9.15 

The School earned a $2M Keenan Charitable Trust grant to strategically expand its Accelerated BSN program over the next several years. The expansion, which will launch in May 2027, will allow the School to increase enrollment in this key program. Currently, the School has 54 Accelerated BSN students enrolled across the two-year program, but by 2027, it aims to enroll 96 and, by 2029, hopes to enroll 144.

9.23 

According to U.S. News & World Report's 2026 Best Colleges Guide, UVA School of Nursing's BSN program was ranked No. 13 overall and No. 10 among public institutions. It continues to be ranked Virginia's No. 1 BSN program. It's the second year in a row that the School earned such high marks. In the 2025 Best Colleges Guide, UVA's undergraduate nursing programs were also ranked No. 13 overall, while in the previous year's 2024 Best Colleges Guide, the School was ranked No. 16 overall.

10.8 

Assistant professor, clinician-educator, UVA Health Clinical Nurse Specialist, and alumna Kathleen Rea (BSN ’93, MSN ’02) earned the School’s 2025 Legacy Award for Clinical Teaching Excellence, which was created in 2023 by 13 members of the Diploma class of 1968 to recognize innovative approaching to teaching and learning.

10.17 

For the third time in the last five years, the School earned the American Association for Men in Nursing’s “Best School for Men in Nursing” award, one of a small handful of U.S. nursing programs selected for the honor, at a ceremony in Orlando, FL. The recognition came as the School launched its first-ever American Association for Men in Nursing chapter—the only such organization in Virginia—and held an inaugural interest meeting with nursing students, led by the group’s faculty advisor, James Nisley, clinical education instructor and a critical care nurse for 41 years, and Ryan Darensbourg, a student success specialist.

10.18 

Faculty members Windy Alonso, chair of the Department of Nursing Research and an associate professor, Kim Elgin, a part-time faculty member and director of advanced practice providers at UVA Health, and Emma Mitchell, associate professor and an NIH-funded nurse scientist, were among the 300 new American Academy of Nursing Fellows inducted in 2025.  Six alumni of the School of Nursing also became fellows, including Jeanie Corey (MSN ’91), Andrea Knopp (PhD ’10), Eunhee Park (MSN ’13, PhD ’15), Bethany Robertson (BSN ’89), Amy Sawyer (BSN ’02), and Sheila Cox Sullivan (MSN ’96). 

The new Fellows induction ceremony, part of the American Academy of Nursing’s annual Health Policy Conference, was followed by the installation of new Academy leadership, including its new president, Debra Barksdale (BSN ’83), dean of UNC Greensboro School of Nursing, as well as nominating committee member Jeanne Alhusen, associate dean for nursing research and the UVA Health University Medical Center Endowed Professor of Nursing.

10.26 

Associate professor Cathy Campbell, a Buddhist chaplain, long-time hospice nurse, and nurse scientist who studies end-of-life issues for vulnerable populations, moderated a Virginia Film Festival panel following a screening of the film, “The Chaplain and the Doctor.” The screening was co-sponsored by the Compassionate Care Initiative.

11.7 

The School’s Sigma nursing honor society, Beta Kappa, inducted 66 new members into its ranks at an event held in McLeod Hall led by associate professor Malinda Whitlow (BSN ’07, MSN 11, DNP ’13), Beta Kappa president, that featured an address by Jeanne Alhusen, associate dean for nursing research. Beta Kappa, now 53 years old, is 2,614 members strong.

11.8 

The School’s annual Undergraduate Recognition and White Coat Ceremony was held in Old Cabell Hall to honor 498 undergraduate students’ progress in the BSN program. Second-year BSNs donned their white coats for the first time during the event, signaling their progression to in-person clinical rotations, caring for real patients.

11.12 

At a ceremony that included philanthropist Bill Conway, UVA’s interim president Paul Mahoney, Dr. Mitch Rosner, executive vice president for health affairs and CEO of UVA Health, and Dean Marianne Baernholdt, the School officially opened the Joanne Barkett Conway Nursing Student Commons, a revitalized space spanning the first floor of McLeod Hall. The Conways have given nearly $50 million to support nursing education and scholarships at UVA. The renovation also included expansion of a newly located food pantry, which includes fresh, frozen, and shelf-stable foods students in need may access by swiping their UVA ID badge at the rear of McLeod Hall’s new Daily Dose café.

11.17 

With four top American nursing schools, including Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland. Georgetown, and George Washington universities, the School convened a “LinkedINfluencing” event featuring, among others, faculty member expert Ashley Apple (BSN ’18, MSN ’20, DNP ’21), alumna and UMD assistant dean Danielle McCamey (BSN ’03), founder of DNPs of Color, and American Academy of Nursing past-president and UVA professor emeritus Ken White (CERTI ’13), who emceed the event.

11.17 

At its annual gala event, the Virginia Nurses Association honored Apple, its two-term commissioner of government relations, as the group’s newly elected vice president. The event also recognized faculty members Amy Boitnott (DNP ’08) and Sharon Bragg (DEGREES), who each received the 2025 Nurse Educator Award, at a ceremony for which VNA president, Kathy Baker, the School’s associate dean for clinical affairs, and Mesha Jones, Virginia Nurses Foundation Inc president and a clinical instructor, presided. 

11.18 

Faculty member Christina Feggans, the Westhaven community’s clinic nurse since 2023, was named the School’s Woodard Clinical Scholar. Feggans—who also teaches nursing students at Piedmont Virginia Community College—has worked at UVA Health since 2013 across a diversity of roles, including as a certified medical assistant, as transplant coordinator, in a dementia unit, and as an RN in UVA’s Infectious Disease and Traveler’s Clinic.

11.18 

The School’s first-ever Community Well-Being Day—modeled on the stress reduction and support principles of the Wisdom and Wellbeing Program, and overseen by faculty members Melissa Gomes, associate dean, Ivy Hinton, Office of Community Health and Well-Being director, and executive assistant Diane Washington, among others—was attended by dozens of students, faculty, and staff, who enjoyed free 15-minute massages, harp music, gentle stretching and meditation classes, visits with therapy dogs, and healthy snacks.

12.10 

The Compassionate Care Research team, including Kluge-Schakat Associate Professor Virginia LeBaron (BSN ’96) and others, convened a social hour at the UVA Contemplative Sciences Center that brought dozens of attendees, including faculty members, scientists, and students interested in and engaged with the study of compassion.