Nursing students join international honor society

At an induction ceremony this month, 34 Radford University nursing students were inducted into the Epsilon Psi chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.

The 2013 class, inducted on April 13, represents nurses at various career stages. Krystal Coleman was inducted in the Nurse Leader category and Amy Johnson in the Graduate Student category. Nurse Leaders are those who are already licensed to practice, demonstrate achievement in nursing and have completed 12 credit hours with a GPA above 3.0. Graduate students must have completed a quarter of their nursing curriculum, maintained at least a 3.5 GPA and met the expectation of academic integrity.

The 2013 STTI undergraduate inductees were Kathryn Akers, Kayla Bacon, Thomas Beckner, Megan Block, Cameron Bloom, Sally O'Neal Collins, Ayla Combs, Julia Cookson, Stephanie Cox, Hugh Elsea, Breanna Farmer, Megan Blair Greever, Caroline Hollerbach, Jia-leou Hwan and Anna Jivotovski.

Also inducted as undergraduates were Kendahl Kean, Catherine Kerenyi, Lindsay Lamon, Natalie Leonard, Courtney Leopold, Lillie McDonald, Whitney Mitchell, Lauren Moore, Jessica Evans Munnikhuysen, Megan O'Quinn, Rachael Polnerow, Stephanie Russo, Brooke Saunders,  Rebecca Stanfill, Elizabeth Tomlin, Michelle Underwood and Mary Wilhelm.

Undergraduate students must have completed at least half of their nursing curriculum, maintained a minimum 3.0 GPA, ranked in the upper 35 percent of the graduating class and met expectation of academic integrity.

During the induction ceremony, candidates were presented with the customary purple and white honor cord and entered their names in the chapter induction book, which contains signatures of every inductee since the chapter's inception in 1982. Carol Curran of Perinatal University and Clinical Specialists Consulting, gave the keynote address, "Redefining Nursing for Success."

The RU candidates are now members of an organization whose stated mission is to support the learning, knowledge and professional development of nurses who are committed to making a difference in health care worldwide. STTI has more than 130,000 active members in more than 85 countries and almost 500 chapters.

Learn more about Radford University at www.radford.edu.