A dull, metal-infused, quasi-melodic clanking reverberates off the walls of the Graduate Center at Walker Hall with an erratic rhythm. A smile spreads across UC Davis doctoral student Jackson Badger’s face as a small circle of his friends, family and lab mates applaud him. Badger’s shoulders drop as a deep exhale of relief washes over him. He knows that now, with the ringing of this bell, his doctoral degree at UC Davis is complete.

The ringing of a cow bell is a uniquely Aggie tradition that was started by Graduate Admissions and Advising staff in the Office of Graduate Studies in the early 2000s as a way to help graduate students celebrate the culmination and completion of their master’s or doctoral degrees at UC Davis. It is an especially revered tradition for those graduate students who, for a variety of reasons, are not able to attend the commencement celebration in the spring.

A significant celebration

Students are eligible to ring the bell after their exit appointment which is when a Graduate Studies Senior Academic Advisors (SAA's) reviews a graduate student’s paperwork and formatting, and files them to graduate. The bell ringing signifies that everything is done, all paperwork has been submitted, all I's are dotted and T's are crossed, according to Brad Wolf, a former Senior Academic Advisor at UC Davis Graduate Studies.

“It’s a physical act to cap off all the hard work people have completed,” Wolf said. “It helps create a sense of celebration and excitement when students submit their dissertations after years of hard work.”

Badger, Ph.D. ’21 said his own bell ringing was a meaningful moment for him because it signified the culmination of six-plus years of graduate school and research.

“It felt great. There were several times that I didn’t think I would get through it all,” he said. “But, when I rang that bell, I thought, ‘Here I am. I’m all done. No more obligations, no more paperwork.’ It was a nice capstone.”

‘What’s more Davis than cows and bikes?’

The type of bell that was chosen to mark this momentous occasion in a graduate student’s academic career was intentional, according to Wolf.

“It had to be a cow bell. It’s more ‘Aggie,’” he said. “Plus, not only is it a cow bell, but there is also a bicycle painted on the outside of it. What’s more Davis than cows and bikes?”

Mysteries of the bell

Unfortunately, very little is known about the bell’s origin. Former Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Jeff Gibeling recalls making a comment at a Graduate Studies staff meeting that there needed to be some kind of ceremony to commemorate a dissertation or thesis being submitted.

“I was concerned that students would come in to meet with a staff member to formally file their dissertation or thesis and walk out quietly - it seemed rather anticlimactic,” he said. “I don't remember who came up with the idea of ringing a bell.”

According to Aggie Legend,  Dawne Shell, retired staff member who worked at UC Davis for more than 25 years, was the originator of the bell-ringing idea; however, when she was interviewed for this story, Shell doubted the idea was hers.  

“I’m not quite sure whose idea it was, but I do remember ringing the bell a lot and it was always a lot of fun,” she said.

So as to the true identity of the first graduate student who inspired this graduate Aggie tradition, the world may never know.

The gamut of bell ringers

Regardless of the ambiguity surrounding its origin story, the Grad Studies Bell Ringing ceremony is a tradition that has endured for years at UC Davis. Since that first bovine-inspired melody rang out years ago, hundreds of doctoral and master’s students have yearned for their chance to raise this idiophone hand-percussion instrument high above their heads and shake it vigorously for all to hear.

“I’ve seen the gamut, when it comes to bell ringers,” said Wolf who has witnessed dozens of bell ringing ceremonies in his years working as a graduate advisor. “I tell people to ring it as hard as they want. Some do a small ring, others swing it around. There’s a wide range of enthusiasm in bell ringing.”

Ceremony creates community

Wolf added that sometimes even members of the student’s friends and family, especially the children, pick up the bell to ring it on behalf of the new graduate.

Every time the bell is rung, (no, an angel doesn’t get his or her wings, but) staff from Graduate Admissions and Advising all come out from their cubicles to applaud the student, often yelling out “Congratulations, doctor!” to the newly appointed Ph.D. alumni.

“It’s a happy time for everyone,” Wolf said.

The bell persisted

Despite its revered sentimentality in the graduate community, there was a dark time in the history of the bell when it too fell victim to the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the university transitioned to virtual learning and a remote work environment for staff because of the pandemic, the bell lay silent for many months. Some in the Graduate Studies community worried it may never ring again.

Fortunately, the power of the bell persisted. In Fall 2021, Badger became the first person to revive the ringing of the bell ceremony since the dark times of the pandemic and do so in the newly renovated Graduate Center at Walker Hall.

“It meant a lot for me to ring the bell before I started my new job,” said Badger, who started work at a Bay Area start-up just days after graduating. “It’s become a sort of rite of passage. I would definitely recommend it to any and all graduate students and alumni.”

Invitation to ring our bell

If you are a Graduate Alumni who missed out on this time-honored tradition and would like to live out your dreams of being like Will Farrell on Saturday Night Live or your inner Anita Ward, we invite you to come visit us at the Graduate Center at Walker Hall and ring that bell!