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Summer 2026
Mullen it Over: Commencement Lore at ICO
WRITTEN BY:
Sheila Quirke
“Oh oh, here’s the bagpipes!” A sense of anticipation can be heard from the crowd gathered to honor the class of 2026 at Illinois College of Optometry’s graduation ceremony. Eight men wearing traditional kilts, seven with pipes and one with drums, lead the processional into Chicago’s Symphony Center.
Those gathered hush themselves, enabling the strains of the pipes to fill the room. They boom and keen, the bagpipes’ familiar notes reaching every corner of the grand space. The sound is both reverent and celebratory, commanding and tender. The College’s 183rd Commencement has officially commenced.
When the fourth president of ICO, Charles Mullen, OD, introduced bagpipes to the graduation ceremony in 1997, he was very intentional about why. It wasn’t just that he liked the sound, as his Celtic surname might suggest, but that he wanted to elevate the experience for all those in attendance. A few months earlier, the bagpipes made their first appearance at an ICO event when Dr. Mullen was welcomed to the college at his official inauguration.
Charles Mullen, OD, and Mark K. Colip, OD ’92, pictured outside Rockefeller Chapel during ICO’s Commencement in 1997.
Mark Colip, OD ’92, ICO’s sixth and current President, was then Director of Student Services and sat on Dr. Mullen’s inauguration committee. “Charlie was the first outsider president of ICO and came from a proud background. He had a military mindset and background as a naval officer, and had spent years working in Washington, DC before coming to ICO.”
Those years Dr. Mullen spent in our nation’s capital offer important insights into understanding how and why ICO’s graduation ceremonies look and feel the way they do. A full thirty years later, they continue to achieve exactly what Dr. Mullen had hoped they would, a touch of gravitas. For six years prior to coming to Chicago, Dr. Mullen served as Director of Optometry Service for the Department of Veterans Affairs. As Dr. Mullen’s CV notes, the VA was and remains “the largest optometric patient care and clinical education program in the United States.”
Managing a program that large takes discipline and precision, qualities that Dr. Mullen relied on as a new administrator at ICO, but also expected of his staff. Dr. Colip laughs when he recalls Dr. Mullen’s Inauguration Ceremony, “My office was responsible for the programs and it was clear to us that everything was supposed to be perfect. Perfect. They were greatly expanded that year with every faculty member’s name – well, the programs were much more detailed. Wouldn’t you know, when they came back from the printer, all the inserts were stapled upside down from the covers.”
Dr. Colip laughs about the mistake now, but in that moment it did not feel funny. It felt like a serious error that would be impossible to correct before Dr. Mullen presided over his Inauguration Ceremony. In the end, Dr. Mullen was gracious about the mistake and Dr. Colip learned something about leadership and his new boss.
As Dr. Colip said from the stage of Symphony Center at this year’s graduation, “This ceremony doesn’t just happen.” It takes many individuals at ICO pooling their efforts together to create the event. For decades, the person that ran point and managed the logistics of the day was Dr. Colip’s assistant, Mrs. Sharon Uher, now retired.
Mrs. Uher was responsible for coordinating ICO’s graduation ceremonies for over four decades. The ceremonies moved from the Prudential Building in the 1970s, to the Arie Crown Theater at McCormick Place, then to the University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Chapel for many years, into their current home at Symphony Center. Mrs. Uher recalls how things shifted under Dr. Mullen’s leadership, “He wanted things a bit more formal. There was a lot more information in the programs, even information about the ceremony itself. It was a more prestigious event, for the better, of course.”
“We want it [Commencement] to be perfect for every single student and their family. That day, students get two new initials behind their name and ’Dr.’ in front."
– Mark K. Colip, OD ’92
If ever there was a person up for the task of managing meticulous details, it was Mrs. Uher.
“I started a timeline in a notebook to help keep myself on track. I knew exactly what I needed to do and when to have it ready for the ceremony. And we would always meet the first day back in the office after graduation. There were tweaks to the ceremony every year – what could we improve on, what could we do better next year? They wanted it to be very beautiful for the students.”
“It’s my favorite day of the entire year,” says Dr. Colip of graduation, and agrees with Mrs. Uher, “We want it to be perfect for every single student and their family. That day, students get two new initials behind their name and ’Dr.’ in front. We want the students to feel pride and a sense of accomplishment.”
Another of the common graduation traditions that ICO follows is wearing traditional gowns and hoods. The practice of students and faculty wearing the distinct uniform associated with graduation ceremonies dates back to medieval times when places of study were drafty old unheated gothic-style buildings. The cloaked layers academics wore both protected them against the cold as well as acting as a signifier to others that they were to be respected for their scholarly pursuits.
Those medieval traditions are where the academic mace comes into play, as well. The club-like mace was originally used as a weapon in 14th-century Europe. The ICO mace was commissioned by Dr. Mullen in his first year as president. Sitting on that same inaugural committee, one of the committee’s earliest tasks assigned by Dr. Mullen was to find a woodworker who could custom make an academic mace for ICO that would carry its seal and could be used in ceremonial gatherings, like graduations and inaugurations.
ICO’s mace is used every year at graduation, carried in at the start of the processional (right behind those bagpipes) by a selected faculty member. After thirty years of use and being transported back and forth for ceremonies, it looks a little worn these days, with a few dings and dents, but Dr. Colip believes that adds to its character. When not in use, it sits in a special wood stand just to the right of his desk in the president’s office under the seal of the college, a place of distinction.
Sharon Uher directs then president Arol Augburger, OD at ICO’s
Commencement Rehearsal program in 2014.
“What if my cap doesn’t fit? Where are the bobby pins? I knew it all. And when everyone finally marched down the aisle, I would sit in the front row, taking notes I could use for next year.”
– Sharon Uher
A member of the ICO community who has been to as many graduation ceremonies as Mrs. Uher is Janice Jurkus, OD ’74, MBA, the only woman in her graduating class and now ICO Professor Emeritus. She joined the faculty right after graduation and retired in 2019, though gave the commencement address in 2023 and this year had the honor of hooding Yuki Chan, OD ’26. “It is a very significant ask, when a student wants you to hood them,” says Dr. Jurkus, “It was an honor to hood Yuki. Her father flew in from China for the ceremony!”
Dr. Jurkus met Dr. Chan’s parents during one of her academic trips to China and remained connected with them through the years. The couple are very involved in the contact lens industry in China. When Dr. Chan opted to study optometry in the United States, she knew it was ICO where she wanted to study. “Hooding a graduate symbolizes the transition from student to colleague,” says Dr. Jurkus, “I looked it up after Yuki asked me.”
That transition was undeniable just a few weeks later when Dr. Jurkus sat in the waiting room of the Illinois Eye Institute, where she continues to receive all her eye care. Who should approach her, but Ms. Chan, then in her last few weeks of studies before graduation. Ms. Chan greeted her warmly, “Yuki was there finishing up with one of my past patients, and now her current patient. I remembered him and he remembered me. To think that he was now Yuki’s patient, well, it reminded me of what I had learned about the hooding ceremony. Dr. Chan is now my colleague.” Dr. Jurkus wells up as she recalls the moment.
ICO graduates are allowed and encouraged to invite anyone they know with a background in optometry to hood them during the ceremony. Most often, that is a mentor, friend, or family member. This year, 30% of the graduating class opted to invite someone from the profession to hood them.
Joe Statsick, OD ’26, invited two – his cousin, Sarah Statsick, OD ’25, and his dear friend from undergraduate days, Kianna Swanson, OD ’25. “It’s pretty surreal,” says Dr. Statsick, “Now that it’s finally here, there is so much excitement.” Dr. Statsick sees the act of hooding someone as a “deep sign of respect.” He says, “I knew exactly who I wanted to hood me. It is a last act of gratitude, thanking my friend and my cousin who have been so supportive of me.”
Now that it was his turn to stand on stage and go through the ceremony as a participant instead of as a spectator, Dr. Statsick has a growing appreciation of how meaningful the ceremony is, “I have leaned on my family financially and mentally my whole life. They are my support system. I want to shine a light on them for all the sacrifices they made.” Dr. Statsick was honored to be joined by his parents, brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, as well as those he asked to join him on stage for the hooding portion of the ceremony.
Mrs. Uher would be proud to see a recent ICO graduate wanting their family to be centered as part of the ceremony. She believes that the ceremony reflects the values of ICO as an academic institution, “It takes many departments to pull off the ninety minute ceremony – facilities, security, communications, student affairs, the print room, alumni office, faculty members, and the business office, really too many to mention, as every department contributes. When something is needed, and there is always something needed -- often on the same day, they get it to you. Lots of people talk about ICO being a family, but it is true. There are so many quality people there.”
Dr. Colip appreciates Dr. Mullen’s thoughtful intentions that have had an impact on generations of alumni, “Charlie wanted to institute academic traditions that inspired pride and celebrated higher education. His influence became such a rock for our commencement program. You can see the students joking at rehearsal, but the day of the ceremony is always different. It is a celebration of their hard work. When you put on a doctoral robe and that pipe organ fires up, well, it is a representation of the students’ blood, sweat, and tears, the sacrifices their families have made to get them there. It is a very special day.”
Janice Jurkus, OD ’74, MBA, Professor Emeritus, hooded Yuki Chan, OD ’26,
at this year’s Commencement.
“It is a very significant ask, when a student wants you to hood them. It was an honor to hood Yuki. Her father flew in from China for the ceremony!”
– Janice Jurkus, OD ’74, MBA
One of the strategies Mrs. Uher used to ensure a flawless ceremony, even when stress was running high, was to ensure everyone had all the information they needed for the event, “I always wanted people to know my responsibilities. I wanted a backup, just in case. Before the ceremony started, I would stand by the stage and everyone knew where to find me with questions. ’What if my cap doesn’t fit? Where are the bobby pins?’ And when everyone finally marched down the aisle, I would sit in the front row, taking notes I could use for next year.”
Mrs. Uher fondly recalls her drives home after the ceremonies, “I remember feeling relieved, happy, and proud. I always felt a lot of satisfaction when the ceremony ran smoothly. The people on the stage might not always know everything that went into it or if there were little mistakes here or there, but that never mattered. I can give you details about what made the graduation ceremony work well each year, but it always comes back to the people of ICO.”
Following Mrs. Uher’s retirement, the ICO Commencement Ceremony is now under the leadership of Erik Mothersbaugh, OD ’12, Dean of Student Affairs, and Director of Student Engagement, Mrs. Debra Albers. They have continued to make improvements to planning and execution of the event and even this year implemented changes to enhance the graduate’s experience. “Commencement is an event that is rooted in tradition while remaining ever-evolving,” stated Dr. Mothersbaugh, “Just like ICO itself.”