Family and friends of 17 Vanderbilt University School of Nursing (VUSN) students gathered in Benton Chapel Dec. 9, 2016 for pinning ceremonies. Among those receiving the nursing pin were two Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioners (AGPCNP) and nine Nurse-Midwifery Nurse Practitioners (NMW). In addition, six Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) graduates received pin guards signifying their doctoral accomplishment.
VUSN holds pinning ceremonies three times a year. Large ceremonies are held in May and June, when most nursing students finish their degrees. The Nurse-Midwifery program, however, ends in December, so students are pinned then.
Mavis Schorn, Ph.D., CNM, senior associate dean for Academics for VUSN, welcomed students and guests and gave a brief history on the significance of pinning for nurses. NMW Program Director Michelle Collins, Ph.D., CNM, and AGPCNP faculty member Abby Luck Parish, DNP, pinned each individual MSN graduate, while Terri Allison, DNP, ACNP-BC, director of the DNP program, presented the VUSN pin guards to the DNP recipients.
As part of the ceremonies, Collins presented the NMW Outstanding Student Award to Jennifer Neczypor. She was honored in recognition of accomplishments that included volunteering as a translator for the Shade Tree Early Pregnancy Program, acting as a volunteer doula in the university doula program and chairing the Vanderbilt Institute of Global Health’s Global Health Case Competition. Neczypor is also the holder of the school’s PASS It On Scholarship.
Associate Professor Sharon Holley, DNP, CNM, was honored with the student-voted Sara K. Archer Faculty Award for outstanding contributions to student learning in the Nurse-Midwifery specialty.
