The Vanderbilt University School of Nursing recognized Nurse-Midwifery and Doctor of Nursing Practice students with pinning ceremonies that marked the completion of their programs in December.
The Nurse-Midwifery students received VUSN nursing pins in accordance with a nursing profession tradition started by 
Florence Nightingale. The DNP graduates received guards to wear with their previously earned nursing pins to signify their doctoral accomplishments.
The school holds pinning ceremonies three times a year. Nurse-Midwifery students are pinned in December when their program ends. Ceremonies are also held in May and August, when most nursing students finish their degrees.
VUSN Dean Linda Norman, DSN, FAAN, the Valere Potter Menefee Professor of Nursing, greeted students and guests, and gave a brief history of the significance of the pinning ceremony. In her welcome, she congratulated the 12 nurse-midwifery students for 
delivering 453 babies during their clinical rotations from June to mid-November 2017 and praised the scholarship of the four DNP students, urging them to publish their doctoral projects.
Terri Allison, DNP, FAANP, director of the DNP program, presented VUSN pin guards to the DNP students. Nurse-Midwifery Program Director Michelle Collins, PhD, FACNM, FAAN, pinned each MSN student with the school’s distinctive gold and 
black pin.
As part of the celebration, student Kelly Ruse was recognized with the faculty-voted Outstanding Student Award for Nurse-Midwifery. Student Chelsea Biegler was honored with the VUSN Alumni Association Award for Student Excellence in Service and Leadership to School and Community. In presenting the award to Biegler, VUSN Alumni Association President Tiffany Street, MSN’03, cited the student nurse-midwife’s leadership in the Shade Tree Early Pregnancy Program (STEPP), a free monthly clinic that provides prenatal care and referrals.
Instructor Tonia Moore-Davis, PhD(c), CNM, FACNM, received the student-voted Sara K. Archer Faculty Award for outstanding contributions to student learning in the Nurse-Midwifery specialty.
Photos: Anne Rayner/Vanderbilt University
From top:
The ceremony marked a milestone occasion for Jessica McMillan, center, with Dean Linda Norman and DNP Program Director Terri Allison. McMillian is a triple ’Dore. She came to Vanderbilt as part of the Opportunity Vanderbilt program and earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2013. She continued at VUSN, receiving her MSN in 2016 and finishing her DNP in December 2017.
Nurse-Midwifery Program Director Michelle Collins pins student Bridgette Aumand.
Dean Linda Norman (left) and Nurse-Midwifery Program Director Michelle Collins (right) congratulate student Kelly Ruse on receiving the Outstanding Student Award for Nurse-Midwifery.
Student Chelsea Biegler (center, with Dean Linda Norman and VUSN Alumni Association President Tiffany Street) received the association’s Award for Student Excellence in Service and Leadership to School and Community.
Students honored Instructor Tonia Moore-Davis with the Sara K. Archer Faculty Award for outstanding contributions to student learning. Left, Dean Linda Norman, Moore-Davis and student Rebecca Palmer.