UHV School of Nursing to honor graduates at pinning ceremony
The University of Houston-Victoria School of Nursing will honor its graduates at a May 16 pinning ceremony and give them a chance to hear inspirational words from an accomplished nurse leader in the community.
The pinning ceremony, the first for UHV in Victoria, will be from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Howard Johnson Plaza, 2705 E. Houston Hwy. The ceremony will follow UHV’s spring commencement ceremony, which begins at 9 a.m. at the university, 3007 N. Ben Wilson St.
“Becoming a nurse is becoming part of a calling and a way of life,” said Kathryn Tart, founding dean of the UHV School of Nursing. “It’s not just joining a profession.”
The pin signifies the nursing program from which a nurse graduated. Each nursing school has its own unique pin as part of a tradition that can be traced back to when Florence Nightingale placed the Maltese Cross, used by the medical caregivers of the Knights Hospitallers since the Crusades, on the lapels of her nursing school graduates in the late 1800s.
The UHV School of Nursing pin presented to the nurses in the ceremony will stay on their lapels for the rest of their professional careers to let patients know their caregivers are part of a higher order of nurses, Tart said. The pin also serves to remind the nurses of all they went through to reach that honored position in healthcare.
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| Jean Herman |
The graduates will be addressed by Jean Herman, chief quality officer at the DeTar Healthcare System in Victoria. Herman has more than 30 years of advanced nursing experience. She served as chief nursing officer at DeTar Healthcare System for 19 years and as the associate nursing officer for 10 year prior to that.
“With their new knowledge, these nurses will move into leadership roles,” she said. “You can just touch so many more people when you are in leadership because you have nurses under you that you can teach, develop and coach.”
In addition to caring for patients at the bedside, these nurse leaders will be leading other nurses to care for patients, thus magnifying their effect on healthcare.
Herman identified a need for nursing leadership in the area several years ago, which is why she assisted UHV in its efforts to establish the nursing program.
Herman followed a similar path to many of the nurses graduating on May 16.
She earned her associate degree in nursing from The Victoria College in 1977, her bachelor’s degree in applied arts & sciences from UHV in 1985, her bachelor of science in nursing from Texas A&M in 1998, and her master of science in nursing degree from A&M in 2000.
She also sits on the UHV President’s Regional Advisory Board.
The UHV School of Nursing offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing in Victoria and at the UH System at Sugar Land and the UH System at Cinco Ranch. Programs are designed to accommodate the schedules of working nurses.
For more information, visit www.uhv.edu/nursing, or contact student recruitment coordinator Tammy Neeley Whatley at 361-570-4297 or whatleyt@uhv.edu
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 80 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.
