MAGAZINE
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Commemorative Edition Five Decades of Nursing Excellence
CONTENTS 3 INSIGHT President Prisco discusses the critical need for nurses 4 IN THE NEWS University news and faculty briefs 8 PREPARED AND PROUD Dean Margaret Harkins
10 FEATURE PROFILES
Holy Family Nursing: Profiles of nursing excellence
26 NURSING TIMELINE 38 ADVANCING HOLY FAMILY UNIVERSITY Community support of our mission 42 ATHLETICS Accolades and a new addition 47 NURSING BY THE NUMBERS 48 CLASS NOTES Alumni news and remembrances 52 FINAL EXAM Test your nursing knowledge
PINNED WITH PRIDE Look at the lapel of any nursing student and you’ll see a source of pride. The pinning ceremony, a symbolic welcoming of newly graduated or soon-to-be graduated nurses into the nursing profession, is a cherished ritual and a rite of passage. Annually, nurses are presented with distinctive pins which symbolize the educational traditions of the schools they have attended and are often dedicated to a person who has made a significant impact on their lives. For the nurse, the pin celebrates the completion of a rigorous and physically challenging program of study. H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 1
Celebrating 50 years of Holy family University nUrsing SAVE THE DATE! Decades of Excellence: 50th Anniversary Celebration Gala Wednesday, March 20 Union League at Torresdale, 6 p.m. Proceeds from the event benefit the Nursing Excellence Fund.
COMPLETE THE NURSING ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT FORM
FOR MORE INFORMATION Helene Baczkowski AVP Advancement hbaczkowski@holyfamily.edu 267-341-3100.
MAGAZINE
HOLY FAMILY UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED BIANNUALLY BY: Holy Family Marketing & Communications EDITOR Jan Giel ART DIRECTOR Sarah Merrill DESIGN Glenna Stocks, Stocks Creative
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR MAY BE SENT TO: Editor, Holy Family University Magazine, Marketing & Communications, Marian Hall, 9801 Frankford Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19114 or via email to: magazine@holyfamily.edu CLASS NOTES AND CHANGES OF ADDRESS MAY BE SENT TO: University Advancement, Holy Family University, Marian Hall, 9801 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19114 or via email to: alumni@holyfamily.edu FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
CONTRIBUTORS Zachary Durham, Sarah Merrill, Zachary Nolter, Julie Rempfer ‘10
HolyFamilyUniversity
ADMINISTRATION Anne Prisco, Ph.D., President Sherrie A. Madia, Ph.D., Vice President, Marketing & Communications Wendy K. Parsons, CFRE, Vice President for University Advancement
HolyFamilyUniversity
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HolyFamilyU
HolyFamilyU Holy Family University is a sponsored ministry of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth.
INSIGHT Dear Holy Family University Alumni, I am thrilled to address you as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Holy Family University’s School of Nursing. This milestone is a testament to our unwavering commitment to excellence in nursing education and the profound impact our graduates have had on healthcare in the Philadelphia region and beyond. Recent mainstream media coverage has shed light on the critical state of nursing in our nation. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the tireless dedication of nurses, as well as the acute shortage they faced. Headlines have illuminated the challenges, sacrifices, and heroism of these healthcare professionals. As we reflect on these stories—and as you read about our amazing nursing alumni—it becomes abundantly clear that the world needs more Holy Family University nurses now more than ever. And as you read about Dean Harkins and our nursing faculty, and their tremendous knowledge of the nursing profession, it’s easy to see why our students embark on their careers so well-prepared. According to a recent report in The New York Times (Smith, 2023), the nursing shortage in the United States has reached alarming levels, with the demand for nurses outstripping the supply. In the Philadelphia region, a study published in the Journal of Nursing Management (Jones et al., 2022) highlights the ongoing challenges in recruiting and retaining nursing professionals. Projections indicate that this shortage will persist for years to come (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2021). Our responsibility is clear: We must educate and empower the next generation of nurses to bridge this gap and provide the compassionate, high-quality care our communities deserve. At Holy Family University, our School of Nursing has been addressing this need for five decades. Our nursing program has not only stood the test of time but has consistently evolved to meet the changing demands of healthcare. Our alumni serve as living proof of our commitment to excellence, making a difference in patients’ lives every day. As we celebrate this historic milestone, let us also look forward with hope and determination. Holy Family University’s School of Nursing has a sound foundation from which to build the next 50 years of nursing excellence. We will continue to adapt, innovate, and equip our students with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in the everevolving healthcare landscape—from certificates, to BSNs, MSNs, and doctoral degrees. Whether you are one of our 6,000-plus Nursing alumni – or part of our 23,000 alumni— chances are you know a Holy Family University nurse or have encountered the wonderful care of our nursing alumni for yourself or your families. Nursing alumni are a group that all of us must rally around as their role in society is simply irreplaceable. Thank you for your unwavering support and dedication to Holy Family University’s School of Nursing. Together, we will shape the future of nursing and make a profound impact on the health and well-being of our communities.
“
Our nursing program has not only stood the test of time but has consistently evolved to meet the changing demands of healthcare. Our alumni serve as living proof of our commitment to excellence, making a difference in patients’ lives every day.”
Onward & upward together in faith & family, Anne Prisco, Ph.D. President
REFERENCES Smith, J. (2023, March 15). Nursing Shortage Reaches Alarming Levels: A Call to Action. The New York Times. Jones, A. B., et al. (2022). Challenges in Recruiting and Retaining Nursing Professionals in the Philadelphia Region: A Study in Journal of Nursing Management, 28(4), 573-581. American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2021). Nursing Shortage Fact Sheet.
H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 3
IN THE NEWS
Holy Family University Welcomes Saxbys Cafe to Campus During August 28 Ribbon Cutting ABOVE: Holy Family University President Dr. Anne Prisco joined Nick Bayer, Founder & CEO of Saxbys, for the grand opening of the newest location of Saxbys at the Northeast Philadelphia campus.
With fanfare – and flavor! – Holy Family University
RIGHT: Inaugural Student
Learning Platform (the Saxbys E.L.P.) where students
Cafe Executive Officer senior management and marketing major Beth Montgomery ’24 and members of the cheer team.
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President Dr. Anne Prisco joined Nick Bayer, founder & CEO of Saxbys, and the University’s inaugural Student Cafe Executive Officer (SCEO) senior management and marketing major Beth Montgomery in the cutting of the ribbon to open the newest location of Saxbys at the Northeast Philadelphia campus. The new cafe is part of the Saxbys Experiential exclusively run the daily operation. Guests at the event were treated to samples of the Cold Brew Collection and grilled cheese sandwiches as part of the
brings to our campus. We are thrilled to have Saxbys
festivities.
as a partner. What a wonderful way for our students
“We began thinking almost two years ago
to gain some experience and income, while also
about what a Saxbys would mean for Holy Family
being able to stay on campus. We were reminded that
University,” University President Dr. Anne Prisco
Saxbys does not call our students customers, they call
said. “Since we are so focused on experiential
them guests. It’s the same reflection that we have as a
learning, we recognize the dynamism that Saxbys
university. They are our students and our guests.”
IN THE NEWS
Holy Family University Appoints Inaugural Executive Director for Global Initiative Holy Family University has appointed His Royal Highness Prince Adnan El-Hashemite as the University’s inaugural Executive Director for Global Initiatives. In his role, Prince Adnan will oversee the University’s Global Initiatives & International Programs and the United Nations’ NGO status. In addition, he
LEFT: His Royal
will launch a four-course program for students in
Highness Prince Adnan El-Hashemite
global studies, among other priorities.
Holy Family University Awarded Aim & Attain Near Completer Grant Grant will assist former students in obtaining degrees Holy Family University will
credentials, obtain appro-
partner with the Bucks Coun-
priate training, immediately
ty Workforce Development
enter the job market, and earn
Board in support of a $1.3
a living wage in high-priority
million Aim & Attain Near
occupations.
Completer Grant that will
“Holy Family University is
benefit former Holy Family
thrilled to enter into this part-
University and other Pennsyl-
nership with the Bucks County
vania undergraduate stu-
Department of Workforce
dents who were near degree
and Economic Development
completion, but withdrew
as a tangible and timely way
from the University prior to obtaining their diplomas
to bring our would-be graduates to the finish line,”
or certificates.
said Holy Family University President Anne Prisco.
The grant was secured through the Bucks County
“The Aim & Attain grant provides an opportunity for
Department of Workforce and Economic Develop-
students to redefine and reimagine their future by
ment (WED). The monies were awarded from the
attaining assistance and earning a sought-after Holy
Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I).
Family University degree and the benefits that this
The program goal is for eligible students to earn
degree brings with it.” H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 5
IN THE NEWS
Hail to the Chief Holy Family University President Anne Prisco, Ph.D. had the honor of being part of a small contingent to welcome President Biden during his July visit to Philadelphia. Their brief introduction was engaging, and Dr. Prisco had the opportunity to share some insights on Holy Family. We can all take pride that the President eagerly donned an HFU Athletics baseball cap (Go Tigers!).
Holy Family University Welcomes Record-High Resident Students During Move-In Weekend Holy Family University rolled out the welcome mat for a record number of resident students during move-in weekend August 24-25. For the first time in University history, every bed is accounted for across all residence halls. And this means an exciting new schedule of student engagement activities for resident and non-resident students – from club sports, to leadership activities on and off campus, to meaningful service projects and opportunities for students to form lifelong relationships with one another. The University, rated the Safest Campus in Philadelphia for 2023, also celebrated the largest enrollment of first-year and transfer students in history.
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IN THE NEWS
FACULTY NOTES Patrick Casey, Ph.D.,
J. Barry Dickinson,
Helen Hoffner, Ed.D.,
make recommendations
The School of
co-author of “Position-
Ph.D., author of “The
School of Education
about competencies that
Education welcomed
ality and Its Problems:
Effects of the COVID-19
professor, is serving on
may need revision to
Carol Braunsar ‘04,
Questioning the Value of
Pandemic on Do-It-
the Pennsylvania De-
meet the current needs
M ‘08, D ‘16, Ed.D. and
Reflexivity Statements in
Yourself (DIY) Behav-
partment of Education
and requirements for the
David Wright, Ph.D. to
Research”, had his work
ior” had his manuscript
Advisory Committee to
Reading Specialist PK-12
our faculty. Dr. Braun-
quoted in an article on the
accepted for publication
review and update the
certification.
sar’s area of interest
politicization of race and
in the Journal of Behav-
Reading Specialist PK-12
gender in the Philadelphia
ioral Studies in Business.
Preparation Program
Jill Swirsky, Ph.D.,
and English language
Inquirer. The work was
and expertise is reading
Framework Guide-
editor of a psychology-
arts. Dr. Wright brings a
also cited in a Chronicle of
Don Goeltz, Ph.D. and his
lines. These guidelines
focused pop culture blog,
wealth of experience and
Higher Education piece on
Philly Venture Hub were
apply to all Pennsylva-
had her article “Why We
expertise in educational
ideological signaling and
featured in a case study by
nia-approved educator
Can’t Help But Love Pop
leadership.
in an article on the perils
EcoMap Technologies.
preparation programs
Culture Jerks” published
of politicizing science,
that lead to the Reading
by ReportWire.
featuring two Nobel Lau-
Specialist PK-12 certifi-
reates among the authors.
cate. The committee will
Dr. Luanne Amato’s chapter “Quality Matters as the Gold Standard for Accessibility, Diversity, and Inclusion in Online Learning” has been published in the edited reference book: Handbook of Research on Innovative Frameworks and Inclusive Models for Online Learning Publisher: IGI Global Publishers in June 2023 Dr. Luanne Amato and Dr. Christine Schoettle were awarded a mini- grant for research project “Using AI Tools: Best Practices in Higher Education for Faculty and Students.”
ADVANCE YOUR BUSINESS CAREER EARN YOUR MBA
LEARN MORE
holyfamily.edu/business H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 7
50 YE A RS O F NU RS IN G EXC EL LEN C E
Prepared and Proud Margaret Harkins, Dean of the School of Nursing & Health Sciences
M
argaret Harkins, DNP, MBE, MSN, GNP-BC, RN-BC, dean of the Holy Family University School of Nursing & Health Sciences can spot a nurse from a mile away. Call it her super power, one that has served her well over the past eight years during the unprecedented growth in the program.
“If I am in front of a lineup and have a chance to talk to the people, I can pick out the nurses instantly,”
Harkins said. “They are just very different, and their way about going forward in day-to-day life is very different than the average person. Nurses are a very unique group of individuals.” Perhaps because nurses can go from the excitement of the birth of baby to experiencing end-of-life care. “The typical lay person will never be exposed to these kinds of situations unless they have a personal family issue,” she said. “We do it on a daily basis. Our practice requires us to not only go in and grieve with a family, but then walk out of that room and prepare for another patient, who is experiencing something completely different. It takes a special individual to commit to this vocation. We can be known as a tough group, but inside, we have the compassion and the wherewithal to see that people really do need help.” At the age of 25, her son required tremendous care after being born with a brain bleed, Harkins was the one in need of help. It was through this challenge that she discovered what would become her life’s work.
“
Our students need to know that the nursing profession has a long-standing commitment to healing and helping and putting your hand out when someone is on the ground and at their worst.
“In the first year of his life, we were at doctors constantly,” Harkins said. “I didn’t know what they were talking about. I needed to figure out how to understand the language. I saw the nurses who were taking care of my son and I thought, ‘This is amazing what they are doing’.” Harkins launched a seven-year quest, while working as a secretary, in pursuit of an associates degree. The path sent her to Temple University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Chatham University, rising through the ranks as a geriatric nurse practitioner. After teaching nursing at Drexel University for 12 years (2003-15), she arrived at Holy Family University as an adjunct professor and began the ascent to full-time faculty member and program coordinator to assistant dean, associate dean, then dean. “Being a dean provides me with an opportunity to purposely look at what we offer and to make changes that need to be made at the curriculum level,” she said. “I consider myself lucky to be in this position as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the School of Nursing, and it does not surprise me at all that our alumni are as successful as they are. When I arrived, the University had a traditional program and one cohort
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of an accelerated program. Through the very hard work of the leadership team, along with the faculty and staff, we now offer a nurse practitioner program, a doctoral program, a master’s program online, and a part-time evening and weekend program.” Under Harkins’ leadership, the University recently introduced an online distance learning program that mirrors the in-person 14-month accelerated program that is offered at the school’s Newtown campus. After just one cohort, the program has reached 10 states. “It’s just amazing that our name is out there,” Harkins said. “I was attracted to Holy Family University because it was a faithbased institution with a mission and values that are exactly what nurses have. Those values — including integrity and respect — run through our veins as nurses. That’s who we are.” It is because of the Holy Family University reputation that Harkins has worked so hard to capitalize on her ability to make change. “The product that we put out into society has to be stellar,” she said. “As a nurse, you need to know what you are doing. We need to grow nurses who have their heads on straight, who are able to handle so many emotional things, who can deal with anxiety and tension and also the physical challenges of the job. Our students need to know that the nursing profession has a long-standing commitment to healing and helping and putting your hand out when someone is on the ground and at their worst.” Because she has been at it for so long, Harkins can now use her years of experience to spot those who have the potential to become difference-makers in a world that faces a critical nursing shortage in a changing landscape that will be sending more
Dean of the School of Nursing & Health Sciences Margaret Harkins, DNP, MBE,MSN,GNP-BC,RN-BC
nurses into the home. “I tell our students to get through school and get their RN licenses,” Harkins said.” There are thousands of opportunities out there for them to positively impact the healthcare system if they tough it out. Yes, it is challenging, and nurses are a tough breed. The profession is proud of that. I am proud of that.” Harkins is here to ensure that the next generation of Holy Family University nurses will be, too.
H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 9
50 YE A RS O F NU RS IN G EXC EL LEN C E
1970s Forming Connections and Breaking Down Barriers
Jane McCausland Kurz '74, BSN, MSN, PH.D.
O
nce a week from early December
“I approached the CRC with the concept of
through early April in Lewes, DE, you
opening a clinic because it was a way to channel my
can find Jane McCausland Kurz,
energies to those in need and to do my part to get
’74, BSN, MSN, Ph.D. voluntarily
the word out there. The problems are big. We need
providing health assessments and tending to the aches, pains and injuries of the homeless population
Kurz long had a concern for the unhoused and
at a Day Clinic run through the Community Resource
had been cooking meals and hosting clothing
Center (CRC). After 49 years as a nurse, professor
drives over the years, but following her retirement
and administrator, including stints as an intensive
from full-time nursing in the summer of 2022, she
care staff nurse in Philadelphia and Wilmington,
knew there was another way to put her experience
DE., teaching roles at her alma mater (1982-86),
and empathy to work.
as well as at Temple and LaSalle universities and
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to address them.”
“With the homeless, everyone is focused on
administrative leadership roles at both institutions,
housing and food and clothing, but people are
it is her current outreach that is among her most
not paying attention to health,” she said. “If you
meaningful work—a labor of love launched by the
don’t have housing, you don’t have health. The
tragic passing of her son, Freddie, on June 21, 2022.
CRC offers this population many services – the
“The loss of my youngest son at age 37 to
ability to shower in a safe environment, access
fentanyl poisoning was devastating,” Kurz said.
to a washer and dryer to freshen their clothes
and of course food and shelter from 7:30 a.m.
Kurz said, “and I would say ‘Oh, we’re from the
to 4:30 p.m. - but then they are forced back into
same family!” I’d say, ‘This is so cool,’ and they
the streets at the end of the day. They don’t
probably thought I was crazy. But I do feel a
want to go to the emergency room, because that
connection with people from Holy Family. We
might require an explanation to the police. They
have a common background. We were taught to be
can’t say they are living in a tent because this is
responsible – responsible for self, responsible for
considered trespassing and is illegal. They may
others, responsible for our community, and when
have Medicaid, but no other insurance, and many
you get bigger, in graduate programs, responsible
health professionals won’t honor Medicaid. Many
for the world.”
of the homeless are actually working, but they
That’s no small challenge, but it is one that Jane
don’t make enough to cover rent. I said to myself,
Kurz and all the nurses that she has taught and
‘Let me do my part to help them remain healthy so
supervised, mentored and befriended from Northeast
they can move forward’.”
Philadelphia to the Ukraine, where she once traveled
Kurz brings bandages, compression stockings and compassion. She puts up posters, hands out slips of paper with the names of area
for a teaching assignment, are up for. “It does not matter where you go,” she said. “The universal trait of nurses is that they
physicians and clinics that will see
are caring individuals. They have a high
them. She forms connections and
level of intelligence and are a very
breaks down barriers.
generous group.”
“It might take weeks until they
And so, Kurz continues
actually come back and talk to me,
to generously give of herself
but they eventually will,” she said.
and from her incredible vault
“I see that as a win-win. I wish to
of experience and expertise,
be accepted, but all I can do is be
continuing to engage graduate-
present until they are open to me and my potential services.” Kurz was first introduced to this sense of service, she says, at Holy Family University,
"I love working with students. I love teaching. If you have the knowledge and the passion, you should be sharing it."
level students synchronously through part-time teaching in the evening from her home. “You need to find your purpose in life,” Kurz
where she enrolled after tending to her mother
said. “I don’t think I’m quite done yet. I love
– changing dressings and dispensing medication –
working with students. I love teaching. If you
while she battled breast cancer during Kurz’s early
have the knowledge and the passion, you
teenage years. When she returned to Holy Family
should be sharing it.”
as a professor, she assumed the role of instilling that same sense of responsibility in her students. “Holy Family is where I tested out my teaching strategies,” she said. “I tried. I failed, I re-tried and created new networks. I worked with some great colleagues – both nursing and non-nursing. It was an exciting time. When I taught at Temple and LaSalle, every time I had a Holy Family University graduate in my class, I would just get excited,”
1970s H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 11
1970s 50 YE A RS O F NU RS IN G EXC EL LEN C E
Deep Roots and Making a Difference
A
mighty oak comes to mind when
She lived to be 89 years old. “It was so important to
envisioning the family tree of Mary
her that I pursue a baccalaureate in nursing, when
Beth Edger ’78 BSN, DNP, MSN,
I showed an early interest in the field. She was wise
NHA, RN, NEA-BC, the current
enough to recognize the importance of education.”
senior vice president for patient care services and
“I enrolled at Holy Family University and I
chief nursing officer at Thomas Jefferson University
loved it,” Edger said. “My two sisters – Suzanne
Hospitals, Inc. In fact, the traits of longevity,
McCartney and Meg Donohoe – followed me to the
strength, stability and endurance, that
Holy Family School of Nursing, and they loved it.
have long been symbolized by the oak,
When my daughter, Mary Elizabeth Berenbaum,
apply perfectly to Edger and her family
graduated from Penn State and decided that she
of health care professionals, both by
didn’t want to be a lawyer, which was her original
birth and by professional choice. The
path, I pushed her to enroll in Holy Family’s
roots of that majestic Edger family
accelerated BSN program, and she loved it. It was
tree run deep in nursing and at Holy
easy for me to be the sales person for Holy Family. I
Family. Credit family matriarch
liked that the numbers were a bit smaller and that
Jean Donohoe Tribi for providing
you received a more personalized education plan.”
the strength and the example. “My mother was my advisor and my mentor for my entire life,” said
and a handful of certifications. She finds
Edger of Jean, the mother of seven
tremendous gratification as a leader in seeing her
and a labor and delivery nurse for almost 40 years who was present at most of the births
colleagues reach career milestones that they thought were unattainable. “I’m always pushing education and encouraging
of her 16 grandchildren,
people, including my daughter, to advance their
including at the birth of
degrees,” said Edger, whose mother-in-law, sister-
Mary Beth’s three children.
in-law and two nieces also made their marks in the
Mary Beth Edger '78 BSN, DNP, MSN, NHA, RN, NEA-BC
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Edger, a self-described “continuous learner,” went on to earn two master’s degrees, a doctorate
profession. “It just provides more opportunity for
therapist, everybody. We worked together as
you. It improves your leadership skills. I was always
a team. We were driven, and we didn’t give up.
motivated to do that, and I always had my immediate
The biggest thing is that each day, as a nurse, we
family, and especially my husband, encouraging and
make a difference in somebody’s life.”
supporting me. I tell the people that I am mentoring
Edger has now turned her attention to the next
to just take it a day at time, and I tell them that they
challenges, which will be designing future patient
can do it. It’s very gratifying to see your team grow
care models and finding innovative ways to address
and develop.”
critical nursing shortages.
Edger finds plenty of other moments for
“It’s tough to be a leader these days,” she said.
gratification in her current role where she oversees
“It’s really scary to think in the next several years
three Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
we expect to see less and less acute care in hospital
campuses. Ultimately, the goal is to improve the
nursing. We are not there yet. A lot of nurses,
experience and the outcome for the patient.
because of the burnout, because of the death and
“I try to make a difference
critical illness that they saw
every day,” she said. “Each day,
through the pandemic, have
I have a plan, but that often
left the bedside. The world has
changes because you need to
changed, but the pandemic
prioritize. When I first took
wasn’t just a lost cause. It
this role, the pandemic was just
actually gave us an opportunity
starting. My entire team and I
to do things differently and to
were there day in and day out, fit
do them better. It gave us time-
testing, rearranging schedules,
saving measures and the growth
taking nurses that were in
of telemedicine and the virtual
other areas and trying to help
nurse. At Jefferson, we have
them be a part of an ICU team, because so many
created a role called the Nurse Emeritus, where
patients were in critical care. We had to change our
we are calling on retired nurses to help us out with
orientation onboarding and learning to virtual. We
projects, with mentoring new staff. They still have
lived through a lot together. We learned a lot. After
experience and expertise, and we can’t afford to
that, we all experienced the great resignation. We
lose that.”
lost people in all kinds of roles, including people in
Because those people - like Mary Beth Edger,
industry who would bring our products and supplies.
her mother, and the long line of nurses
When we had shortages, we improvised and we
in her family - are deep-rooted in the
substituted and somehow we all got through.”
profession and have learned how to
That time, Edger admits, was the toughest time in her storied career. “I learned that I was resilient,” she said.
be strong in the face of adversity, how to stand their ground and how to weather the
“I learned that I still have that drive to keep going.
storms of life - just like
I led a team, and together we really increased the
the mighty oak.
collaboration with all the disciplines – the medical staff, the respiratory therapist, the physical
"I'm always pushing education and encouraging people, including my daughter, to advance their degrees. It just provides more opportunity for you. It improves your leadership skills."
1970s H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 13
50 YE A RS O F NU RS IN G EXC EL LEN C E
1980s
The Limitless Art of Caring
N
eva White ’85 BSN, MSN, DNP learned
the body and medicine and health. I would get home
at a very young age to take the limits
from school at 7 p.m.”
off her life. Her inspiration for that mindset? Helen Keller..
“My hero is Helen Keller,” said White, the now
first saw an advertisement for the nursing program at Holy Family University.
executive director of the Frazier Family Coalition
“I’ll never forget it,” she said. “I went to check it
for Stroke Education and Prevention, a health equity
out, and I just fell in love. I loved the campus and the
collaboration between Thomas Jefferson University
feel of the school. I loved the staff. I felt at home and
and Temple University Hospital. “She has always
comfortable. It checked all my boxes. I had thought
been since I was a child. I always looked up to her
about being a physician, but nursing was more
because, though she was blind and deaf, I admired the
fascinating to me as time went on because my mother
way that she saw the world, what she gave despite her
got ill when I was going to college, and I took care of
limitations. I always saw her as an inspiration. I said to
her. And I think that was what transitioned me to want
myself, ‘If she can do it, anybody can do it.’ I meet a lot
to be a nurse. I remember when I told my high school
of people with a lot of limitations, who have struggled
counselor that I wanted to be a nurse. He got up from
and who have come through a lot. I always try to do the
the chair. He shut the door, and he said, ‘Why on earth
best that I can with what I’ve been given. Sometimes I
would you want to be a nurse, Neva? You should be a
get it right. Sometimes I don’t.”
physician.’ I said, ‘What’s wrong with being a nurse?’ I
Admitting that “no” has never been in her
think that nursing is a wonderful profession. It hasn’t
vernacular, White set her sights on a career in nursing
steered me wrong. I have been able to raise my two
after an amazing experience at Northeast High School
sons and do all the things I wanted to do. Nursing has
where she was part of an after-school first-aid team
served me well.”
that tended to sports injuries.
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It was also at Northeast High School where White
That is not to say that White wasn’t met with
“I learned how to do electrocardiograms and CPR
challenges along the way. In particular she recalls
in high school,” she said. “It was a unique program, and
her struggles in chemistry and philosophy while an
I loved it because I have always loved everything about
undergraduate.
“The chemistry courses were probably my hardest
Her most recent work with the Frazier Family
courses,” White said. “I’m the type of person where
Health Coalition ranks among her most gratifying
nothing is going to ever stop me. I never took a ‘no’. A
as it uniquely combines the efforts of two hospitals
‘no’ was always a ‘yes’ for me. In high school, algebra
in a stroke prevention program in the heart of North
killed me, but I became an algebra tutor. At Holy Family,
Philadelphia, where some of the highest rates of stroke,
I had a nun for chemistry who worked with me, and
hypertension and diabetes exist. In addition, White has
she didn’t let me fail. She tutored me. She saw that I
poured her energies into three additional programs.
wanted to be successful, so she took the time to help me
First, she is involved in a digital equity program that
through it. I couldn’t understand philosophy at first.
teaches computer literacy, allowing patients to access
‘Why do I have to take philosophy? What is that?’ But it
their medical records electronically. Second, she
helped me to think. We had a philosophy teacher who
works with patients and healthcare professionals to
really opened my eyes to how that
look at food intake from a cultural
course really made you a thinker and
perspective. Third, she is engaged in a
how it connected the dots. Between
program centered around peripheral
chemistry and philosophy, I learned
artery disease in an effort to prevent
to understand life in a different kind
limb loss.
of way, broadening the way I thought
“We are here working with this
about things. Challenges really
community -- some of the poorest,
started to excite me.
sickest people in Philadelphia - in
“As long as you were willing to
a zip code where African American
put everything in it, the professors
men are losing their legs at a rate five
at Holy Family would put everything
times higher than the rest of the city,”
they had in it,” she continued. “It was such a spiritual experience for me. I’ll never forget the first day. We read
"I believe that nursing is the art of caring, and I believe that my purpose here on this earth is to serve and to care."
Neva White '85 BSN, MSN, DNP
Footprints in the Sand, and I just said, ‘This is where I belong. I’m not going to be alone these
she said “We are looking at high-risk issues, just trying to make a small dent to improve the lives of the people we serve.”
It is that servant’s heart that she developed at Holy
four years. I’m going to have my Holy Family family,
Family University that White hopes will highlight her
and I’m going to have God with me.’ I met friends.
nursing legacy.
They embraced me. They were endearing to me. I had
“I want people to say, ‘Neva gave it her all. She
such wonderful professors. I met wonderful nuns and
did the best she could’,” White said. “I believe
priests who were so spiritual, so godly. You could feel
that nursing is the art of caring, and I
God’s presence in them. It was such a beautiful place, a
believe that my purpose here on this
wonderful place to learn and grow. Every time I think
earth is to serve and to care. That’s
about Holy Family, it just makes me feel warm inside.”
what I’ve done, and that’s what
White went on to Virginia Commonwealth University and then to Temple University where she earned a post master's certificate as an adult nurse practitioner. She also taught nursing there for 10 years. She completed her DNP at Thomas Jefferson University and has made her mark as a diabetes and cardiovascular specialist.
I am going to continue to do. My art is caring.”
1980s H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 15
1980s 50 YE A RS O F NU RS IN G EXC EL LEN C E
Finding Common Ground with Curiosity and Perseverance Beth Ann Swan, ’80 BSN, MSN, PH.D. RN, FAAN
T
he incredible view that Beth Ann Swan
least 10 minutes in this rotation.’ They even thought
’80 BSN, MSN, Ph.D., RN, FAAN
I was having seizures, but I brought the comic relief
commands from her current post as the
every week at Frankford-Torresdale Hospital.”
associate dean and vice president for
Swan will be among 23 nationwide inductees into
academic practice partnerships and the Charles P.
the prestigious Academy of Nursing Education during
and Peggy Evans Endowed Distinguished Professor
a ceremony at the National League for Nursing (NLN)
in Simulation and Innovation at the Emory
Summit on September 30, 2023, in Washington, DC.,
University School of Nursing in Atlanta could
though her daughter’s wedding will prevent her from
not be more contrary to her vantage point as an
being in the spotlight. “I told my daughter ‘You are
undergraduate student at Holy Family University.
ruining my life by getting married’,” she joked.
She also serves as the co-director of the University’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center Interprofessional
Swan, a Northeast Philadelphia native and first-
Education and Clinical Practice Office.
generation college student, from that hospital floor to
“I was the fainter,” Swan quipped as she recalled her time in Dr. Andrea Hollingsworth’s maternity
16 FA L L 2 0 2 3
The rise of the good-natured and down-to-earth
the heights she now enjoys is the stuff of Hollywood movies – think Rocky.
rotation at Holy Family. “I fainted day one, day two,
“I would have never left Philadelphia in 2020 if it
day three and finally she said, ‘You are not going to
wasn’t for this opportunity at the Emory University
pass this course unless you can stay vertical for at
School of Nursing,” she said. “It has really been an
honor and a privilege, and I just feel like I am here with
“I call it the ‘black box of care coordination’,” she
this unprecedented opportunity at the number one
said. “Someone goes to the hospital and then every
nursing school in the country. For me, it is just a dream.
domino falls. We just haven’t been able to crack that
“I love Holy Family University and I took so much
nut to say, ‘what’s it going to take when I am leaving
away from my time there – a love of learning, curiosity
the hospital? Am I going to have a safe care transition?
and perseverance,” Swan said. “I have stayed in touch
Am I going to be left alone to coordinate my own care?
with many of the Sisters. My experiences have always
My mother’s care? My spouse’s care? My children’s
stayed with me. When I was at Thomas Jefferson
care? ‘We need to be sure that every person has the
University (where she was a professor and Dean) our
same support and care around their care coordinators
celebration was always Rocky. We achieved some
and their care transitions.”
goals; we ran up the Art Museum steps. We
Swan also is ensuring that the wisdom,
did something else; we got our picture
experience and expertise that she has
taken in the South Philly Italian Market.
amassed over five decades of a truly
If you would have told me when I
accomplished career is shared out
entered Holy Family University that
with the next generation of nurses.
I would be doing all this, I would have
“I’m not sure you can be a nurse
said, ‘No, I’m going to be working
without compassion, but you also
at the Hospital of the University
have to be knowledgeable,” she
of Pennsylvania on an orthopedic
said. “Nursing is hard work, but it
floor, and that’s where I am going to
is also rewarding work. Ask a lot of
be my whole life.’ It comes back to that perseverance and the ‘eye of the tiger.’ I always bring Rocky with me.”
questions. You need to be open to the infinite possibilities that exist in nursing. I tell students that they need to find joy in their work.
Swan has called upon that Philadelphia grit to
They need to take time for themselves, practice self-
develop into a reflective and participatory leader,
care and embrace change. And above all else, when
a visionary and a luminary, like those she has long
we are out in the work place, we need to find common
admired and respected and is now joining in the
ground. I think we saw during the pandemic the
Academy of Nursing Education.
importance of that spirit of finding common ground
“Most of all, I think I have carved out this niche of being a change agent,” she said. At Emory, Swan is leading a lot of forwardthinking around simulation, virtual reality and
in the worst possible situation.” And as Swan can attest, it is always wise to bring a little Rocky with you. “If we know anything about nursing, it’s
artificial intelligence. She is involved with “Project
that it is constantly changing. You have
NeLL,” a powerful suite of apps for teaching,
to be willing to go for that ride.”
learning, and practicing nursing data science.
Or that run up those iconic
The technology provides a search data repository
Art Museum steps. The
that aids nurses in finding innovative solutions.
view is spectacular
She is using virtual reality to train nurses about
from there.
care transitions, social determinants of health and what patients find when they get home after a hospitalization.
"I love Holy Family University and I took so much away from my time there – a love of learning, curiosity and perseverance."
1980s H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 17
50 YE A RS O F NU RS IN G EXC EL LEN C E
1980s The Power of Yes and Ringing the Bell
L
ife would be so different for Peg
the topic, and I got really knowledgeable about the
O’Grady '84 BSN, MSN, and the
topic, my ease of being able to speak to it just flowed.
thousands of patients and colleagues
The background and expertise that I received from
who have been impacted by her, if she
Holy Family gave me so much confidence.”
had said “no.” The current Administrative Director
18 FA L L 2 0 2 3
Because of this, O’Grady has made it her mission
of the Asplundh Cancer Pavilion - Sidney Cancer
for more than three decades to mirror the mission
Center, Jefferson Health System based in Willow
of Holy Family University.
Grove, PA, O’Grady never imagined that she would
“Holy Family teaches you how to take care of a
be overseeing the ambulatory care teams in this
community by giving the community experts who
now five-year-old free-standing oncology facility.
are well-trained and who do well for others. I learned
She assumed this incredible role because, when
resilience there. It is truly the nursing team who is
approached with the challenge, she said “yes.”
there with the patient in their true hour of need. You
“There was never a time at Holy Family
have to either decide that this is your mission, or you
University when someone at that institution said,
need to step aside and let somebody do it who can do
‘You can’t do that’,” O’Grady said. “At Holy Family,
it. This is not a job. This is really a career.”
I learned how to learn. I learned to articulate and
That career satisfaction is why O’Grady is ever
to write, and those are arts. I had public speaking,
eager to share advice with people who aspire to take
which I was not a fan of. I found that if I really loved
on life-changing roles through nursing.
“I can’t tell you how important it was in my
“The most gratifying thing is the look
personal career to write, to do research, to mentor,”
on people’s faces when they are done their
she said. “If you are starting out new, if somebody
treatments,” she said. “We have chimes. We have
texts you from an institution and asks you to be on a
bells. Some patients have full choirs who come
committee, to write a policy, even if you have never
in to sing to them. When patients are done their
done that before in your life, say yes. Absolutely, say
therapy, and they have all their family and their loved
yes, because you never know when that opportunity
ones with them with balloons and flowers, and they
will lead to something incredible. I never thought, in
are ringing that bell like it is nobody’s business, the
a million years, I would be running a cancer center.
look on their faces is just sheer joy. That’s the stuff
I thought I would be a surgical nurse, working 3-11
that keeps everybody here. It is not an easy job, but
p.m., have my kids, be happy, life is good.”
it is job that is incredibly fulfilling. And, absolutely
Instead, O’Grady spent
yes, I am crying along with
1983-2014 at Fox Chase Cancer
them. There is not one of us who
Center, rising in July of 2008 to
doesn’t get choked up. It you
the Senior Director for the Fox
don’t, you have lost your ability
Chase Cancer Center Partners
to emote.”
where she was responsible
O’Grady knows that these
for the clinical planning and
moments are worth relishing
research program development
because so many cancer patients
for 25 community hospital
never live to see that day.
cancer centers linked to Fox Chase. From there, she accepted
"There was never a time at Holy Family University when someone at that institution said, 'You can't do that.' At Holy Family, I learned how to learn."
“Working in oncology, you Peg O'Grady '84 BSN, MSN
a role as the Director of Nursing
have to know that you have done everything you can to get your
at Thomas Jefferson University
patients comfortable and to give
where she managed 100 nursing and support staff
them some sense of control back, not matter the
members in four locations.
outcome,” she said. “I was fresh out of school when
When she got the call in September 2016
I met the mother of a high school classmate who
seeking her interest in building a cancer center in
had cancer. Thirty-five years later to this day, on the
Willow Grove, PA, alongside Dr. Steven Cohen, she
anniversary of her mother’s passing, that classmate
answered, “Absolutely, yes!” The all-inclusive center
will send me a note, and she is just crystal clear.
now treats 400 patients a day, providing well-
‘You eased my burden.’ You can’t get better
coordinated access to surgery, medical oncology,
than that. That is what gives you a sense
radiation oncology, palliative care and survivorship.
that you are doing the right thing and
“Cancer used to be a disease of the old,” she said.
living the mission.”
“It’s not. We are getting far younger patients coming through. During COVID, patents didn’t get screened, so we are finding far later stages of the disease.” Cancer has taken a lot from so many. Mostly, says O’Grady, it takes “every bit of control out of everybody.” Which is why she relishes the success stories and draws strength from the fighters and the survivors.
1980s H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 19
50 YE A RS O F NU RS IN G EXC EL LEN C E
ASSIMILATING AND
EXCELLING OF THE MORE THAN 6,000 GRADUATES OF THE
Vinogradov’s first job out of college was in
SCHOOL OF NURSING, Yana Berman Vinogradov’s
intensive care, telemetry, open heart surgery and
’86 BSN journey to Holy Family University may have
recovery at Pennsylvania Hospital. She called on
been the farthest on record and most definitely
kindness and humor to help her assimilate.
ranks among the most fascinating.
recommendation in order for me to get that job,”
Philadelphia in 1981 as a 19-year-old Russian-Jewish
she said. “I never wanted to work on a med-surg
immigrant speaking minimal English and carting
floor, but critical care and recovery were my two
big dreams of a career in nursing. Enrolling in the
favorites. If you gave me the sickest patient in the
Community College of Philadelphia, where she
unit, with a gazillion problems and tubes, that was
met her Ukrainian husband in the line to collect
my kind of thing.”
her college ID, she found Holy Family and
Along the way, Vinogradov found another
remembers her first day on campus vividly.
calling, surprisingly, after briefly leaving nursing to
“I had been in America three years. I could
take a job at Independence Blue Cross following
communicate, but my English still wasn’t
the birth of her second daughter.
that great, and I still had to look up a
“That’s when I realized that I was pretty good
lot of words. I had a heavy accent,”
with computers, which I did not know before, and
Vinogradov said. “I discovered Holy
that I liked the whole idea of improving processes,
Family. It was Catholic. I’m Jewish.
finding a better way to get things done,” she said.
That was kind of interesting. But I
Vinogradov took her newfound skills
liked the people, and everyone was very
and returned to nursing at the University of
nice. The biggest shock to me was that my
Pennsylvania as a quality manager. Seven years
classmates were one of five kids, one of eight
later, she moved to New York City. She has spent
kids, from big Irish Catholic families. I was
the last eight years at Memorial Sloan Kettering,
an only child. I was always laughing that I was probably the only Jew at this
1980s
quality and safety. “Enrolling at Holy Family University was the
first lecture in this big lecture hall.
best thing I ever did in terms of my education,”
They gave us so much information
she said. “Every nurse that I know who finished
and how much work we Yana Berman Vinogradov '86 BSN
where she now serves as a senior manager of
Catholic college. I remember the
on what we needed to do
20 FA L L 2 0 2 3
“Someone at Holy Family gave me a great
A native of Moscow, Vinogradov arrived in
would have.”
Holy Family University is highly regarded.” That undeniable fact, as Vingradov can attest, is not lost in translation.
GOOD, CARING, COMPASSIONATE
LISTENER
SUSAN LYNCH ’89 BSN, MSN, RNFA, PH.D.
recovery procedures and the re-processing
REMEMBERS A BEAUTIFUL SPRING DAY, several
of instrumentation, Lynch praises Holy Family
weeks prior to her Holy Family University
University for developing her into a lifelong
graduation, as if it was yesterday. It was the
learner (she is currently pursuing an MBA).
conclusion of a rotation in psychology, and
“Holy Family University really instilled in
she was sitting by a beautiful azalea bush,
me the importance of research and taught me
by a pond, as she recalls, on the campus of
how to ask questions to be a change agent,”
Friends Hospital in Northeast Philadelphia. The
Lynch said. “I learned to question processes,
assignment was to sit in silence and ponder the
‘Is this really the best way to do this?’ We
life that was awaiting in nursing.
learned to utilize best practices to investigate
“This day always stuck with me,” Lynch
standards, qualities and regulations. I also
said. “We were told to sit by ourselves,
think communication and collegial
without talking to our classmates, and to
professionalism and behavior were
really think about where we wanted to go in
very important skills that I learned.
our profession. What did we want? What was
I walked away from Holy Family
important to us? And what did we need to
knowing that we are all
do to achieve these goals? It stuck with me
working together as a team,
because I have always been a planner - where
collaboratively, to provide
do I want to be one year, three years, five
quality patient safety and
years, 10 years out? Sometimes it has worked
the best patient care and
to my benefit; sometimes I didn’t quite meet
outcome.
my deadline, but I was able to pivot back
“My experience at Holy
and re-focus and re-align. But I think that has
Family was very engaging,”
always helped me get where I wanted to go in
she said. “I was engaged,
nursing. Some people thought it was crazy, and
but equally so were the
today everyone would probably just be on their
instructors, counselors,
cell phones. I thought it was a great exercise
advisors. Everyone was
that so pivotal to my future.”
engaged, and because of that,
Now the director of surgical services at
I learned to be a good,
Penn Medicine- Chester County Hospital
caring, compassionate
where she oversees, among other duties,
listener.”
pre-admission testing, operating room and
Susan Lynch '89 BSN, MSN, RNFA, PH.D.
H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 21
50 YE A RS O F NU RS IN G EXC EL LEN C E
SHOWING UP AND
BEING PRESENT PATRICIA NICHOLS ’98 BSN, ’10 MSN, RN, NEA-BC,
“Quitting wasn’t an option for me,” Nichols said.
CPXP HAS MASTERED THE ART OF SHOWING UP.
“I knew if I had stopped going to school, I may
It’s a skill that she developed as a student-athlete
not have gone back. It would’ve never been the
at Holy Family University as a basketball scholarship
right time. I would’ve never had enough money.
recipient and one that she perfected when she
I wanted to keep my basketball scholarship. I was
became pregnant with twins – daughter Haley
so close to the finish line. I just wanted to finish.
and son Kevin - during the second semester of her
My kids gave me the motivation to finish. I wanted
junior year. For Nichols and her now husband, Mike,
them to be proud of their mom.”
who played on the men’s basketball team, there was never an option to quit.
Nichols enlisted the help of her parents, Sue and Andy, her older sister, Jen, her brothers Drew
“Nursing. Clinicals. Basketball. Relationship.
and Mark and her youngest sister, Bernadette
It was a lot. I was 21 and having twins, “Nichols
Laukaitis, who has a freshman on the team during
remembered. “I had to figure out life so early, but
Nichols’ senior season and is now the current Holy
that’s all part of my story. It was definitely a crazy
Family University women’s basketball coach. Her
time. It took so much family and friends support
best friend, Kara Fitzgerald O’Brien, became her
to get through that. I look back now and say,
third sister.
’How did I even accomplish that?’’ I don’t think
“They would sleep over and take care of my
you realize how strong you are until you need to
kids so I could study,” she said. “I would have to
be. Through that experience, what I learned is it
get up early for clinical the next day. Everyone was
always works out. You just stay true to who you
awesome and trying to make it work. We were all in
are as a person.”
it together, and Holy Family was always a part of us.
Nichols, who always knew her true self was a nurse, credits athletics with developing the
Holy Family is us.” With that support, Nichols finished only a
discipline, work ethic and will to stay the course.
semester behind her classmates and immediately
She even returned to competitive basketball for
landed a job as a telemetry unit nurse at Frankford
her senior year. She made lifelong friends through
Hospital. She served stints as an intensive care
the athletic program.
nurse and a critical care nurse educator before moving to Thomas Jefferson Hospital in 2010, the same year earned her master’s degree at Holy Family. She currently serves as the regional director of patient experience at Jefferson Health North. “I learned that you always show up in the
Patricia Nichols '98 BSN, '10 MSN, RN, NEA-BC, CPXP
1990s 22 FA L L 2 0 2 3
nursing profession,” she said, “because your team needs you, and I don’t like to not be present. That’s why I think being a nurse is such a privileged job to do. People need you in so many ways. I always wanted to be that person who is helping people in the hospital and teaching and bettering nurses.”
GOOD NEIGHBOR,
GREAT START MARIA VAN PELT ’92 BSN, MSA, MSN, PH.D.
of national expert panels related to psychiatric
NEEDED TO LOOK NO FURTHER than next door
mental health and substance use.
to find her life’s inspiration.
“Having grown up and lived in Northeast
Since I was a child, I knew I wanted to be
Philadelphia my entire life, I saw things through
a nurse,” she said. “I always looked up to and
the exposure that Holy Family provided to me
admired my neighbor, Patrice Juliani, who was
that I had never seen before,” Van Pelt said. “I
a nurse. She is still, to this day, my mentor. She
saw things differently in the community as a
was always so kind and compassionate and
result of my community-based experiences and
just an incredible human being. I remember
just the important work
her showing me her textbooks and saying,
that needs to be done.
‘I’m a nurse. I study medicine.’ That sounded
I think that was also
interesting to me.”
the driving force for
“I would like to focus on mentoring and elevating leaders and supporting their
Knowing the reputation of the program and
some of my leadership
trajectory. I want to build people up, give
wanting to stay close to her Philadelphia roots,
positions, to make a
Van Pelt enrolled at Holy Family University as a
meaningful contribution
them opportunities and set them up to be
first-generation college student. She promptly
to the profession and to
failed chemistry in that first semester.
just give back.”
as successful as I have been.”
“I think having that failure and being able to
Van Pelt, who went on to earn an MSA
get the support I needed from the right people
from St. Joseph’s, an MSN from Villanova and a
at Holy Family set me up for success,” Van
Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, often
Pelt said. “Because of the strong foundational
draws on that first semester chemistry class to
knowledge that I gained at Holy Family, the
empower others.
rigor of my anatomy and physiology courses,
“When I see individuals who are striving
all of the pharmacology that I learned, I was
to be nurse anesthetists and are concerned
able to pursue an advanced degree in nurse
that they can’t do it, I say, ‘Look at
anesthesiology. Holy Family empowered me
me. I did it’,” she said. “Nurses
to embrace change and to lead. The nursing
are innovators from bedside
program prepared me to do anything that I
to bench research. I would
wanted to do.”
like to focus on mentoring
Now a clinical professor at Northeastern
and elevating leaders and
University and a former dean at the school, Van
supporting their trajectory.
Pelt is widely regarded as an expert scholar
I want to build people up,
and leader in patient safety. She has put in a lot
give them opportunities
of work, nationally and internationally, through
and set them up to be
advocacy, education and research, and policy
as successful as I
development related to the compelling need
have been.”
for clinician peer support Involvement. She serves as a state peer advisor and on a number
Maria Van Pelt '92 BSN, MSA, MSN, CRNA, PH.D.
2000s 50 YE A RS O F NU RS IN G EXC EL LEN C E
Hard on the Work, Not on the People
Chaudron Carter Short '00 BSN, NEA-BC, RN, ED.D., PH.D
S
ometimes, if you don’t see it, you can’t become it. As the only child of Yvonne Carter,
to feel like an outcast. I became friends with all of the
growing up in the Mount Airy section of
students in my cohort, and we were a great support
Philadelphia, Chaudron Carter Short '00 BSN,
system for each other, a family. It was important to
NEA-BC, RN, ED.D., PH.D, often would accompany
have a student support system and to have people
her single mother to work at what was then Saint
understanding what you were going through. We fed off
Agnes Medical Center in South Philadelphia where
one another and succeeded together.”
Yvonne worked as a nursing unit secretary.
All these years later, Chaudron Short has succeeded
“I would see the nurses, and I would pretend like I
like few others, rising through the ranks with stops
was a nurse,” Carter Short said. “I saw people doing the
at Temple, where she started, then Penn and Cooper
role and helping, and it inspired me to pursue nursing.
hospitals. On March 20, 2023, she was elevated to the
I enrolled in nursing school as the first college graduate
role of Chief Nursing Executive (CNE) for Temple
in my family because that’s what I wanted to do. I know
University Health System (TUHS) and Temple
it sounds cliché, but I wanted to help.”
University Hospital, Inc. She is responsible for the
Carter Short is forever grateful to her mother for that exposure to what was to become her passion, her identity and her life’s work. “I wouldn’t be who I am or where I am without my mother,” she said.
24 FA L L 2 0 2 3
“I’ll be very honest,” she said. “Holy Family at the time was not very culturally diverse. But I wasn’t made
oversight of nursing services over seven campuses. “I was always willing to take on projects and train and orient people,” Carter Short said. “Every step of the way, I created goals for myself. I wanted to be a nurse manager. Then I wanted to be a director of nursing.
Enrolling at Holy Family University, after
Then the goal was to become a chief nursing officer.
successfully transferring credits from her start at
After two and a half years as a CNO, I was asked to
community college, Carter Short didn’t necessarily see
step into this role. It is not what I had ever imagined
many nursing students or faculty who looked like her.
becoming. When my boss said he was leaving, I said, ‘No,
But she did find people there who wanted to help.
that wasn’t the plan!’ It wasn’t something that I ever
imagined, but maybe that was a good thing, because it
every day. It has not been easy, and I did not just
would have scared the heck out of me. There has always
snap my fingers and get here, but you really don’t see
been a nurse leader that I could go to and now I am that
a black CNE, so from a minority standpoint, I tell
nurse leader.”
people it’s a heavy weight. It’s not just you being the
How can you lead if you don’t know who you are leading? Carter Short makes it her mission to get to know the people under her charge. “Every other Wednesday, I go to orientation and
face of Temple nursing over seven hospitals. It is the face of nursing from a minority standpoint.” This is why she embraces her responsibility to be that minority leader – so others can see it and become it.
meet all the new employees,” she said. “Then I host
“Every piece of your life and every destination is
open forums called ‘Brief with the Nursing Chief,’
meaningful,” she said. “Everything that happens is for
where I provide a state of nursing. I also open it
a purpose. I applied for roles along the way, and I wasn’t
up to questions. A lot of CNEs don’t like to do this,
chosen. I didn’t get, but it wasn’t meant. Everything
because you don’t know what’s going to come, what
that happens is for a purpose. You have to learn to put
people are going to ask, and it can very intimidating
things in your toolbox as you go. Many times, you will
if you are not prepared. I think it is important to
be like, ‘Well, what was that for? Why did I choose to
know your organization and to know what is going
do this?’ Every piece of your life is meaningful to get
on in your organization, and not just being the
you to your next destination. And everybody’s going
figure behind the door.”
to get to their destination when they are meant to, no
Truly, Carter Short could never be the figure
slower or no faster. It is nothing more, nothing less than
behind the door because she has broken so many of
hard work. I put my head down, and I grinded it out. It
those doors down.
wasn’t easy, but I did it. I hope I hold a positive image
“I know I can be very tough because my expectations
in people’s framework. I’m not going to do everything
are very high,” Carter Short said. “I also understand
perfectly. I am not a perfect being. You are not going
that we are put in these roles for a reason. Nursing is
to agree with everything that I do, and I don’t know
challenging. Healthcare is challenging. I am geared
everything, which is why I have fantastic AVPs around
toward servant leadership. I am hard on the work, but
me because they help guide my decisions. But there are
not on the people. For anyone who sits in my seat, I
times where you have to be the one to make the choice.
would want their main responsibility to be to ensure
You hope and pray you make the right one.
that my family member gets the care that is deserved. I
“I want you to be better than me,” she said. “If
expect people to do what we are asking them to do as it
I have gotten here, you can get here too. You
relates to taking care of patients in an excellent way.
can move above me. I want people to say, ‘If
“I have always desired to be in areas where I can
Chaudron has done it, I can do it too.’
make a difference,” she continued. “Temple is not an
I am humbled and I am thankful
easy place to work because we take care of a very sick
that I am in this role. I don’t
population. They may come in with diabetes, but they
take it for granted, and I
have so many other co-morbidities. And there’ poverty,
really want to make a
so you have to take care of that population differently.
difference.”
Working at Temple, you have to think about those things. To have a seat at the table to make a difference for that community is what drives me to do what I do
"I want you to be better than me. If I have gotten here, you can get here too. I am humbled and thankful that I am in this role."
2000s H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 25
50
YEARS
of Nursing Excellence
1994
MASTER’S IN NURSING DEGREE PROGRAM OFFERED
April 19,
1980
CAMPUS CHAPTER OF SIGMA THETA TAU ESTABLISHED Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (Sigma) has more than 100,000 active members and 600 chapters at institutions of higher education and healthcare partners from Armenia, Australia, and Botswana to Thailand, the United States, and Wales. Sigma members include clinical nurses and administrators, academic nurse educators and researchers, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and others working to fulfill the organization’s vision of connected, empowered nurse
1973
leaders transforming global
NURSING DEPARTMENT ESTABLISHED
healthcare.
1976
First class in the
FIRST MALE NURSING GRADS:
School of Nursing
1973-82
Nov. 21,
Academic Dean, Sister Mary
NURSING EDUCATION BUILDING GROUNDBREAKING
FIRST DEAN
Immaculata, '58 CSFN, D.M.L.
26 FA FALLL L 2023
1975
Daniel Arcilla, BSN James Kelly, BSN Stephen Leporati, BSN
2021
NAMED CHANGED TO SCHOOL OF NURSING & HEALTH SCIENCE
2020
1997
FULL CCNE ACCREDITATION BSN AND MSN
to reflect comprehensive approach to healthcare
COMMUNITY CARE GRADUATE PROGRAM ESTABLISHED
2002
SCHOOL OF NURSING AND RADIOGRAPHY PROGRAM COMBINE TO BECOME SCHOOL OF NURSING AND ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONS
2023
SECOND DEGREE DISTANCE PROGRAM
2019
SECOND DEGREE PART-TIME EVENING WEEKEND PROGRAM
2019
FAMILY NURSE PRACTITIONER LEADERSHIP MSN TRACK
2018
DOCTORATE OF NURSING PRACTICE DEGREE PROGRAM IMPLEMENTED (first DNP graduates celebrated in 2019)
2008
NURSING LAB UNDERGOES EXTENSIVE RENOVATION
2014
SECOND DEGREE DAY PROGRAM
During the summer of 2008, the third floor of the Nurse Education Building underwent renovation for the new Nursing Simulation and Practice Laboratory. Ribbon cutting for the new Nursing Simulation and Practice Laboratory took place on September 15, 2008.
H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 27
50 YE A RS O F NU RS IN G EXC EL LEN C E
FULL-CIRCLE
IMPACT KARYN BOOK BSN, '07 MSN DNP, RN, NEA-BC
bed community-based hospital with a large
ADMITTEDLY WAS MORE OF THE SOCIAL TYPE
integrated academic health system. She
- think cheerleading and field hockey - than a
manages a $109 million budget and oversees
locked-in student in high school. But a chance
approximately 1,026 full-time employees.
encounter in the seventh grade with a nurse
She earned a master’s at Holy Family after
had already solidified her career choice, and
moving to Bucks County with her husband and
she knew she had her work cut out for her.
three children.
“I was a teenager. I was nervous,” Book
“My professors on the Newtown campus
said of her hospital stay for a minor operation.
were great, and I made amazing connections
“It was that nurse who took care of me, her
with my cohort. We really grew friendships,
comforting way and the way she explained
and we still get together,” she said. “At the
everything to me, that made me say, ’This is
time, online learning was becoming more
what I want to do’.”
popular, so I liked that my program was
Her parents, though always supportive, had their doubts.
person who needed to be in the classroom,
“My mother used to say to me, ‘If you want to be in the hospital, you can always work in the gift shop’,” Book recalled, laughing. “Really, my parents told me that it was going to be hard, but they knew I could do it. I think they had always instilled in me that if you want it, go get it. Now, my mother says, ‘Look at you, you’re the chief nurse’!” Currently, Book serves as Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer of Penn Medicine Princeton Health. In this capacity, she directs the clinical operations, evidencebased clinical practice, and research for the Nursing and Patient Care Services Division of a 324-
2000s 28 FA L L 2 0 2 3
in-person because I knew I was the type of working one-on-one. At Holy Family, you have an opportunity to have relationships with your
MASTER OF FINE ARTS
CREATIVE WRITING
A NEW WAY TO MFA
professors, and they really do help you to become a better nurse.” Book, who recently completed her DNP in Executive Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania, has developed a comprehensive, all-encompassing, big picture view of the field
“My professors on the Newtown campus were great, and I made amazing connections with my cohort. We really grew friendships, and we still get together.” and has used her voice as a nurse in a number of important initiatives, including the re-design of a new hospital. “I would like to be known as a nurse who, even though she is now in administration, has
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never lost sight of why we are here, and that’s for the patients,” she said, recalling that special nurse from her childhood. “I want to be known as a transformational, servant-minded leader who supports the bedside nurse and everyone around them who is caring for patients. If you are a nurse, your heart is in the right place. You always want to help, and you don’t shy away from the most terrifying, disturbing situation or
LISA NIKOLIDAKIS
KEITH KOPKA
ERIN BELIEU
PROGRAM DIRECTOR
the most-needy people. Rather, you are really drawn to that.”
Learn More:
holyfamily.edu/MFA Karyn Book BSN, '07 MSN DNP, RN, NEA-BC
H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 29
2010s 50 YE A RS O F NU RS IN G EXC EL LEN C E
Welcoming Babies and Building Up Nurses
E
Meghan Griffin '11 BSN, PNP/ Janice Gibson '10 BSN, '14 MSN, NPD-BC, CCRN-K, PCCN-K ight years ago, on a day of great grief, Janice Gibson '10 BSN, '14 MSN,
“I have had other encounters like this,” Gibson
NPD-BC, CCRN-K, PCCN-K
said. “I know it sounds cliché, but we go into
accompanied her mother to a local
nursing because we want to help people. I tell these
funeral home to make burial arrangements for her
new nurses that on your worst day, you have to
father. The moment was memorable for more than
remember the one thing or two things that you did
one reason.
that was positive, because every day you are making
“We arrived at the funeral home and knocked on the
a difference in somebody’s life. It could be the most
door and a woman answered,” Gibson said. “She stood
joyous day, and it can be the worst day. You are doing
there for a minute in shock and then, she said, ‘Oh My
something that is meaningful with your life, and, at
God! You took care of my father many, many years ago
times, it transcends even your personal life. These
when he was dying, and I have never forgotten you’.”
patients are never going to forget you.”
That full-circle moment for Gibson, a former
30 FA L L 2 0 2 3
move into hospitals and other assignments.
Having the watched the dedication and drive of
critical care nurse and now coordinator of the
their mother to become a nurse (Following the birth
nursing residency program at Jefferson North,
of her children, Gibson went to community college
is one that truly validated the purpose of her life.
at night for five years and completed an accelerated
In her current role, she oversees a transition to
day program at the Episcopal Hospital School of
practice program that supports nurses as they
Nursing in 1997. It would be another 10 years before
she enrolled into Holy Family’s accelerated RN-BSN
a small part of that moment in people’s lives,
program and went on to earn her MSN), all three of
because it is so monumental.”
her children joined the profession. Her oldest son,
Both mother and daughter look back on their
Mark Gibson, works in the cardiac catheterization
time at Holy Family (they attended at the same
lab at Jefferson Abington. His wife, Ngoc Lee Gibson,
time but on different campuses) with gratitude.
is a nurse at Lankenau Medical Center. Her daughter,
“I can’t say enough about Holy Family. I love
Kristen Venango, works in interventional radiology
Holy Family,” said Gibson, who taught clinicals at
at Jeanes Hospital. Her husband, Ted Venango, works
her alma mater for 10 years and currently serves on
in the emergency department at Jeanes Hospital.
the President’s Advisory Council. The family gives
And her youngest daughter, Meghan Griffin '11
back annually to the University through the Gibson
BSN, PNP, who attended Holy
Nurse-Athlete Scholarship and
Family University on a basketball
the Christine Gibson Memorial
scholarship and is married to
Scholarship, which honors
Holy Family University assistant
Gibson’s late sister-in-law, also a
men’s basketball coach Turhan
Holy Family graduate.
Griffin, currently works as RN at
“I had so much support,”
Pennsylvania Hospital between
she said. “Everyone there was
labor and delivery, the intensive
just amazing, including my
care nursery and in the mother-
husband, Mark, who was a
baby unit. She also is a per
huge support to Meghan and
diem certified pediatric nurse
I as we journeyed through our
practitioner at the Children’s
education. The professors at
Hospital of Philadelphia.
Holy Family set a foundation
“Being the daughter of a
for me moving forward with
nurse foretold all of the benefits
my career. I loved them, and I
of being in this profession,” Griffin said. “Having
had a great relationship with them. They definitely
a mother and siblings who can relate to some of
helped me to be a better person. It was a really great
the things that I am going through is a big help.
time, especially when Meg was playing basketball.
Particularly, if it was a difficult situation, they can
We were able to go to every game. We traveled all
help you move past it, help you recharge yourself to
over. We got very close with the team and the
go back in the next day.”
parents.”
Griffin has had many gratifying moments, too.
“Holy Family Nursing definitely
“I have people say to me, ‘Oh my God! You get to
reinforced my determination to stay
do that every day?’ It is very gratifying to see new
focused,” Griffin said. “I learned
life come on a daily basis,” she said. “It is rewarding
that to get what you want, you
when families show their appreciation for your help
need to work hard, but the
and education. Or maybe they are going through a
payout is even greater
tough time right after their baby is born, and things
when you put your
didn’t really go the way they wanted, and they are
mind to it.”
even more grateful for the care you are giving them and their baby. It just feels like a privilege to be even
"Being the daughter of a nurse foretold all of the benefits of being in this profession. Having a mother and siblings who can relate to some of the things that I am going through is a big help."
2010s H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 31
50 YE A RS O F NU RS IN G EXC EL LEN C E
TWICE THE
IMPACT THOMAS ALNE ‘16 MSN, BSN, CRNP, RN,
would be too. She had earned both her
ACNPC-AG, CCRN-CMC, PCCN, PHRN HAS A
bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Temple
HEART FORNURSING, so much so that he chose
University and was working as a recreational
to follow his heart into cardiology.
therapist when the couple lost their first child, a
“My first full-time job was in the emergency room at Overlook Medical Center in North Jersey,” said Alne, who earned his BSN
2010s 32 FA L L 2 0 2 3
she made a wonderful encounter with one nurse who helped her through the grieving process. “In meeting her, I saw the therapeutic aspect
at Seton Hall Univer-
that I was used to and loved, but also that
sity and his MSN at
medical piece that I felt I was missing when
Holy Family
I was working with the people I supported,”
University, where he
she said. “Thomas told me that he really liked
currently serves on
the program at Holy Family. He really liked his
the Alumni Asso-
teachers and all the classes that he took. He
ciation Board. He is
also liked the campus and said it just felt homey.
one course away
He felt like they really set him up for success.
from completing his
I decided to enroll in the accelerated second-
DNP at the Univer-
degree program, and I ended up loving it. I
sity of South
finished in June 2022.”
Alabama. “I always
Brianna Alne '22 BSN and Thomas Alne BSN, '17 MSN, CRNP, APN, ACNPC-AG, CCRM-CMC, PCCN, PHRN
son, as a newborn. Through such a tragic event,
Now with two nurses and an eight-month-old
found the heart
daughter, Veronica, under one roof, the Alnes
interesting, so I
have doubled their impact as Holy Family nurses.
moved to the cardiac
“Patients always ask, ‘Where did you
intensive care unit at
go to school?’ Brianna said. “I do get a lot
Deborah Heart and
compliments, and people are aware of Holy
Lung Center. I really
Family’s reputation.”
liked it and found it
“I have never regretted my decision to
fascinating. I am now
become a nurse,” Thomas said. “I was lucky to
a cardiology nurse
have a lot of great teachers who really cared
practitioner at Penn.”
about us. I would tell anyone considering
Since Alne’s heart
enrolling in the Holy Family School of Nursing
was in nursing, he
that you will be well-prepared. It can be initially
thought perhaps his
intimidating, but if that’s what you want to do,
wife Brianna’s heart
you take a leap of faith and go for it.”
Chris Casello '15 BSN
Kindness First in Service to Others ALLEN ZELNO BSN, '17MSN, CRNP, FNP-C KNEW THAT HIS
Family University, I embraced the servant mentality, that we
DECISION TO PIVOT in his late twenties to a career in nursing was
are always in service to others. I don’t see my career as just a
the correct one during a chance encounter in Walmart. Zelno,
means to a paycheck. It really truly is a calling. It’s not just a
a native of the Scranton, PA area, enrolled in the second cohort
job, it’s a mission.”
of Holy Family University’s accelerated program, started his
Zelno, who hopes to return to his alma mater
career as a med-surg nurse at St. Luke’s Hospital in Allentown,
one day for a Ph.D., would offer this advice
PA, before becoming a family nurse practitioner during the
to someone like him who is questioning if
pandemic and moving on to a private family practice.
nursing is the road to pursue.
“One time a lady stopped me in Walmart just to thank me
“At Holy Family, you are not going
for making such a positive impression with her father several
to be a number,” he said. “You are
weeks before he died,” Zelno said. “She said, ‘I just wanted you
going to get personalized, one-on-one
to know you connected with him, and he was grateful for that.’
relationships with all of your professors.
I would have never known that if she hadn’t stopped me. It is so
Your four years will be a journey that you
gratifying to hear that you, as the nurse, before anyone else, are
are not going to take alone. The professors
who they remember.”
will do whatever they possibly can to
The decision to pursue nursing and choosing to do so at
help you succeed. To get through
Holy Family University has been Zelno’s personal aha moment.
a nursing program is extremely
“Enrolling at Holy Family University was the best decision
difficult. But if you do, you will be
I have ever made,” he said. “Nursing has done so much for
able to live as the best version of
me. I will always praise the profession. Most of all, from Holy
yourself.”
Allen Zelno BSN, '17MSN, CRNP, FNP-C
Finding Your Niche and Jumping In IT’S HARD TO SAY WHICH WAS MORE UNNERVING FOR CHRIS
me an opportunity to see so many more aspects of nursing than I
CASELLO ’15 BSN. Spending five hours every Thursday night
ever imagined. It helped me to find my niche in critical care.
during a lab component in his Nursing 210 course as a Holy
“Critical care is never the same day, ever,” he continued. “I
Family University transfer student alongside your future wife,
have worked with numerous heart transplant patients, and the
Kerry, ’15 BSN, or eight years later, standing in front of 40 new
care is always individualized. As nurses, we get to do that job of
nursing students as their clinical instructor.
individualizing the patient’s plan of care.”
Casella, now a staff and charge nurse in the cardiac intensive care unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, and a part-time clinical instructor at Northeastern
Moving into education was a jump, Casello admits, but one that he took, again on a personal recommendation. “As a critical care nurse, I find it gratifying to respond to
University, is a father of three who has obviously
emergencies, to direct responses and code blues,” he said. “In
found his confidence and his footing.
these instances, I feel I am really doing what I was meant to do.
“I came to Holy Family University on a personal recommendation because they had the most distinguished nursing program in that area,” Casello said. “Holy Family is a great place and affords you the opportunity to grow your confidence through some great
When I began teaching, it was like being a nurse for the first time all over again. Now, it just flows.” Casello is now in pursuit of an MBA, an “after bedtime degree,” and hasn’t ruled out education as a new path. “I don’t know what my next career move is, perhaps to become head of a department at Mass General or maybe
clinicals at some amazing hospitals
to become an educator,” he said. “I have a lot of interest in
in the Philadelphia region. It gave
education.”
H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 33
50 YE A RS O F NU RS IN G EXC EL LEN C E
EXPANDING FAMILY AND EXTENDING
EMPATHY
MEHWISH SADAQAT ’24 LOVES TO TALK ABOUT
future and a place to achieve what I dream. Holy
FAMILY. Her own close-knit family includes her
Family has been such an uplifting community.”
mother and siblings, who immigrated from
That dream, of being a nurse, has been with
Pakistan in 2018, and her father, who arrived five
Sadaqat since childhood and will soon be realized
years earlier to prepare a path for them. She also
in the coming months as she is on schedule
loves to talk about her Holy Family University
to graduate in May with a BSN. She has had to
family. For her, they are really one in the same.
overcome the challenges of learning a new culture
“We came here to escape persecution as
and language and in October 2022, the setback
minority Christians who were discriminated
of a terrible car accident that left her with two
against in many areas, including education. We
broken ribs and has contributed to a scoliosis
came seeking a sense of belonging,” Sadaqat
diagnosis that she now monitors. She missed a full
said of her parents, both of whom are
semester of classes while recuperating. “I feel like that accident was a second calling
social workers,
for me and that God gave me my life back and
and her siblings.
confirmed my desire to be a nurse,” she said.
She has no other
“Nursing for me has always been a way to spread
blood relatives in
love and kindness. It is more than a profession
America. “It was a
for me. I have had this compassion since my
hard transition. Holy
childhood, because I watched my parents reach
Family University
out to marginalized communities. It is living my
gave me hope for my
parents’, my family’s purpose of serving people with empathy. My family believes in giving back for the greater good of society. We strive to be positive influences and of service to others.” Though she is undecided about which specific area of influence that may be, Sadaqat feels well prepared to begin her professional life of service. “The core values of this school are what attracted me here,” she said. “Holy Family University has provided me with the best practice and given me the confidence to not only care for a patient but to be of emotional support.”
Mehwish Sadaqat '24
34 FA L L 2 0 2 3
PIVOTING TOWARD
PASSION
SERVE BOLDLY. As a Peace Corps volunteer who
Somebody should handle it this way.’ I decided
was challenged to embrace this organizational
I wanted to be that person. I wanted to be that
mantra, Meghann Enright ’23 got the first taste of
advocate, that educator for others, specifically
how transformational her new life’s work could be.
in maternity. My goal is to be a labor and
“My first degree in 2006 was in marketing
delivery nurse. Hopefully I can pass my NCLEX in
and communications,” said Enright, who is set to
December and start as a nurse in January 2024.”
earn her BSN through Holy Family’s accelerated
For Enright, Holy Family University has lived
second-degree program in October. “I
up to its reputation, provided outstanding
immediately joined the Peace Corps and moved to
educators and support in a timeframe that fit with
West Africa. It was there, where I was advocating
her lifestyle and ambition and allowed to pivot
for women and children and sharing education
toward her passion.
on health, that I first became interested in, really developed a passion for, nursing.” So, she returned to the States and enrolled in
“I just tried to take everything course by course and to stay on top of things, making a to-do list, noting the deadlines,” she said. “I knew
nursing school? No. She fell in love with insurance
it was going to be a juggling act, and I knew
and worked in the industry for 14 years.
it was going to be hard, a huge challenge that
But it was motherhood, her personal
would be very stressful. It’s been
losses and her now two healthy sons, that
all of those things, but I think
brought her heart back to nursing.
it’s just worth it in the end.
“I had both good and bad
I hope people will see
experiences in my journey to
that I have what it takes
having my kids,” she said. “I had
and that I am clearly
wonderful nurses who really held
prepared.”
my hand during very difficult times
Well-positioned,
and were there for me and just really
indeed, to serve boldly.
reiterated things that I needed to know to take care of myself and to take care of my family. I also had some experiences that really weren’t so great, and I thought, ‘This should be improved.
Meghann Enright '23
2020s H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 35
50 YE A RS O F NU RS IN G EXC EL LEN C E
A CALL TO
GIVE BACK YOU JUST NEVER KNOW WHAT LIFE IS GOING
Three years into career as a private investigator,
TO DROP IN YOUR LAP. For Holy Family University
where he worked to uncover insurance fraud,
second-degree accelerated nursing student
Naimo was diagnosed with testicular cancer that
Christopher Naimo '23, who will complete his
advanced and required aggressive chemotherapy
BSN this October, the uncertainties that life has
and several surgeries. He developed blood clots
delivered to him have been fiercely challenging,
in both lungs, battled an unknown infection and
frightfully difficult and immensely fulfilling.
went into congestive heart failure. He was 34
Watching the Twin Towers collapse on September 11, 2001 while a sophomore in high
years old. It was frightfully difficult. On July 2, 2021, Naimo was deemed cancer free.
school, Naimo heeded a call to service and,
At 6:30 p.m. on September 8, 2022,
upon graduation, enlisted in the Army and
the Naimos received a call from their
completed two deployments to Iraq. It
adoption agency that they were
was a fiercely challenging decision. Returning home, Naimo worked in
going to become parents overnight. They welcomed their son, CJ,
the oil fields of Texas, helping his wife,
through what is called a “drop
Caitlin, (whom he married in 2008)
in the lap.” Fatherhood has been
through nursing school. He used his
immensely fulfilling.
GI benefits to earn an undergraduate degree in criminal justice and returned to the Philadelphia area in 2015, where he grew up, to complete
“My journey, my life has been very interesting,” Naimo said. “After 9-11, I felt a calling to serve my country. After surviving
a master’s in criminal
cancer, I felt a calling
justice at Temple
to give back. The
University.
treatment that I received at the Perelman Center at the University of Pennsylvania, the care that I received from
2020s 36 FA L L 2 0 2 3
Christopher Naimo '23
doctors and nurses and advanced practice providers gave me a second chance at life. I don’t think, if I hadn’t been up here and at Penn, that my life would have turned out the way that it did. I want to give someone else the second chance at life that I got. That’s why I enrolled at Holy Family. “My professors here took great pride in their teaching,” he continued. “They took pride in giving us the education that we deserved. They
THE WORLD NEEDS MORE
HEROES RN to BSN, BSN, MSN, NP, DNP
have worked hard to make us better students, to make us, hopefully one day, colleagues. It’s been challenging going to classes on nights and weekends, while my wife was finishing her DNP (at West Chester University in electrophysiology.
LEARN MORE: holyfamily.edu/nursing
Appropriately, she graduated on Mother’s Day last spring), with a new baby (and a dog that they adopted two weeks before their son’s arrival). It was hard. Life is hard, but it is achievable, if you have faith in your professors that they will get you through and that you can be successful.” Naimo now needs to make a determination on what area of healthcare he feels called to. “I really like critical care, so maybe I’ll work in the operating room or some sort of cardiac ICU,” he said. “I enjoy learning, and I enjoy helping. Without my wife I wouldn’t be here or in this program or in this profession. I am so grateful, and I just want to help people because so many people have helped me.”
H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 37
ADVANCING HOLY FAMILY UNIVERSITY
Emily Schwartz ‘24 presented her research on T-Cells within the COVID-19 vaccine.
ABOVE: Karen Earley, Phil Earley, Gail (Garberina) Campbell ’82, Grace (Bennett) Wandling ‘86, and Jim Bennett, Esq., ’82 share their thoughts on exhibits at the museum.
TIGERS ON THE LOOSE 2023 ON THURSDAY, MAY 4, nearly 200 alumni and friends attended Tigers on the Loose, Holy Family University’s, annual scholarship celebration, at the Academy of Natural Sciences. The event opened with a cocktail hour in the Academy’s North American Hall featuring a poster presentation of Holy Family students’ research projects and access to the museums’ special exhibit, Conversations With Birds. Then, following a short program, guests enjoyed a seated dinner in the Academy’s Dinosaur Hall, surrounded by over 30 species of extinct dinosaurs including Tyrannosaurus rex. Through the generous support of our sponsors, donors, attendees, and auction winners, the event raised nearly $250,000 for student financial aid. For the complete list of sponsors, please visit holyfamily.edu/ tigersloose.
38 FA L L 2 0 2 3
ABOVE: Karen and Phil Earley with Colleen and Fred Leh ‘03 RIGHT: Linda Thatcher Raichle ‘70 and her husband John Duda with Dorothy Healy Chiarantona ‘70
ADVANCING HOLY FAMILY UNIVERSITY
RECENT GRANTS EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION (ECE) PATHWAYS funding creates a pipeline for educators to return to school and obtain their bachelor’s degree. $487,000
funds will support Student Mental Health & Wellbeing through Counseling Services. $40,000 NAZARETH FAMILY FOUNDATION has also given Holy Family funding for a Special Community Project within our ministry. $20,000
FOUNDATION has seen the success of our Collegiate Recovery Program and awarded a second year of
$487,000
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PATHWAYS
NAZARETH FAMILY FOUNDATION’S
INDEPENDENCE BLUE CROSS
GR ANTS R ECEI V ED
$40,000 AND
$20,000 NAZARETH FAMILY FOUNDATION
$25,000
INDEPENDENCE BLUE CROSS FOUNDATION
funding. $25,000
Teneor Votis Society “I am very grateful for all the opportunities Holy Family has given me which have greatly enriched my life as a nurse, teacher, and person. I want to help the next generation of nursing students reach their potential as professional nurses. That’s why I’ve made Holy Family a beneficiary of my will.”
Named after the University’s motto, “I am bound by my responsibilities,” the Teneor Votis Society recognizes the generosity and foresight of those who have included Holy Family in their estate plans, either through their will, trust or as a beneficiary of a life insurance or retirement plan. For more information on how you can have a bigger impact on our students and faculty, while still accomplishing your financial and retirement goals, please contact us or visit us online at holyfamily.planned.gifts.
Mary Wombwell, ’81 EdD, MSN, RN Professor Emeritus, Holy Family University Member of Holy Family’s Teneor Votis Society
H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 39
ADVANCING HOLY FAMILY UNIVERSITY
ABOVE: The Class of 1973 celebrating their 50th Anniversary.
REUNION 2023 ON SATURDAY, MAY 13, alumni from six decades returned to campus to celebrate Reunion 2023. In honor of their 50th Anniversary, the Class of 1973 was inducted into the Golden Alumni Society at a special afternoon reception. The reception included Afternoon Tea with University President, Dr. Anne Prisco, and the “Then & Now” Panel Discussion, featuring: Amelia “Millie” Cortes ‘24, Abby Dolan ’24, Sophia Paz ’24, and Julian Stewart ’25. Following the Golden Alumni Society reception, all
ABOVE: Catherine (Hoffman) McGrath ‘63 and Sister M. Eileen Therese Przybylowski ’61, CSFN commemorating their Class’ 60th Anniversary.
deceased alumni were remembered at celebrated at the Alumni Memorial Mass. The signature evening event, Reunion en bleu, was held in the newly renovated, second floor of the Campus Library. Guests enjoyed food, drinks, dancing, and a special tour of the University Archives, hosted by Sister Brendan O’Brien, CSFN, ’75, University Archivist and Gina Palumbo, Technical Services Coordinator. At this event, Holy Family’s Alumni Association presented the 2023 Alumni Achievement Awards to: Margaret “Peg” (Bigley) O’Grady ’84, RN, MSN, OCN; Jayda Pugliese ‘09, M’14; and Shaikha BuAli M’12, Ed.D. All alumni should save to the date for Reunion 2024, which will once again be held on campus on Saturday, April 20!
40 FA L L 2 0 2 3
ABOVE: Jenna Spadaccino ’13, Jerry Wutkowski ’13, and Sara Szymendera ’13 enjoyed a trip down memory lane in the University Archives Open House.
MEET THE ADVANCEMENT TEAM Wendy Parsons, CFRE Vice President, University Advancement wparsons@holyfamily.edu 267-341-5008 Helene Baczkowski Assistant Vice President, University Advancement hbaczkowski@holyfamily.edu 267-341-3100
ABOVE: The Class of 2013 may have graduated 10 years ago, but their friendships are stronger than ever.
LeeAnn Bushar Annual Giving Manager lbushar@holyfamily.edu 267-341-3017 Kim Caulfield Assistant Vice President for Corporate, Foundation, and Government Relations kcaulfield@holyfamily.edu 267-341-3481 Ryan Keller ‘17 Associate Director of Corporate, Foundation and Government Relations rkeller@holyfamily.edu 267-341-5004
ABOVE: Students of the Golden Alumni Society “Then & Now” Panel with moderator, Bernice Purcell ’85, DBA BELOW: Alumni from the Classes of 1998-2022 couldn’t resist a photo with Mike McNulty-Bobholz M’11, Executive Director for Retention and Persistence.
Janet Linaweaver Director of Advancement Operations jlinaweaver@holyfamily.edu 267-341-5007 Amanda Medina León Director of Advancement Events and Communications amedinaleon@holyfamily.edu 267-341-3509 Mary Kay McGettigan Executive Director, Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving mmcgettigan@holyfamily.edu 267-341-5017 Patti Paluch ‘10 University Advancement Operations Manager ppaluch@holyfamily.edu 267-341-5005 Julie Rempfer ‘10 Director, Donor Relations and Prospect Management jrempfer@holyfamily.edu 267-341-5014 Ryan Salyer Advancement Coordinator rsalyer@holyfamily.edu 267-341-3525 H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 41
ATHLETICS
ABOVE:
Shania Le Maitre ’23
Le Maitre Selected as CACC’s NCAA Woman of the Year Nominee
S
hania Le Maitre (Champs Fleurs, Trinidad
an NCAA-sponsored sport and must have earned
& Tobago/Holy Name Convent) of women’s
her undergraduate degree by Summer 2023.
cross country and track & field program has
Eligible female student-athletes are nominated
been selected as one the Central Atlantic Collegiate
by their member school, and each conference office
Conference’s (CACC) two 2023 NCAA Woman of the
reviews the nominations and submits its conference
Year nominees.
nominee(s) to the NCAA. Conference offices can
She is one of 164 women in the NCAA, and one of just 39 at the Division II level, to be nominated at the conference level.
42 FA L L 2 0 2 3
recognize two nominees if at least one is a woman of color or an international student-athlete. In October, the Woman of the Year Selection
The NCAA Woman of the Year program was es-
Committee, made up of representatives from NCAA
tablished in 1991 and honors the academic achieve-
membership, choose the top 30 honorees — 10 from
ments, athletics excellence, community service and
each division — from the conference-level nomi-
leadership of graduating female college athletes
nees. From the top 30, the selection committee will
from all three divisions. To be eligible, a nominee
determine the top three in each division, and the
must have competed and earned a varsity letter in
nine finalists will be announced in November.
ATHLETICS
From the nine finalists, the NCAA Committee
The six total medals she won in 2023, five of
on Women’s Athletics selects the NCAA Woman of
which were gold, led to her being named the 2022-
the Year, who is named during a luncheon at the
23 PhillySIDA Academic All-Area Women’s Track &
NCAA Convention.
Field Performer of the Year.
Le Maitre won a total of 13 medals at track & field
Le Maitre has earned U.S. Track & Field and
conference championships during her career, 10 gold,
Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA)
one silver and two bronze, highlighted by helping lead
Outdoor All-Region honors in each of the last two
HFU to its first two East Coast Conference (ECC) indoor
years, as well as USTFCCCA Indoor All-Region
titles in 2022 and 2023. She won gold in all five events
accolades in 2023.
she competed in at those two championships and would
A 12-time track & field All-Conference nominee,
go on to be named the ECC Women’s Indoor Track &
she ran to her first All-CACC Cross Country laurels
Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year for both seasons.
at the 2022 CACC Championship.
Le Maitre has also helped the Tigers to back-to-back
Le Maitre excelled academically during all of this,
second place finishes at the Central Atlantic Collegiate
earning Dean’s List honors in all eight of her semes-
Conference (CACC) Outdoor Championship, new
ters. She graduated with her Bachelor of Arts in Biolo-
program records, with four gold and six total medals.
gy in May after compiling a 3.97 grade-point average.
BE THE
HELP
THAT OTHERS NEED
Master of Science in Counseling Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) LEARN MORE: holyfamily.edu/psych H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 43
ATHLETICS
Holy Family University Athletics to Add Baseball in 2023-24 The Holy Family University Department of Athletics is pleased to announce the addition of baseball as its 18th NCAA Division II varsity program, effective for the 2023-24 academic year. This follows the launch of three new varsity programs over the past year– men’s lacrosse, women’s bowling, and Esports (coed). Baseball becomes the 14th sport that Holy Family competes in within the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) among the 17 that it offers. Last year, Holy Family University launched
ABOVE: The HFU women’s basketball participates in the university’s 2022 Trunk-or-Treat event, hosted by HFU SAAC.
Holy Family Wins 2022-23 CACC Community Engagement Award for Trunk-or-Treat Event
a state-of-the-art Esports Center, and
The HFU Department of Athletics has
“The First Annual Holy Family SAAC
plans are underway for a brand-new field-
been presented with the 2022-23 Central
Trunk-or-Treat was an event that was cre-
house, scheduled to open this summer.
Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC)
ated to promote community and a strong
“This is an exciting time at Holy
Community Engagement Award for its Stu-
family atmosphere on campus,” said SAAC
Family with the sustained growth of our
dent-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC)
Advisor Bernadette Laukaitis.
athletic department,” said Holy Family
sponsored Trunk-or-Treat event held in
University Director of Athletics Tim Ha-
October.
The event, held prior to a women’s soccer match on the Thursday before Hallow-
mill. “This growth allows the university
The CACC Community Engagement
een, provided children from the commu-
to continue its tradition of developing
Award is annually presented to one insti-
nity the opportunity to come together on
student-athletes that will learn disci-
tution that best promotes the community
campus and meet HFU student-athletes
pline, preparation, strategic thinking,
engagement initiative adopted by Division
who dressed up and gave out candy from
and teamwork in their respective sports
II. This award takes into consideration one
the trunks of cars.
with their peers at an even larger scale.
activity and is judged based on the type
The children had the chance to engage
We look forward to welcoming our
of outreach program, student-athlete in-
in different activities with the student-ath-
first-ever baseball class to our campus in
volvement, athletic team involvement and
letes, before going on to the watch the
the fall.”
athletic department involvement.
women’s soccer match.
Holy Family will now move on for
“We are looking forward to making it
ested in being recruited for baseball
consideration for the NCAA Division II
even bigger and better next year, as it was
can contact the Director of Athletics at
Community Engagement Award, which will
an awesome to see all of the HFU communi-
thamill@holyfamily.edu or complete the
be announced during the NCAA’s annual
ty come together and celebrate the Division
prospective student-athlete form.
convention in January.
II mission,” Laukaitis added.
Prospective student-athletes inter-
44 FA L L 2 0 2 3
ATHLETICS
Holy Family University Hires Kyle Davis as First-Ever Baseball Coach Holy Family University is pleased to announce the hir-
ference with the experience of starting a program,”
ing of Kyle Davis is its first-ever head baseball coach.
said HFU Athletic Director Tim Hamill. “I look
The university recently announced the addition of
forward to him quickly establishing HFU as not only
baseball as its 18th varsity program, effective for the
a successful team on the field, but in the classroom as
2023-24 academic year.
well, similarly too as he has at his prior stops.”
Davis joins HFU from former Central Atlantic
Davis returned to his alma mater after spending
Collegiate Conference (CACC) member University
the previous four seasons as head coach of Valley
of the Sciences (USciences), where he was the head
Forge Military Academy & College, where he took
coach from 2019-22 after previously spending one
over as the program’s first-ever head coach prior to
season as an assistant in 2014.
its inaugural 2015 season.
ABOVE: Kyle Davis
In his first season at the helm of his alma mater,
Tasked with building the team from the ground
the Devils set Division II-era program records with
up, he led Valley Forge to a 19-18 record and a playoff
17 overall wins and 13 CACC victories, both of which
appearance in just its second season.
were more than double the season prior.
A decorated collegiate player himself, Davis is
After the 2020 season was shortened due to
USciences’ all-time hits leader in hits (170), total
COVID, USciences appeared in its first CACC Tour-
bases (222) and walks (99). A four-year captain and
nament since 2013 in 2021. Two Devils were voted
two-time All-CACC selection, he also ranks third
All-CACC First Team, giving the program two first
in program history with 32 doubles, fourth with 97
team honorees for just the second time in its history.
runs and seven triples, and in the top-10 in on-base
In 2022, the final season of the program, Uni-
percentage (.433), RBI (74) and stolen bases (25).
versity of the Sciences again won 17 games while
Davis is certified by the American Baseball Coach-
accomplishing something it never had: landing three
es Association, and he also has experience at the
student-athletes on the All-CACC Team.
travel baseball level as he served as a head coach for
The Devils also excelled academically under Da-
Tri-State Arsenal for four years.
vis, as his student-athletes earned a total of 24 CACC
He received his Bachelor of Science in Exercise
All-Academic nominations during his four years.
Sciences and Wellness Management, before going on
“Highly recommended throughout the CACC,
to earn his Master of Science in Exercise Physiology
Kyle brings a balance of having knowledge of the con-
from West Chester University.
ADVANCE YOUR CAREER IN
EDUCATION
GRADUATE AND CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS LEARN MORE holyfamily.edu/education
H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 45
ATHLETICS
Greenwood Competes at NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships Holy Family University’s Kenisha
She wraps up an outdoor season in
Greenwood (Jamaica) competed in the
which she won three gold medals at the
400 meter hurdles at the 2023 NCAA
Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference
Division II Outdoor Track & Field
(CACC) and was named All-Region after
Championships in Pueblo, Colorado.
posting the fastest 400 meter hurdle time
The sophomore placed 14th out of 21 in
in the East Region.
the preliminaries with a time of 1:01.54. Greenwood qualified for the champion-
RIGHT:
ships by running the eighth fastest time in
Kenisha Greenwood ’23
all of Division II this season.
HFU Women Tie Program Record with Second Place Finish in CACC’s Restaino Cup Standings The HFU women’s second place finish in
finishes in the regular season, coupled with
the 2022-23 Central Atlantic Collegiate
CACC Tournament Semifinal appearances.
Conference (CACC) Restaino Cup stand-
Soccer also advanced to the CACC Tour-
ings is tied for the highest in the program’s
nament Semifinals for an average of 9.75
history, dating back to when the league
points after a fifth place finish in the regular
debuted the award for the first time in its
season standings.
Division II era in 2006-07.
Cross country added 10 points to the
The Tigers also finished second in 200708 and 2011-12. The point system used for the award takes
total thanks to a fourth place finish at the
ERENCE CHAMPION CONF
CACC Championship, one position shy of the program record set the previous year.
into account each athletic program’s finish in
Lacrosse and softball contributed
both the 2022-23 CACC regular season and
averages of 8.75 points and 7.5 points,
conference tournaments. Each institution
respectively, after both qualified for the
receives a combined point total and the sum is
CACC Tournament for the third consec-
then divided by the number of women’s sports
Track & field led the way with 12 points
utive year. Lacrosse finished fifth in the
the institution competes in during the season.
after tying a program record with a second
regular season standings, while softball
Holy Family averaged 9.8438 points
place finish at the CACC Championship for
was seventh.
across its eight sports, finishing less than a half point behind champion Jefferson’s average of 10.2500.
46 FA L L 2 0 2 3
the second year in a row. Volleyball (11.25) and women’s basketball (11) were right behind thanks to second place
Bowling rounded out the total with 8.5 points after competing at the inaugural CACC Bowling Championship.
NURSING BY THE NUMBERS
%
5
10
24
The number of graduates in the
The number of states
The state percentile ranking
first graduating class from the
represented by students
of the Holy Family University
Holy Family University School
currently enrolled in the
School of Nursing
of Nursing in 1973: Maureen R.
University’s distance
Connors, Carolann Demarzo,
learning, 14-month
Kathleen P. Flavin, Charlene R.
accelerated program.
Mayer, Eileen D. Santaniello
6,000+
18
The number of graduates
A 91.38 +
The average score of Holy Family University School of Nursing students who passed the National Council Licensure Examination
The national percentile
from the Holy Family
(NCLEX) in the second quarter of
ranking of the Holy Family
University School of Nursing
2023 (April-June), far exceeding the
University School of Nursing
in its first 50 years.
national pass rate of 80 percent.
CLASS OF 2023 BY THE NUMBERS
416
total graduates
370
The number of nursing undergraduates who graduated in the Class of 2023 with BSN degrees
For the Undergraduate BSN Programs:
For the Graduate programs:
1. BSN Traditional
1. MSN program
2. Second degree Fast Track day
2. DNP program
3. Second degree PTEW Track
• Post BSN-FNP/DNP
4. Second Degree Distance/Hybrid track
• Post MSN-FNP/DNP
5. RN to BSN Program
• Post APRN-DNP Leadership
6. Perioperative Nursing Certificate
• Post MSN-DNP Leadership
CURRENT FACULTY BY THE NUMBERS
16
Full-time Faculty/Administration
5
Nursing Staff
300
Adjunct clinical/lab/didactic faculty
CLASS NOTES
ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS At Reunion 2023 on May 13, Holy Family’s Alumni Association honored the 2023 Alumni Achievement Award recipients: Margaret “Peg” (Bigley) O’Grady ‘84, RN, MSN, OCN; Jayda Pugliese ‘09, M’14; and Shaikha BuAli M’12, Ed.
1960s
1970s
1980s
Susan Lepis ‘65 is
Phyllis Procopio ’69
Jackie (Rafa) Wojtecki
Beth Ann (Reck)
enjoying retirement
and her colleague
‘73, Ph.D. is an
Swan ‘80, Ph.D., RN,
after a rewarding
and close friend,
Assistant Professor
FAAN, is among 23
career working for the
Christopher Wiley
and Full Time Faculty
nationwide inductees
United Nations in New
M’05, were featured
at Grand Canyon
into the Academy of
York, NY and teaching
in The Philadelphia
University. She and her
Nursing Education in
French at the Marine
Inquirer in January
husband, Tony, live in
September 2023. Swan
Academy of Science
2023. Over the last
North Fort Myers, FL.
is a professor and
and Technology in
20+ years, Procopio
Sandy Hook, NJ.
and Wiley have
Maryann Poulos
Emory University Nell
She has taken up
supported each other
Kramer ‘77 has
Hodgson Woodruff
photography and
through a wedding, a
retired after a career
School of Nursing.
making photo cards.
motorcycle accident,
as a Social Insurance
a master’s degree,
Rep with the U.S.
Susan (Thrash)
dialysis and a kidney
Department of Health
Lynch ‘89, Ph.D. is
transplant.
and Human Services.
currently the Director
administrator in the
of Surgical Services at Penn Medicine.
48 FA L L 2 0 2 3
CLASS NOTES
1990s
2000s
Maria (Magro) Van
Jim Miller ‘96, CRNA,
Kimberly Stokes
Heather (Belmonte)
Pelt ‘92 BSN, MSA,
MBA has been
M’06 was recently
Brahan ‘08, M’13 was
MSN, Ph.D. was among
named president of
appointed principal
recently appointed
58 distinguished
Lehigh Valley Health
of Copper Beech
principal of Assistant
leaders in nurse
Muhlenberg campus
Elementary School
Principal of Truman
anesthesiology
and the Northampton
within Abington
High School within
inducted into
region, which includes
School District.
Bristol Township
the American
3 hospitals. Jim and
Association of Nurse
his wife, Heather
Anesthesiology’s
(McHugh) Miller ‘94 live
Shawna (Kovalcheck)
(AANA) 2023 Class of
in Coopersburg, PA.
Naylor ‘08 is the
School District.
Fellows. Susan (Fratrick)
PHOTO CREDIT: BRANDON BALLARD
administrative and stewardship
Barbara Zuroick
Abtouche ‘98 earned a
‘93, U.S. fleet &
Ph.D. in Organizational
safety manager at
Leadership from
AstraZeneca, retired
Eastern University
from the global
in May 2023. She is
biopharamceutical
the Vice President of
company on June
Mission Enhancement
Joe Golden M’06 was
2023.
at White Horse Village
named a 2023 CFO of
and the Executive
the Year honoree by
Liz (Velitskovich)
Director of the
Philadelphia Business
Summers ‘95 married
White Horse Village
Journal. Golden is the
Donald Summers in
Foundation.
Chief Financial Officer
May 2023. She works for Vertex, Inc. as a Product Manager
coordinator for Development and Alumni Relations for Penn State University Brandywine.
of PrimoHoagies.
Dan Kilcoyne, ‘04, CEO of MiniMelts of America, Inc., was recently featured in an article on The Spoon, detailing the company’s growth from a Dippin’ Dots alternative once available at just a few storefronts to what has become a network of more than 2000 automated kiosks.
Principal.
Save the Date! Saturday, April 20 Holy Family University
2024 REUNION
FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT HOLYFAMILY.EDU/REUNION
H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 49
CLASS NOTES
2010s Boynton Beach, Florida
Heather Tennison
with their three-year-
‘16, who graduated
old daughter, Quinn,
with a BS in Business
and their one-year-old
Administration, just
son, Brian Jr.
reached her 36-year anniversary with her
Justin Rementer ‘11 is
employer, a local bank.
the Owner and Head
She is employed as a
Coach at RaidFitness,
business analyst.
LLC. Jazmine Babuch ‘19 Kristin Zarrello M’15,
works as a Toddler
LMHC, SUDP, NCC is
Teacher at Cheder
Brian McDonnell
the owner and lead
Chabad of Philadelphia.
’11 founded High
counselor at Oak and
Five Partnerships, a
Linden Counseling
Dawn Martesi M’19 has
sports marketing and
providing telehealth
been named the new
advertising firm. He
and in-person mental
principal of Mill Creek
and his wife, Melissa
health services in
Elementary School in
Moratti ’10, live in
Seattle, WA.
Levittown, PA.
Chelsea (Brown) Sharkus ‘14, daughter of Shannon Brown ‘99 (Executive Director of Holy Family University’s Library), and her husband, Robert, celebrated the birth of their baby girl, Reyna, in August 2023.
In Memoriam Virginia “Gini” (Fluehr) Campbell ‘60
Joan (Wojtkiewicz) Shaw ‘69
Joseph Bianchino ‘04
Lorraine (Kroll) Popowicz ‘61 Ph.D.
Phyllis Szal-Smith ‘74
Krista Shadle-Smith M’05
Elizabeth “Betty” (Bonanni) ‘65
Charles Blockson H’95
Cara Schoenmeier M’11
Sister Doloretta Dawid, CSFN, ‘68, Professor Emerita
Donna (Zazzarino) Baker ‘98
Joel Contreras-Francisco ‘16
William “Bo” Smigiel ‘03
Sherri (Martindell) Jokic M’17
LINDBACK AWARD RECIPIENTS Of the 60 recipients of the 2023 Lindback Awards for Distinguished Principals and Teachers, five are proud Holy Family alumni: Michael Biddle ‘99, Licinio Ferreira M’08, Michele Sorkin Socki M’06, Beth Menasion M’20, and Jennifer Motsney M’09, M’19.
50 FA L L 2 0 2 3
CLASS NOTES
2020s Steven Ambs M’21
Bridget Hauss M’23
Alexa Zapczynski
was presented with
is a teacher within
’20, M’23 married
the 2022 Bensalem
Bristol Borough
Tom DiMarcantonio
Township Police
School District.
’19 in June 2023. The wedding party
Officer of the Year Jackee Staples M’23
and guests included
in Emotional Support
a number of Holy
Kaitlyn Meyers ’21
Services for Grades
Family alumni
received a DAISY Award
6-8 at the WIlliam
including: Emma
For Extraordinary
H. Hunter School in
(DiMarcantonio)
Nursing in April 2023.
Philadelphia.
Brandt ’14, Abigail
award in March 2023.
Clauss ’21, Dominic
Kaitlyn is a Burn ICU Nurse with Temple
Jeff Camp M’23
Kenkelen ’19, Diana
Health.
teaches at George
(DiMarcantonio)
Washington High
Kott ‘14, M’19,
Caryn Weindel ‘22 is
School within the
Jennifer Peters ’19
a Registered Nurse
School District of
and Riley Turner ’21.
at Cooper University
Philadelphia.
Hospital.
LIFE INSURANCE MEDICARE EXCHANGE
Alumni Benefits Program Did you know that Holy Family University Alumni Association sponsors an Alumni Benefits Program™ as a service to our alumni? The program offers a variety of attractively-priced products, most of which are available to alumni, students, faculty, and staff as well as their spouses, domestic partners, children, parents, and siblings.
LONG TERM DISABILITY INSURANCE REAL ESTATE BENEFITS ADVISORY SERVICES LONG TERM CARE INSURANCE TRAVEL INSURANCE ID THEFT COVERAGE AUTO/HOME INSURANCE
For more information visit HFU.MeyerAndAssoc.com or contact Meyer and Associates, the Program Administrator, at 800-635-7801 Proceeds from the program support Holy Family University’s Alumni Association
PET INSURANCE MORTGAGE SMALL BUSINESS INSURANCE
H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 51
? ?NCLEX TEST YOUR
KNOWLEDGE
statement by the client would indicate
is correct?
an understanding of proper treatment?
A. “I want you to just breathe normally”
A. “I will exercise my elbow joint
B. “Take short, shallow breaths”
The nurse is educating a client with a new diagnosis of bursitis of
twice every day.”
B. “I’ll rest my elbow on the table
The National Council Licensure
to relieve pressure.”
?
Examination (NCLEX) is an exam
C. “I’ll apply moist heat three times a day.”
used to determine if recently
graduated nursing students are
safe to practice. Every nurse must pass this critical exam. Whether
D. “I will use dry ice for the first
removal of the nasogastric (NG)
tube, which instruction to the client
C. “Take a deep breath and hold it”
D. “I need you to exhale very slowly”
4
A client in the Emergency Department is experiencing
the “fight-or-flight” response, a sympathetic nervous system reaction.
48 hours.”
2
When preparing a client for the
Which of the following will the nurse The pediatric nurse receives a
expect to observe?
1-year-old child with a hip spica
A. Decreased pupil size
cast application to treat hip dysplasia.
B. Increased pulse rate
Which of the following nursing actions
C. Decreased perspiration
should be implemented for the child?
guarantee this will give you a whole
D. Increased urine output
A. Apply waterproof tape to the cast
new appreciation for the depth of
around the genital/diaper area.
knowledge of nursing professionals!
B. Keep the bed flat and turn the child
5
you are a Nursing alum or just
like a challenge, try your hand at
these sample NCLEX questions. We
from supine to prone q4 hours. C. Use the crossbar of the cast to help
Send your response to
turn and position the child.
magazine@holyfamily.edu and
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D. Use a hair dryer on the warm setting
we will send the first five (5) alumni with the correct responses some Holy Family University gear. GOOD LUCK! Answers and winners will be posted on holyfamily.edu/magazine on December 1.
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the elbow (olecranon bursitis). Which
3
1
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to dry the cast as soon as possible.
The nurse is educating a client with hypovolemia related to dehydration.
Which statement by the client indicates a need for further instruction? A. “I will drink more coffee and tea throughout the day.” B. “I can count the fluids that are in the foods I eat.” C. “I will increase my fluid intake to at least 3 L a day.” D. “I know that alcohol drinks can increase my dehydration.”
Make Your Impact. Donors to the Blue & White Fund, Holy Family’s Annual Fund for student scholarships, make a significant impact in the lives of today’s students by supporting financial aid. At Holy Family, we believe that every student, regardless of their financial circumstances, should have the opportunity to pursue higher education.
Every donor makes a difference. Every gift makes an impact. MAKE YOUR GIFT TODAY! Online: Holyfamily.edu/give Mail: Office of University Advancement, 9801 Frankford Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19114
52 FA L L 2 0 2 3
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CELEBRATE 50 YEARS OF NURSING EXCELLENCE WITH HOLY FAMILY UNIVERSITY!
SUPPORT OUR STUDENTS!
Whether you’re a proud Nursing alum or have benefited from the care of one of the 6,000+ Holy Family University nurses in the Philadelphia region, your support is crucial. Join us in honoring this remarkable legacy by contributing to the 50th Anniversary Excellence in Nursing Fund. And, in appreciation of our amazing Nursing alumni, proudly display our commemorative “Thank a Nurse” car decal. For half a century, Holy Family University has been at the forefront of nursing education. Our graduates have become the backbone of healthcare in our region, gracing every major hospital and healthcare institution. They embody the spirit of compassionate care and excellence in nursing and health sciences. To ensure this tradition continues, we need your support. The 50th Anniversary Excellence in Nursing Fund has been established to drive innovation and provide scholarships for deserving students. Innovation in New Programs and Simulation Labs In a world of rapid technological advancements, we’re investing in innovative training programs and cutting-edge technology. Our goal is to prepare the next generation of nurses to be leaders and patient-focused professionals. We’re also introducing a certified nurse assistant (CNA) certificate program to expand opportunities. Our Simulation Labs play a crucial role in training our students. They offer a real-world nursing environment where students can apply their skills without
Join us in supporting the next generation of Holy Family nurses by making a gift today. Scan the QR code or visit holyfamily.edu/give to contribute. For personalized assistance or to discuss your donation, please contact Wendy Parsons at wparsons@ holyfamily.edu or 267.341.7969.
consequences. Your support will help us equip these labs for the future. Nursing Scholarships Over 98% of our nursing students receive scholarships and financial aid, enabling them to pursue their dreams. Many of our undergraduates are the first in their families to attend college. Your donations to the 50th Anniversary Excellence in Nursing Fund can be designated for scholarships, making a profound impact on the lives of these talented students. Show your pride and gratitude for our incredible Holy Family alumni nurses. Together, let’s ensure nursing excellence continues for another 50 years and beyond! H O LY FA M I LY. E D U 53
9801 Frankford Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19114
Upcoming Events OCTOBER 2023
JANUARY 2024
20 Nursing 50th Anniversary
16 Spring 1 Semester Begins
Celebration
21 TigerFest Homecoming for Alumni and Families
FEBRUARY 2024 11 70th Anniversary Day of Giving
NOVEMBER 2023 5 Undergraduate Admissions
MARCH 2024
Open House
20 50th Anniversary
15 Graduate Admissions
School of Nursing Gala
Open House
FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT HOLYFAMILY.EDU/EVENTS
