is too difficult to learn. Dr. Afsheen Lakhani, GSDM director of group practices and clinical associate professor of general dentistry, wants to ensure that no one from the GSDM community feels like their name is a burden.
Since 2022, Lakhani has served as the voice of GSDM, announcing students’ names at Commencement, White Coat Ceremony, and Professional Ceremony. While each event has its own unique challenges, Lakhani said Commencement is the most grueling as she reads both predoctoral and postdoctoral names, which can be as many as five names per graduate. Preparing to read the names is a laborious act, she said it’s a laborious act of love.
For the third installment of our ongoing “Behind the Scenes” series, we spoke with Lakhani about her process.
This year’s Commencement is especially remarkable for Lakhani, as she read the names of the DMD 2024 students during their White Coat Ceremony in 2022 and the names of the DMD AS 2024 students during both their Professional Ceremony in 2022 and their White Coat Ceremony in 2023. Lakhani said it’s special to feel like she is a key part of their dental journeys. It is a full circle moment for everyone, she said.
“I have seen these students grow in front of my eyes,” Lakhani said. “We are the ones who see them develop professionally, work closely with them, and we get connected personally. It is such a huge honor to be able to say their name with a doctor in front of them.”
Prior to Lakhani, Stephen Dulong DMD 75 PROS 78, now clinical professor emeritus of general dentistry, served as the main GSDM commencement announcer for over a decade.
For the 2022 Commencement, Dean Cataldo Leone asked Lakhani to step in as the commencement announcer, because she had received the Spencer N. Frankl Excellence in Teaching award in 2021. Lakhani was delighted to be asked to join the platform party for the first time, especially for Leone’s first in-person commencement as dean. Since she believed this was going to be a one-time occurrence, Lakhani had one main goal she wanted to accomplish: Saying everyone’s name correctly, no matter how long it took her to master.
Saying a name correctly is a personal matter for Lakhani. She remembers her mom and grandmother traveling from Pakistan for her GSDM ceremony—just to hear her name announced. As the first person in her family to graduate from an U.S. university, her commencement was a milestone accomplishment. Lakhani noted that many of GSDM’s students may have similar stories. She wants their commencement to be as memorable as hers.
“We believe in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, but we have to practice what we are teaching,” Lakhani said. “This is the best way to showcase what we are doing. We are putting in all the effort for all their names, wherever they come from.”
Lakhani launched her mission of learning the proper pronunciation of student/resident names in mid-April 2022 by asking Amanda Modelevsky, GSDM director of meetings & events, for a list of all the graduating students/residents.
Once she had a preliminary list, she did an initial scan, noting the names she needed to practice and/or confirm proper pronunciation of. She was able to ask these upcoming graduates for recordings of them saying their names, allowing her to write out the phonetics of certain names and create a personal reference guide. Then, the practice began.
Since English isn’t Lakhani’s native language, one big obstacle she faced was linguistics based, as she had to master sound structure and accents in a different language. Between listening to the audio during her two-hour round-trip commute from Lexington to GSDM and rehearsing with her kids at home, she drilled the more challenging names into her muscle memory.
“It takes a lot of practice honestly, hearing the voice note, going back to the student, getting feedback from them and then keep practicing,” she said. “But the idea is that on the paper, when the name comes, I’m actually not reading it. It’s just coming from the memory.”
She received the final alphabetical order program of names in May, just days before Commencement. When she got the official list, she was able to amend her personal reference guide, adding in “Doctor,” all honor designations, faculty presenter names, and any other additional information she will need to say. Everything needs to be written down and practiced so it’s part of the routine, she said.
“I don’t want to just wing it over there,” Lakhani said. “[Everything] takes practice. All the names with the alphabetical order take time.”
Lakhani said she was very grateful that her first commencement as announcer was a success. She said she could not have accomplished her goal of saying all the graduates’ names correctly without Modelevsky’s support, and she is endlessly grateful for her guidance.
Joseph Calabrese, GSDM associate dean of students, asked her to be the announcer for the White Coat and Professional ceremonies in 2022, and Leone asked her to reprise her role as commencement announcer in 2023. It’s been Lakhani as the announcer ever since.
“It was very daunting start, very, very nerve wracking, but it was an honor,” she said. “Since COVID-19, 2022 was the first in-person ceremony, so the stakes were huge. Everybody was really looking forward to it. I wanted to make sure that I put 200 percent of my effort into it, not just 100 percent.”
GSDM Events & Meetings now sends students links to NameCoach, an online platform that allows students to record themselves saying their names and phonetic spelling. Each group of students/residents (DMD, DMD AS, and postdocs) receive a unique link approximately a month before Commencement. This is a step up from Lakhani’s stealthily obtained recordings. She said NameCoach has been a huge help to refine her process.
Once she listens to the NameCoach submissions, Lakhani will reach out to students and residents individually as needed if she needs more guidance on how to properly announce their name. Now, students and residents are prepared for the request, she said.
Lakhani has also perfected her meticulous note-keeping system, as she saves the lists and phonetic reference guides on her personal OneDrive, prints out two physical copies of everything, and emails herself the digital files as a last resort for the big day. She puts her physical copies in a red GSDM folder that she will carry on the day. She said there is no such thing as being too prepared.
“People are relying on you, so I always have a backup of a backup of a backup ready,” she said. “For these occasions, you want to be over-prepared because it’s such a big thing for our students and their families.”
In the week leading up to Commencement, Lakhani makes sure her voice is physically ready by cutting out cold drinks and drinking hot water with honey every morning.
On Commencement morning, she arrives at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center, the venue for GSDM Commencement, early to get settled. She sits with her gown on in the corner, going through her notes one more time, mentally preparing for the start. The stakes are high, as there is no formal understudy for her, but she said she can’t worry about a “what if.”
As she embarks on her third year as the commencement announcer, Lakhani has made the realization that the endeavor is not just her own personal vindication or for her students. It’s for the students’ loved ones, particularly their parents, who are cheering in person for hours or watching overseas via the livestream waiting for their graduate to cross the stage. A lot of the names are representative of their culture or familial legacy–so it’s not just one person graduating, it’s everyone who came before them.
“It’s the whole family who wants to hear and feel that proud moment,” Lakhani said.