Pinning ceremonies at Fairfield University’s Austin and Main Campuses honored 68 new graduates of the Accelerated Second Degree Nursing Program.
Nursing Graduates Celebrate Achievements at Multiple Campuses
The ceremonies drew hundreds of close friends and family members who gathered to celebrate their loved ones and mark the completion of nursing degrees at the nationally ranked Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies.
Dean Patricia Simino Boyce, PhD, RN, welcomed attendees and provided opening remarks for the ceremony at the Main Campus. With words both inspiring and true, she praised graduates for the courage, tenacity, and grace with which they met the rigors of an accelerated program.
“Today is more than a ceremony; it is a celebration of your journey,” Dean Boyce said. “Some of you returned to school soon after completing your first degree. Others made bold choices to change course after years in another career. All of you followed the spark that led you here—and today, we honor not only the achievement, but the courage it took to begin and the fortitude required to see it through.”
At the Austin Campus, Program Director Robin Cook, PhD, RN, expressed similar sentiments: “Today, we celebrate you and the effort that you put into your nursing education. That hard work has put the world at your fingertips. Each of you has an amazing future ahead.”
Two days and six states apart, the separate events included a unique lineup of participants and speakers. Anna Cerra, DNP, RN, senior vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer at Greenwich Hospital, addressed graduates at the Main Campus, while Catherine G. Winkler, PhD, MPH, APRN, a former adjunct professor at the Egan School, addressed graduates at the Austin Campus.
The high point of each event was the presentation of the Egan School nursing pins. After Rev. John Savard, S.J.,’78, director of Campus Ministry, and Rev. John P. Mulreany, S.J., superior of the Fairfield Jesuit Community, blessed the nursing pins at the Texas and Connecticut locations, respectively, graduates crossed the stages to receive their symbolic gifts.
The Egan School nursing pin was designed by Fairfield’s first nursing graduates in 1974. The gold pin is inscribed with the words Knowledge, Communication, and Understanding.
Following the ceremonies, Fairfield’s newest alumni celebrated their accomplishments and posed for pictures with their fellow graduates as well as their friends and families.
View photographs from the Pinning Ceremonies at the Austin and Main Campuses.
