This week UCF will award more than 350 nursing degrees and graduate certificates, fueling a talent pipeline of much-needed providers, leaders, educators and scientists.
On Saturday at UCF’s Summer 2024 commencement ceremony, more than 300 UCF students will receive a nursing degree or certificate to officially earn the title of Knight nurse.
Graduation celebrations began earlier this week with a professional recognition ceremony, recognizing student achievements and commitment to care for others as Knight nurses.
Among the UCF College of Nursing Summer 2024 graduates, which range from the bachelor’s to the doctoral, are two new cohorts.
At the undergraduate level, UCF will award degrees to its first spring cohort of Traditional BSN program students who will take the national licensing exam and become registered nurses after graduation. Thanks to state funding, UCF was able to add this second annual cohort to increase enrollment and help address the nursing shortage.
At the graduate level, UCF will recognize the first cohort of the interdisciplinary Hispanic Serving Healthcare Professionals graduate certificate program. The unique program equips students to provide culturally congruent care to improve patient outcomes for Hispanic and Latino communities.
New Knight Nurses
The summer Class of 2024 includes many academically talented and high-achieving students, including 24 students who earned University Academic Honors with a GPA of 3.8 of higher.
Two nursing students will graduate from UCF’s Burnett Honors College, Emmy Chinfatt (on left below) and Catherine Johnston (on right below). Johnston also completed an Honors Undergraduate Thesis.
Chinfatt is a member of the inaugural spring start cohort of Traditional BSN students, and Johnston is graduating from the Accelerated Second Degree BSN program for career changers.
Also honored this week at the College of Nursing recognition ceremony are two outstanding undergraduate students who received awards from UCF’s Pegasus Partners.
Alyxa Mulligan (on left below) received the Orlando Health Student Excellence Award and Summer Thornton (on right below) received the AdventHealth Mission of Excellence Award.
New Nursing Research
In addition to Chinfatt, UCF College of Nursing doctoral students are also making valuable contributions to nursing science with independent research and scholarly projects that improve patient care.
One of those students is Kaitlyn Hall ’18BSN, who is graduating from the Family Nurse Practitioner Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program this week.
Hall designed and piloted a first-of-its-kind project to reduce anxiety among breast cancer survivors at Orlando Health. The project, which was a personal one for Hall, shows promise for future use.
“I’ve always known that I wanted to further my education and become a nurse practitioner,” says Hall. “Choosing UCF for my DNP was an obvious choice, as I had a wonderful experience there for my undergraduate nursing degree.”
As fellow Family Nurse Practitioner graduate David Frederick ’20BSN said during his recognition ceremony speech, “At UCF, we are told to reach for the stars,” says Frederick. “As Knight nurses, we do this by reaching out our hands to comfort those in their times of need.”
View all doctoral candidates and their scholarly projects and dissertations here.
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