This week UCF will award more than 4,900 degrees during its summer ceremonies, including more than 330 degrees for the in-demand field of nursing.
At Saturday’s Summer 2026 commencement ceremony, UCF will award more than 330 nursing degrees from the bachelor’s to the doctorate to fuel a highly skilled workforce to meet both state and national demand.
From newly licensed eligible registered nurses (RNs) to nurse practitioners and more, the new Knight nurses are graduating ready to lead healthcare into the future and prepared to care for their community – and most of those communities are in Florida.
A majority of UCF’s nursing graduates – 85% – live and work in the Sunshine State, directly addressing the state’s critical shortage.
Caring for Central Florida
One of UCF’s Summer 2026 graduates staying in Central Florida is Jeredy Wood.
After graduation, Wood will work in triage and labor and delivery at Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies where she has been working as a senior student nurse extern. The position achieves her goal of working in women’s health and leverages her passion for trauma nursing.
Wood credits UCF’s strong community partnerships, Orlando Health is a Pegasus Partner, and faculty support to her success.
“UCF has made me feel incredibly well prepared. My clinical opportunities and experiences were so well rounded, in a variety of hospitals and units, and my professors have been amazing,” says Wood. “Their knowledge and passion are truly inspiring.”
Wood is graduating Summa Cum Laude — one of 47 undergraduate nursing students earning university academic honors in Summer 2026.
Along with her peers in the traditional BSN program and the career changers in the accelerated second degree BSN program, Wood is eligible to sit for the national licensure exam to become a registered nurse after graduation. UCF graduates consistently surpass both state and national averages for first-time pass rates on the NCLEX-RN licensing exam.
Also graduating in Summer 2026 with a bachelor’s degree in nursing are registered nurses who completed UCF’s online RN to BSN program and students in the concurrent associate to bachelor’s degree through UCF DirectConnect.
Solving Healthcare’s Challenges
Two UCF nurse practitioner graduates will also be staying in Central Florida and will provide care for some of our nation’s veterans.
Mimi Alliance ’22 and Melissa Fajardo ’11 ’23, who are both graduating from UCF’s family nurse practitioner DNP program, are among three recent UCF graduates who were selected for the highly competitive postgraduate primary care nurse practitioner residency program at the Orlando Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
The two are among 47 doctoral students who completed scholarly projects to improve quality of care and patient outcomes.
“The research, and the experience gained in leading a quality improvement initiative through UCF’s doctoral program, set me apart in the VA’s very competitive program,” says Fajardo, whose project implemented a risk stratification tool to reduce inpatient readmission for cancer patients following chemotherapy.
Alliance led an interdisciplinary project providing a hearing screening for older adults in Central Florida based in UCF’s Mobile Health Clinic.
“Working alongside faculty, providers, audiologists, students, and community partners taught me how collaboration can improve preventive care,” she says.
UCF’s Summer 2026 doctoral graduates also include new nurse practitioners in primary and acute care as well as nurse executives and advanced practice nurses.
View the graduation celebration program to learn more about the Summer Class of 2026.
Article by Julie Harper ’01
Photos by Melanie Cedeño-Lopez ’23
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