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Master of Science in Nursing at JMU

Welcome to the JMU Department of Nursing!

Nursing Alumni News & Notes

1980's Alumni News

  • Nancy Sheppard Stone (BSN 1985) is the Outreach Nursing Coordinator for the Pitt County (NC) Health Department. She obtained a MPH in Health Policy and Administration from UNC-Chapel Hill and holds the rank of Public Health Nurse III. She stays busy mentoring East Carolina University’s Brady School of Medicine students in their population study curriculum with the Family Medicine Department, mentoring ECU’s BSN students, making accreditation visits as a member of the NC State Public Health Accreditation team, serving as Chair of the Pitt County Child Fatality Prevention Team, managing the Child Service Coordination program, the Newborn and Post-Natal Home Visiting Program, the High Risk Maternity Care Coordination (“Baby Love Program”), and the Health Check Coordination Program.
  • Cindy Newman Bryan (BSN 1987) lives in Durham, NC, and is employed by the Duke University Health System.

1990's Alumni News

  • Katie Winfree Heck (BSN 1992) lives in Palmyra, VA, with husband Bob Heck and their two sons John (6½) and Bryce (4). Katie works at Martha Jefferson Hospital as a maternity nurse and Certified Lactation Consultant.
  • Joan Eaton Ohayon (BSN 1993) lives with husband Joseph Ohayon and children Ethan (4½) and Noah (2½) in Rockville, MD. Joan has worked in research ever since graduating in 1993. She obtained her MSN from Marymount University and certification as a Family Nurse Practitioner in 1997. She works as an NP following Multiple Sclerosis patients and doing MS research for the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at the National Institute of Health (NIH). 
  • Beth E Goddard (BSN 1994) lives in Portsmouth, NH, and worked as an elementary school nurse at Portsmouth (NH) Christian Academy while pursuing her MSN and NP certification from the University of New Hampshire in May 2006. She is seeking a position as an NP in oncology.
  • Aimee DeLaere Curry Dehney (BSN 1998) lives with her husband George Dehney and their son Thomas George Dehney born 02/10/2005 in Stephensville on Kent Island on the Eastern Shore of MD. Aimee works as a staff RN for the Progressive Care Unit of Anne Arundel Medical Center and as an Independent Consultant, Executive District Manager for Arbonne International. 
  • Nicole “Nikki” Dorn Gage (BSN 1999) is married to William “Bill” Gage and living in Alexandria, VA. She has fulfilled a long-held wish by taking on a new position at Inova Fairfax Hospital’s Inova Transplant Center as a Transplant Coordinator and is “loving it!”

2000's Alumni News

  • Alyce Sanders Finch (BSN 2001) is married to George Finch and living in Fredericksburg, VA. Alyce is working as a Public Health Nurse for the Fredericksburg Health Department.
  • Michelle Chaisson Nichols (BSN 2001) married Reynolds Marshall Nichols in Aug 2004. They bought a house in League City, TX, in May 2006. Michelle works as a Nurse Clinician II on the Pediatric Burn ICU at Shriners Hsopital for Children.
  • Lauren Haracznak (BSN 2003) became certified as CCRN in 2006 while working on the Vanderbilt Cardiovascular ICU and has been accepted into the Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia to become a CRNA.
  • Crystal Hess Rowe (BSN 2004) and husband Randall S. Rowe celebrated their first wedding anniversary in 2006 by buying their first house in Staunton, VA. Crystal is working as a float pool charge nurse at Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville, VA, where she helps to orient new employees.
  • Amy Stalnaker (BSN 2004) is working in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC.
  • Sarah Cowan (BSN 2005) is working at The Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters in Norfolk, VA. Sarah volunteered to act as the alumni contact person for the JMU BSN Class of 2005.
  • Kristin DiVincenzo (BSN 2005) is working on the telemetry step down unit at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC.
  • Cristina Hernandez (BSN 2005) is working in the Cardiac Surgical ICU at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore, MD.
  • Christina Russell Lam (BSN 2005) came back to visit Harrisonburg, VA, to marry Robert Lam in Oct 2006. She reports that she “carried a little bit of JMU spirit on my garter, it was adorned with purple and gold ribbons and JMU [nursing] pin.” She and Robert live in NC where Christina works at Duke University Medical Center on the cardiology step-down unit.
  • Danielle “Dani” Pauly (BSN 2005) is working on an Ortho/Neuro unit at
    Tallahassee Memorial Hospital in Florida.
  • Alisa Quesenberry (BSN 2005) lives in Arlington, VA, and is working in the transplant unit at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC.
  • Caroline Griffin (BSN 2006) is working in the cardiovascular and transplant ICU at Northwestern University Hospital in Chicago, IL.
  • Karen Jagiello, (MSN 2006) completed the Nurse Educator tract as a member the first class to complete the MSN program at JMU. She was immediately hired by JMU Nursing as a Faculty Instructor of maternity nursing. She volunteered to travel to Malta during “Maymester” 2007 as one of the nursing faculty for the Health Care in Malta interdisciplinary elective course.
     
    Jeanne Pitsenberger, (MSN 2006), RN, ANP, a graduate of the first class to complete the MSN program at JMU, is working part-time in the Nursing Department as an Academic Advisor to rising sophomore nursing majors. She is also assisting Dr. Patty Hale, Graduate Program Coordinator, to market the graduate program. After graduating in May 2006 and passing her adult nurse practitioner certification exam summer 2006, Jeanne added to her pilot certification by passing the check ride for glider rating. She and her husband, Graham, made a thirty-day driving trip around the country to celebrate and spent a month on the Costa del Sol in Spain in January 2007.