First Pinning Ceremony for College of Nursing at UTB
The College of Nursing will have their first Pinning Ceremony Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Arts Center for graduates of the Associate Degree in Nursing Program. Sixty-three students will receive pins and are candidates for graduation for an associate degree in nursing at Spring Commencement on Saturday.
The Pinning Ceremony is a traditional welcome to new nurses to the profession. The ceremony calls for students to wear all-white nursing uniforms, receive pins signifying their academic work at the university and recite the Florence Nightingale Pledge to dedicate themselves to nursing work. The ADN Program has held a ceremony since the mid 1970s. There is always a large attendance of family and friends at the ceremony.
The keynote speaker will be Maria deFord, currently an assistant district attorney in Cameron County. The students invited her to be the speaker. She is an attorney and has a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from the University of Maryland at Baltimore School of Nursing. She also served as a Nurse Corps Officer in the U.S. Army from 1996-2000.
Dr. Katherine B. Dougherty, chair of the College of Nursing’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program and an associate professor describes the pinning ceremony as a very emotional experience as students have gone through the program for two years and it is very challenging.
Last November, the University Of Texas System Board of Regents approved the creation of a College of Nursing for UTB.
