A Calling Fulfilled: UMSON’s Class of 2026 Honored at Convocation Ceremonies in Baltimore

Friends and family filled Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre to capacity as they celebrated the accomplishments of the University of Maryland School of Nursing’s Class of 2026 on May 12.

“You most assuredly deserve the awards we bestow upon you today; you worked hard, stayed up late, started your day early, and sacrificed so much,” said Yolanda Ogbolu, PhD '11, MS '05, BSN '04, NNP, FNAP, FAAN, the Bill and Joanne Conway Dean of the University of Maryland School of Nursing, during her welcome. “Yes, you truly earned your degree and should be proud of your accomplishments.

“But you must also acknowledge that you did not reach this moment alone,” the dean continued. “Throughout this journey, we all have champions - individuals who you relied on for support and encouragement, including your family, friends, and classmates who gave you the confidence to persevere, especially when you were sleep deprived, juggling many family and work responsibilities, and felt unsure about whether you would make it or not.”

For siblings Lexi, 28, and Ryan Vipavetz, 25, who both graduated with Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees, supporting each other was automatic.

“I loved having a sibling in the program,” said Lexi Vipavetz, a recipient of UMSON’s prestigious Conway Scholarship, who has accepted a job offer for a nursing position in an intermediate care unit at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. “We could carpool to class, study together, and hold each other accountable.”

“I found it very rewarding to have my sister in the same school and cohort as me,” Ryan Vipavetz added. “We were never really at a point in our lives where we had the same classes until now. We both held each other accountable for studying and completing assignments.”

The Vipavetzes weren’t the only set of siblings among the graduating class: Avigail and Nissim Zarinmanesh also earned their BSNs.

This year’s ceremonies – celebrating Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and Master of Science in Nursing Entry-into-Nursing (MSN-E) graduates in the morning and Master of Science in Nursing and doctoral graduates in the afternoon – honored 455 total graduates and resulted in 262 new nurses entering the workforce. During the ceremonies, 226 BSN degrees; 94 master’s degrees, including 60 MSN-E; 122 Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degrees; one Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree; and 12 certificates were conferred.

Karen E. Doyle, DNP ’20, MBA, MS ’91, BSN ’85, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, senior vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer of the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC), was presented with the 2026  Dean’s Medal for Distinguished Service, which each year recognizes someone external to the School who has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to advancing UMSON and its mission. The medal is handcrafted by University of Maryland, Baltimore President Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, an accomplished blacksmith.

Doyle has more than 40 years of nursing experience. In her current role, she oversees nursing practice, patient outcomes, operations, strategic planning, policy formulation, and regulatory compliance for UMMC’s Downtown and Midtown campuses, which includes 5,000 employees and more than 2,500 nurses. She serves as an adjunct associate professor at UMSON and since 2015, she has served on the School’s Board of Advisors.

“To be recognized for leadership, service, and contributions to nursing education by this extraordinary institution that I love so much is profoundly meaningful to me,” Doyle said in her remarks upon receiving the medal. “I want you to know that I remember: Six months out of nursing school as a young trauma nurse ready to set the world on fire, I was crying with my mother, saying, ‘I am never going to make it as a nurse.’”

She reminded the graduates that the nursing profession is a calling.

“This role is sacred,” she said. “You may not remember every exam question or every care plan from school. Trust me, you won’t. But you will remember the first patient who trusted you, the family who looked to you for reassurance, the moment you realized that your calm presence changed the trajectory of someone’s worst day. That is the privilege of nursing.”

Pamela Cipriano, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, professor emerita at the University of Virginia School of Nursing, received an Honorary Doctor of Public Service degree from UMB and was presented with the degree and hooded during UMSON’s ceremonies. Cipriano is nationally and internationally recognized for her contributions to advancing the nursing profession and increasing its impact and influence on policies to improve national and global health care. She is the immediate past president of the International Council of Nurses, a federation of more than 140 national nurses’ associations, and past president of the American Nurses Association.

“Nurses are an incredible asset to the nation and the world,” said Cipriano, who spoke at both ceremonies. “As we serve the public good in every phase of our careers, we follow an ethical duty to care and maintain a social contract with society. As new nurses, or those now obtaining their bachelor's degrees, as you enter these roles, it may seem a bit daunting, the responsibilities ahead of you, and that's to be expected. The world knows we cannot have health and we cannot have health care without nurses.”

Nurses are barely in the spotlight, despite them numbering 5 million in the nation, Cipriano continued. “Yet over the course of history, nurses have always taken on the challenges of today and tomorrow to change the world for the better.”

During the morning ceremony, Beryl Kilonzo, an MSN-E graduate, delivered remarks on behalf of the graduating class, reflecting on her journey from volunteering at a local hospital in a small village in Kenya to becoming a nurse. In Kenya, she met a nurse “with a heart bigger than the space that she worked in,” Kilonzo said. “That was my first real encounter with nursing. As a teenager, I watched this woman give care for little to no pay and still show up every single day. She didn't do it for recognition. She did it because people needed her. I remember telling her, ‘One day, I want to become a nurse.’ And she looked at me and said, ‘This is work that requires heart and passion.’”

She told her fellow classmates, “As you step forward from this place, I hope that we never forget what brought us here, the calling to serve, the discipline to keep learning and the compassion to treat every patient like a whole human being. May we never become so skilled that we forget to be gentle.”

The afternoon ceremony was full of jubilation, with family and friends blowing whistles and rallying behind their graduates with cheers of “That’s my nurse!”

“Our master’s students bring strong clinical foundations and are poised to lead across diverse settings, integrating evidence-based practice, innovation, and compassionate care,” Ogbolu said. “Our DNP graduates, as clinical practice experts and system thinkers, are equipped to drive change at scale — leading quality improvement, influencing policy, and translating evidence into practice to improve outcomes for patients, families, and communities. And our PhD students, as research scholars and educators, will continue a legacy of innovation and discovery for nursing.”

Allison Marie Hamilton, a DNP graduate and the ceremony’s student speaker, explained that her journey through school wasn’t always graceful. But it was those who helped support her — faculty, friends, family, coworkers — and her ability to keep her eyes on the long-term plan that got her to that stage, even when the “short-term felt impossible,” she said.

Being an adult learner also helped, she said, adding that she and her classmates didn’t just survive their challenges, but rather learned how to navigate them with purpose.

“I can vividly remember feeling depleted after a long day of constructive criticism from a preceptor in the middle of winter — the time of day when it feels like night, but it's only 4:30. And I thought, ‘You know, thank goodness, I still have my RN license. I can go back to being a bedside nurse.’ But despite that day — or two — of tears and reservations, we are here today,” Hamilton said in her speech. “But today isn’t just about us. Graduation is a celebration of every person who nudged us forward when we were running on fumes. We’re here because they carried us through the moments when we weren’t sure we could carry ourselves.”

While those graduating in the afternoon ceremony may have “a few more letters behind” their names, Hamilton said, they have spent their careers caring for others, and their purpose as nurses remains the same.

“We have a voice — a voice to advocate for our patients, a voice to improve our systems, a voice to strengthen our communities,” she said. “This degree doesn’t change who we are; it magnifies who we’ve always been.”

Allison Marie Hamilton, center, the DNP student speaker, celebrates with fellow graduates as she recesses from the Convocation ceremony, amid cheering faculty members.