FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

For more information, contact:

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Communications and Marketing

Sheila Champlin — (901) 448-4957, or

Anne W. Manning — (901) 448-4072

 

UTHSC Graduates to Meet Statewide Health Care Needs

 

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Memphis, Tenn. (November 28, 2006) – On Friday, December 1, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) will graduate 163 students, approximately 60 percent of whom will fill much-needed health care positions across the state.  The fall graduation ceremony will be held at 1:30 p.m. at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts in the Cook Convention Center, 255 North Main. 

Dr. Jeanette Lancaster, Sadie Heath Cabaniss Professor of Nursing and dean of the University of Virginia School of Nursing, will give the charge to the graduates.  An alumnus of UTHSC, she is also the current president of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the national voice for university and four-year-college education programs in nursing. The organization represents more than 590 member schools of nursing at public and private institutions nationwide.

UTHSC Chancellor William F. Owen, Jr., MD, will preside over the event.  University of Tennessee President John Petersen will confer the degrees. 

Of the 163 graduates, 24 are from the College of Graduate Health Sciences, 118 from the College of Nursing, and 21 from the College of Allied Health Sciences.  Widely reported shortages in nurses, and physical and occupational therapists will be met in part by these graduates.

 As the flagship statewide academic health system, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center is focused on a four-tier mission of education, research, clinical care and public service, all in support of a single goal: to improve the health of Tennesseans.  Offering a broad range of postgraduate training opportunities, the main campus, which includes six colleges, is located in Memphis.  UTHSC has additional College of Medicine campus locations in Knoxville and Chattanooga.  For more information, visit www.uthsc.edu.

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