Lamar University’s Kappa Kappa Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society of Nursing celebrated its 20th anniversary and inducted 24 members during a recent ceremony.
Community nurse leaders joined Lamar graduate and undergraduate students in the JoAnne Gay Dishman Department of Nursing in becoming members of the first and only international honor society of nursing. The event was Nov. 18 in the University Reception Center of the Mary and John Gray Library.
“We are here to celebrate your achievements,” said Leslie Brown instructor of nursing and Kappa Kappa Chapter president. “You are among a distinguished group of nursing students and professionals who have met or exceeded rigorous standards and have demonstrated the ideal qualities of nursing excellence . . . We welcome you to our global community.”
Nursing professionals inducted as nurse leaders are Jocelyn Angulo and Anne Fisher Winslow of Beaumont, Melody Antoon of Wildwood and Deborah Marciniak of Orange.
Inducted as graduate students were Glynda Cochran, Lumberton; Nancy Emma, San Antonio; Troy Felix and Heidi Wolf, Beaumont; and Georgiana Pickerill and Cynthia Zoch-Darcey, Nederland.
Undergraduates earning membership are Brittany Bodden, Groves; Ashtchin Castle and Amy Sessions, Vidor; Emily Susan Deagle and Stacie Goodwin, Lumberton; Ada Raquel Garcia, Houston; Lauren Holt, Megan Sample, Jalinda Schmidt and Bethany Williams, Beaumont; Sairoj Maredia and Kendall Shoefstall, Nederland; Jessica Mouton, Winnie; and Linda Kay Sexton, Port Neches.
Brown conducted the ceremony, joined by associate professor Dianna Rivers and assistant professors Mary Walker and Kathy Roberts.
In celebrating its 20th anniversary, the chapter honored four charter members who were instrumental in creating the Lamar chapter in 1988 and who remain active, Brown said. They are Patti Moss, Sandy Boyd and Donna Wilsker, all assistant professors, and Elizabeth “Betty” Hale, a retired nursing faculty member living in Houston.
Chapter officers were instrumental in planning and supporting the induction, Brown said, crediting faculty members Carolyn Heinz, Donna Wilsker, Barbara May and Judy Smith, as well as Candace Hermann from Memorial Hermann Baptist Hospital and Janet Meloncon and Bobby Simon, who are faculty members at Lamar State College-Orange.
Eileen Deges Curl is chair of the JoAnne Gay Dishman Department of Nursing, and Iva Hall is director of undergraduate nursing studies.