Congratulations to the NHS Class of 2008!

Katherine Burns (NHS'08)

During a beautiful Washington day on Saturday, May 17, members of the School of Nursing & Health Studies Class of 2008 received their degrees.

Carolyn Clancy, M.D., director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, was this year’s commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient.

“You are more scientifically knowledgeable than your predecessors, and you have unprecedented access to information and tools that weren’t even on the drawing board 10 years ago, or even five years ago in many instances,” Clancy told the graduates.

“You are the next generation of health care providers, and it is important for you to see yourselves as innovators and leaders who will impact the future of health care for years to come,” she said.

Classmates selected Helena Kuhn, a human science major, to present the student address at commencement.

“In the NHS, we also have a series of intangible gifts,” Kuhn said. “These gifts flow through our outstanding faculty and staff, who scooped us up into their warm arms the moment we arrived on campus and haven’t let go since.”

“These gifts also flow through our exceptional student body, whose friendships, support, and camaraderie are perhaps the greatest reason we can stand before the crowd today as college graduates,” she said. “At Georgetown, we are rooted and grounded in love.”

Among the 156 graduates who received bachelor of science degrees in health care management & policy, human science, international health, and nursing:

• Katherine Burns led the student procession, finishing first in the graduating class. She plans to work in the operations division of Goldman Sachs in New York City.

• Katherine Albutt, Katherine Burns, Matthew Crommett, Shannon Doran, Emily Herzberg, Helena Kuhn, and Emily Lawson were inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honor society for the liberal arts.

• Five students achieved summa cum laude (3.9 and above), 25 achieved magna cum laude (3.7 and above), and 34 achieved cum laude (3.5 and above).

• Eighteen students were elected to Sigma Theta Tau, the International Nursing Honor Society; 10 were selected as Health Studies Scholars; three were named to Upsilon Phi Delta, the Honor Society for Health Systems Administration; two were named to Alpha Sigma Nu, the National Jesuit Honor Society; and four were initiated into Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society.

In addition, 93 students from the NHS graduate programs in health systems administration and nursing received their degrees this year.

Graduate students participated in the commencement exercises of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, which took place on Friday, May 16.

NHS Professor Allan Angerio, Bernhard Liese, chair of the Department of International Health, and Julie DeLoia, associate dean of academic affairs	Charles Evans, chair of the Department of Human Science, and NHS Professors Pablo Irusta and Alexander Theos
Matthew Crommett (NHS'08)	NHS Dean Bette Jacobs
Bernhard Liese, chair of the Department of International Health	Helena Kuhn (NHS'08)
Carolyn Clancy, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality	Gary Filerman, chair of the Department of Health Systems Administration, and Carolyn Clancy, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Jonathan Slade (NHS'08)	Madeline Seergy (NHS'08)
Brian Cox (NHS'08) and Thomas Hobson (NHS'08)