Student Affairs and Alumni News
Division of Student Affairs Update: upcoming events, impressive student and alumni accolades, student support services and wellbeing resources, and alumni updates and accomplishments.
Alumnus of the Year honorees
Dr. Jonathan Wilson and Dr. Alaina Herrington not only have distinguished themselves in the nursing profession, they’ve become leaders who usher nursing students into the future. For their service, they’ve been honored by the Alumni Board of the School of Nursing on the University of Mississippi Medical Center campus.
Herrington, an assistant professor in the School of Nursing and director of the Judith Gore Gearhart Clinical Skills Center, is the 2022 Alumna of the Year. Wilson, the Medical Center’s chief administrative officer, is the 2022 Alumnus of the Year.
In the first time two alums have shared the Alumnus of the Year award, the pair was honored at an awards presentation in May at the Fairview Inn.
The honor, voted on by all SON alumni, is the Alumni Board’s top accolade, said board president Dr. Michael Parnell, chief executive officer of the United Healthcare Community Plan of Mississippi. “Both are known nationally for their contribution to health care and are leading experts in their fields,” he said.
Wilson, appointed chief administrative officer in 2014, is a nationally recognized leader in nursing and health care leadership. The Brandon resident received his bachelor of science in nursing from the School of Nursing in 1999 and his master of science in nursing in 2011. He received his doctor of philosophy in nursing in 2017 from the School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences.
The associate professor of nursing and assistant professor of emergency medicine coordinates administrative services including the Mississippi Center for Emergency Services and Campus Police. Wilson also serves as UMMC’s COVID-19 Incident Manager to coordinate internal emergency management services and support the Mississippi State Department of Health for statewide public health and emergency services.
Herrington is a 2014 graduate of the School of Nursing’s master of science in nursing in the nursing and health care administrator track. She received her bachelor of science in nursing at the University of Southern Mississippi in 2004 and her doctor of nursing practice, health systems and administration, with a concentration in education, in 2020 from Samford University.
In 2021, Herrington was recognized for her work as an Academy in Nursing Education Fellow. She is a Fellow of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH) Academy, a simulation nurse educator consultant for the National League for Nursing (NLN), and has served in multiple professional roles with the NLN, SSH and the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning. She is the past president of the Mississippi Healthcare Simulation Alliance.
DNP candidate selected for MNA Honors
Congratulations to DNP candidate Tara Price for being honored with the 2022 Marcia Rachel Excellence in Leadership Award. The assistant professor received the award from the Mississippi Nurses Association in August. This prestigious honor recognizes an outstanding graduate student in nursing who is also a member of MNA. We are so proud of all you do for the school and our MASN Chapter!
School of Nursing White Coat Ceremony
The history and significance of the White Coat for medical professionals and students carries a rich tradition that is displayed in different customs among a variety of professional organizations and medical education institutions.
UMMC’s School of Nursing’s inaugural White Coat Ceremony will take a look at the history of the white coat and its purpose in the medical field for both practitioners and nursing students. The ceremony signifies the beginning of nursing students’ journey to achieving the goal of clinical caregivers. The ceremony will coincide with the school's Honor Code Ceremony where new BSN students sign their name to the SON's Student Code for Honorable and Professional Behavior.
This year, Student Life will host ceremonies to celebrate our students as they enter into clinical practice. The Traditional BSN Junior Class of 2024, ceremony is scheduled at 1:00 p.m. on September 13, 2022 at the Norman C. Nelson Student Union on the Jackson campus. Our Oxford Accelerated Class of 2023, ceremony is scheduled for October 5, 2022 at 2:00 p.m. at the Paris Yates Chapel on the Oxford campus, and our graduate program's ceremony will be virtual at 6:00 p.m. on September 28, 2022.
Students initiated into Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
Fourteen students from the SON were inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society at the Medical Center. Congratulations to 2021-2022 inductees: Bethany Ball, Avery Billingsley, Mary Burrell, Erin Cook, Tabitha Dahmen-Redd, LaDonna De La Riva, Barbara Herring, Ashley Hitchins, Kaitlyn Johnson, Erin Scruggs, Lauren Shoemaker, Alayia Stebbins, Emilee Tadlock and Amanda Ward. For more information about UMMC's chapter, visit the UMMC Phi Kappa Phi website.
DAISY Student Nurse Awards
Class of 2022 graduate Abigail Grace May was selected as the Traditional BSN recipient of the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Students! She was nominated by her preceptor Karen Hughes of Short Stay Surgery/PACU at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. May was honored at the Traditional BSN Pinning Ceremony at the Jackson Prep Academy's Fortenberry Theatre in Flowood. Kudos to her and all the other nominees including Abbey Climer, Rachel Frazier, Sam Hartnett, Madelynn Rhodes, Emilee Tadlock, and Chloe White.
Jordan Barksdale, Class of 2022 graduate, was selected as the Oxford Accelerated BSN recipient of the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Students! She was nominated by her preceptor Cassidy Homan of 4 North Baptist at North Mississippi Medical Center. Barksdale was honored at the Oxford Accelerated BSN Pinning Ceremony held at the Gertrude Castellow Ford Center for the Performing Arts in Oxford. Kudos to her and all others nominated including Josh Caron, Allie Counts, Savana Oalmann, Alyssa Ortlepp, Codie Robertson, Kathryn Vernon, and Lucy Williams.
Sarah E. Allison Self Care Lab
Have you heard about the Sarah E. Allison Self Care Lab? Located in the Classroom Wing on the third floor, the lab will serve as a place of retreat, reflection, restoration, renewal, resources, and resilience building through lessons, interventions, and activities designed around contemplation and self-compassion. In learning to integrate self-care as a part of professional practice, students will be stronger caregivers and help fulfill the institutional mission of creating a healthier Mississippi.
We hope to open the Self Care Lab in the Fall 2022 semester. Being one of few such labs in the nation, you may wonder what exactly happens in a self-care lab? We are enthusiastically planning to offer weekly activities such as group lecture classes, art therapy, quiet open lab hours, coffee and tea breaks, meditation sessions, yoga, and more. We eagerly await the official opening of the self-care lab and the opportunities it will afford to integrating research into SON curriculum, demonstrating the professional value of the practice of self-care!
Watch for more about the Student Wellbeing Block Party on September 14. For more information, contact kfabian@umc.edu.
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