Columbia Nursing Congratulates the Class of 2014
Columbia Nursing’s 2014 commencement ceremony took place on Tuesday, May 20, at 10 a.m. in The Armory on Fort Washington Avenue in New York City. The graduating class included recipients of 169 BS degrees and 202 MS degrees, as well as 15 DNP and 6 PhD degrees.
As many of our graduates enter the workforce as advanced practice nurses, they face unprecedented opportunities to assume leadership roles in research, clinical practice, and health policy, said Columbia Nursing Dean Bobbie Berkowitz, PhD, RN, FAAN. “There’s no better time to be a nurse,” Berkowitz said. "Your time at Columbia has prepared you with the knowledge and experience to take full advantage of the enormous potential for you to make a real difference for the better in the lives of patients, families and communities."
Commencement speaker John (Jack) Rowe, MD, professor of health policy and management at Mailman School of Public Health, urged nursing graduates to be team players and active participants in improving the health care system. “Nurses need to act as full partners with other health care professionals – they need to influence major decisions working collaboratively with the other health professionals, and they need to develop the skills necessary to take on positions of leadership,” Rowe said.
Student speaker Sigrid Gabler, a graduate of the adult-gerontology primary care nurse practitioner program, traced her decision to become a nurse to a moment 21 years ago when a coordinated team of nurses, midwives, and physicians brought her and her newborn daughter back from the brink of death. “Our profession provides endless opportunities for personal growth, exploration, healing, empowerment, teaching, leadership, research, partnership, and advocacy,” Gabler said to her fellow graduates, urging them to use their degrees to make a difference in the world.
Our past graduates have gone on to assume leadership roles in every aspect of health care with jobs running the gamut from directing global health projects to assuming senior hospital leadership roles, and from transforming care in community clinics to shaping the future of cutting edge research. The class of 2014 is prepared to rise to the same heights.
Alumna speaker Martha Cohn Romney JD, MPH, MS, RN, a 1981 graduate of the school’s pediatric nurse practitioner program, delivered a congratulatory message on behalf of Columbia Nursing’s Alumni Association.
Click through to read a special graduation post from our student blog The Huddle about a graduating BS student’s chance encounter with a former patient that reveals the depth of his role as a Columbia nurse.