All 336 College of Nursing undergraduate students attended the inaugural BSN Convocation during the first week of the fall semester. During this two-hour event, students were brought together as an orientation and welcome to the semester, to learn about the newly transformed curriculum and opportunities within the College of Nursing, and to hear from industry and faculty leadership.

The convocation’s keynote speaker was Beverly Malone, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, chief executive officer of the National League for Nursing, or NLN, who gave an inspirational speech on “Stepping Into Greatness.” She shared the four core values of the NLN (caring, integrity, diversity and inclusion, and
excellence) and used the College of Nursing’s motto — Care, Lead, Inspire — to encourage students as they progress through their nursing careers.

“If you don’t care for yourself, you can’t care for others; if you don’t inspire yourself, you can’t bring inspiration to others; if you don’t understand leadership, you may not know that you can lead from the front and lead from the back,” she said.

Students also had the opportunity to hear from organizational nursing leaders and faculty leaders on two panels. UF Health Jacksonville Chief Nursing Officer Patrice Jones, Associate Vice President of Nursing and Patient Services at UF Health Shands Duke Lim and Associate Director for Patient Care Services of the North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System Peggy Givens spoke on “Navigating a Career in Nursing.” Faculty members Miriam Ezenwa, Ph.D., Leslie Parker, Ph.D, ARNP, FAAN, and Michael Bumbach, Ph.D., ARNP, shared their personal stories on becoming successful nurse leaders.