University of Houston-Victoria Second Degree Bachelor of Science in Nursing students recite the Florence Nightingale Pledge while holding the lamp of learning at a prior pinning ceremony. The UHV School of Nursing will pin 106 students during its next pinning ceremony Dec. 14.

The University of Houston-Victoria School of Nursing will honor its graduates at a Dec. 14 pinning ceremony where they will hear inspirational words from a state nursing leader.

UHV will pin 49 Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing graduates, 44 Second Degree BSN graduates and 13 Master of Science in Nursing graduates during a 2 p.m. ceremony at the Leonard E. Merrell Center, 6301 S. Stadium Lane in Katy. UHV’s fall commencement will be at 11 a.m. that same day at the Merrell Center.

Kathryn Tart

The pin presented to the nurses during the ceremony will stay on their lapels for the rest of their professional careers to let patients know that well-educated nurses are caring for them. The pin itself signifies the nursing program from which a nurse graduated. Each nursing school has its own unique pin.

“The pinning tradition involves the faculty pinning the new graduate as a way of welcoming them into the profession,” said Kathryn Tart, dean of the UHV School of Nursing. “The pin symbolizes the education process the nurse went through and the profession of nursing. The pin is unique to each nursing program. Our pin was developed by our first class in 2007.”

Marilyn J. Davis, Texas State Board of Nursing member, will be the pinning ceremony speaker. A Sugar Land resident, Davis was appointed in 2007 to the Texas State Board of Nursing and reappointed in May for another six years by Gov. Rick Perry.

The mission of the Texas Board of Nursing is to protect and promote the welfare of Texas residents by ensuring more than 285,000 individuals with state nursing licenses are competent and practice safely. The board fulfills its mission through the regulation of the practice of nursing and the approval of 181 schools of nursing.

Marilyn Davis

Davis has more than three decades of professional nursing experience in positions of leadership, management, training and financial management. She has held memberships in the Texas Nurses Association, American Nurses Association, National League for Nursing and the Texas Organization of Nurse Executives. She is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and Nursing Corp. She has worked as a university adjunct professor, clinical director and nurse manager. She is a charter member of UHV’s Phi Chi chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International, the nursing honor society.

Davis holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Texas Woman’s University and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Oklahoma.

“We are thrilled Ms. Davis could join us for this special occasion,” Tart said. “She has worked diligently to improve nursing care in Texas. I’m sure our new graduates will enjoy hearing from her.”

For more information about UHV nursing programs, visit www.uhv.edu/nursing or call toll free at 877-970-4848, ext. 4370.