On Friday, Aug. 13, Creighton’s College of Nursing celebrated the graduation of 48 accelerated bachelor of science in nursing students. Nearly 400 family members, friends, faculty, staff and community partners attend the Honors Convocation and Pinning Ceremony in the Doris S. Norton Ballroom of the new Health Sciences Building.
“These graduates have demonstrated not only academic prowess and expert clinical skills but also resilience and flexibility. They entered this program in the midst of a pandemic and maintained a positive attitude toward the various challenges that were encountered,” said Nancy Shirley, PhD, RN, associate dean and professor for the College of Nursing and director of the Institute for Latin American Concern. ”Their support of each other was exemplary and clearly exhibited when the Student Nurse of the Year was announced, and the recipient, Kacia Huddleston, received a standing ovation from her peers.”
Other student award winners were:
- Alexis Carbine, Academic Achievement Award and the Connie Smith Peterson Award, for excellence in public and community health nursing
- Jordan Bevan, Academic Achievement Award
- David Bittner, Service and Spirit Award, for leading the Nursing Student Senate to philanthropic experiences and fun, community-building activities
- Gigi Marino, from the nursing honor society, Sigma Theta Tau and presented to for demonstrating outstanding scholarship and writing
Heather “Hez” Naylor, MSN, FNP, professor of nursing, received the Outstanding Faculty Award for the second year in a row by graduates.
Creighton’s accelerated nursing program began in Phoenix in January 2018, but this was the first cohort to graduate on the new campus, said Nick Orsi, academic programs administrator at the College of Nursing. The cohort 12-month program in August 2020. More than half of the class came from California and Arizona while the remaining represent an additional 13 states from across the country.
Many of the graduates have accepted positions in Arizona and at Dignity Health St. Joseph Hospital and Medical Center.
Accelerated nursing programs are distinctive because students enter with previous degrees in a variety areas, most at the bachelor level, although some have master and PhD degrees. Creighton became the second school in the nation to offer the ABSN program when it began in 1975.
