A Special Father-Daughter Moment at Commencement

When Emily Mittelman, MSOT ‘20, OTD ‘22, received her master’s degree from Salus University, it was during the pandemic and there wasn’t an in-person graduation ceremony.

While that prevented her from experiencing a special father-daughter moment of officially accepting her diploma on stage among her peers from her father, Salus president Michael H. Mittelman, OD ‘80, MPH, MBA, FAAO, FACHE, they did record a short, fun video of her receiving her diploma alongside her horse Jersey, which you can see here. 

Now that Salus is back to having in-person commencement ceremonies at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, daughter and father weren’t about to let another opportunity to share a special moment slip away at the 124th commencement on May 26.

When Emily walked across the stage to receive her doctorate in Occupational Therapy diploma, the Mittelmans had something planned — a special handshake to celebrate the moment.

"We didn’t get to do the walk for the master’s, so I thought we should do something special to really celebrate this momentous event,” she said. “So, I said, ‘Let’s do a secret handshake.’ And, he said, ‘I’m not so sure.’  But then he got really into it.”

The handshake, something akin to a touchdown celebration one might see Philadelphia Eagles players do in the end zone, consisted of a series of hand movements and a double pirouette by both Mittelmans.

“She made me rehearse it 67 times,” said Dr. Mittelman. “I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks. It was fun.”

Emily said it was indeed special to share that moment with her father.

​“It was fun to be able to do that and to share that with him vs. me being a student who just shakes his hand,” she said. “I get to know him on a different level. There is a different type of anticipation that goes along with having the University president be my dad. But yeah, he is just dad to me.”

For their parts, Dr. Mittelman and his wife Tanis, were just like all the other parents, watching with pride as their children graduated.

“I’m so proud of her, she worked so hard for this. And, it’s great to have another Dr. Mittelman in the family,” said the first Dr. Mittelman.

As for that moment on stage the two shared, did father whisper any special words to his daughter about it?

“He said, ‘I didn’t screw it (the handshake) up!’ That’s such a dad thing to say, not a University president thing to say,” said Emily.