Newswise — The Graduate School of Nursing (GSN) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) will for the first time, bestow the Doctorate of Philosophy in Nursing Science degree to four students, during the university's 27th commencement exercise at the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall, in Washington, D.C., at 11 a.m., on Saturday, May 20.
Another first for the ceremony will be the presidential address delivered by Charles L. Rice, M.D., USU president. Dr. Rice, a Navy-trained surgeon and researcher, was installed as USU's fifth president in February 2006.
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. William Winkenwerder, Jr., will also address the graduating class of more than 240 medical, graduate, and nursing students during the commencement exercise.
The F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine will award 159 Doctor of Medicine and 38 Biomedical Sciences graduate degrees, while the GSN will also award 49 Master of Science degrees in the family nurse practitioner, perioperative clinical nurse specialist, and anesthesia nursing disciplines.
Since the school of medicine's first commencement in 1980, USU has graduated more than 3,700 medical officers. Seventy-five percent of them currently serve on active duty.
USU, which is located on the grounds of the National Naval Medical Center, is the nation's federal school of medicine and graduate school of nursing. The students are active-duty uniformed officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Public Health Service who are being educated to deal with wartime casualties, national disasters, emerging infectious diseases and other public health emergencies. Many of the university's alumni are currently serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
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