NYU Meyers Announces its Graduation Ceremony for 2017

Barbara Nichols DNSc (hon) MS, RN, FAAN to deliver the Keynote Speech

New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing (NYU Meyers) is pleased to announce its 2017 Graduation Ceremony will take place on Monday, May 22, 2017, 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM, at the New York City Center, 131 West 55th Street, NYC.  

Barbara Nichols DNSc (hon) MS, RN, FAAN will deliver the keynote graduation address.  Eileen Sullivan-Marx, PhD, RN, FAAN, Dean and Erline Perkins McGriff Professor of the College, will present Dr. Nicholas with the Helen Manzer Award in recognition of exemplary nursing leadership as a major policy leader, a diversity champion, and a proud nurse.

“We are honored to have Barbara Nichols as our graduation speaker,” said Dean Sullivan-Marx.  “Dr. Nicholas, throughout her career, was a solid champion for the need to value diversity in all of its forms and a leading advocate for ethnic minority inclusion in all aspects of the health professions. We are delighted to welcome Dr. Nicholas to join us as we celebrate the NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing Class of 2017.”

NYU Meyers will be granting a total of 647 degrees/certificates to the Class of 2017: 429 Baccalaureate Degrees; 194 Master’s Degrees; five (5) Advanced Certificates; nine (9) Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degrees; and ten (10) Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Nursing Research and Theory Development Degrees.

About Barbara Lauraine Nichols

Barbara Nichols DNSc (hon) MS, RN, FAAN, presently serves as a national Diversity Consultant to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation national implementation of the Institute of Medicine Report: “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health.”

Her professional career spans four decades in leadership and policy-making positions in professional associations and related health organizations. She is the former Chief Executive Officer, of CGFNS International, whose expertise is in credential evaluation, scope of practice standards and licensure of nurses and health professionals globally.

She has been a consultant on credentials assessment and diversity to the Office of Minority Health, and the US Departments of Labor, State and the Department of Homeland Security. She was the first African American nurse in 100 years to be President of the American Nurses Association and the Wisconsin Nurses Association respectively. She currently serves as the Diversity Coordinator for the Wisconsin Center for Nursing. She is also a Visiting Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, College of Nursing

Ms. Nichols is the recipient of five Honorary Doctoral degrees and numerous awards for her pioneering work and sustained contributions to the delivery of health care in urban and rural settings.  Most recently, she was the 2015 recipient of the City of Madison, Wisconsin’s The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award for her social justice advocacy.

She holds a Baccalaureate in Nursing from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, a Master of Science in Behavioral Disabilities, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is married and the mother of identical twin sons, one daughter, and ten grandchildren.