Students Chosen to Bring Diversity to Nursing

Accepted students in the Bring Diversity to Nursing program.

The Bring Diversity to Nursing program welcomed its first cohort of students at a reception in Weed Hall recently.

Fourteen students have passed the scrutiny of the enrollment committee and gained admittance to the program, which offers an array of support activities, stipends, scholarships and mentoring. Besides consideration of academic record and a written application, the members of the enrollment committee interviewed each applicant.

The students, joined by family and friends, were welcomed to the program by Kay Doyle, interim dean of the School of Health and Environment. All class years are represented in the group – freshman through senior and RN-BS students.

“This is an outstanding group of ethnically and racially diverse nursing students,” says Prof. Karen Devereaux Melillo, chair of the Nursing Department, and principal investigator for the grant. The project has been awarded more than $1 million in funding, from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services and the Mass. Dept. of Public Health.

Joyce McLaughlin, director of financial aid, and Brenda Evans, director of student activities and multicultural affairs, also were acknowledged at the reception for their support and encouragement in assembling this first student cohort.

The freshman students are Joshua Gonzalez, Chovy In, Chau Le and Linh Lu. The sophomores are Mary Mosewick, Isely Naveo and Linh Phan. The juniors are Zanele Danaro, Kimsarim I and Adaobi Onyekwu. Seniors are Samnang Oeur and Ava Richardson, and the RN-BS students are Alex Kinyanjui and Zipporah Ngigi.