An alumna of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s College of Nursing and her daughter, who is graduating from the college next week, will be featured in the Mother’s Day coverage of NBC’s TODAY show in New York City on Friday, May 6, the first day of National Nurses Week.
Alumna Robin Black, FNP-BC, PNP-BC, is a nurse practitioner who has practiced in tiny Erin, Tennessee, for nearly 30 years. Her daughter Piper Black, BSN, is graduating with her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree from UTHSC on May 9, with the goal of returning to Erin to work as a nurse practitioner in the same clinic as her mom.
The mother-daughter duo was featured in the UTHSC College of Nursing’s 2021 Nursing magazine last fall. Their live segment on TODAY will air at 8 a.m. EST (7 a.m. in Memphis).
Meanwhile, another UTHSC College of Nursing mother-daughter duo will be featured by local news on May 6. Assistant Professor Laura Reed, DNP, FNP, and her daughter, Kathleen Reed, BSN, join Live@9 hosts on WREG News Channel 3 to talk about their generational journey to nursing. Kathleen Reed also will graduate May 9 with her DNP and looks forward to going into private practice in Memphis as a nurse practitioner.
National Nurses Week runs May 6-12.
Eighty-one nurses will graduate with their DNP degrees from UTHSC on May 9, at 9 a.m., during commencement exercises at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts. The UTHSC College of Nursing was the first nursing school in Tennessee to offer the DNP, which is the terminal degree for nursing practice. Nurses who earn the DNP work as nurse practitioners.
The UTHSC College of Nursing now offers eight DNP concentrations including Nurse-Midwifery, Nurse-Anesthesia, Family Nurse Practitioner, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Pediatric Acute Care, Pediatric Primary Care, NeoNatal Nurse Practitioner, and Adult-Gerontology Acute Care. There are also three dual DNP program offerings: Adult-Gerontology Acute Care/Family Nurse Practitioner, Pediatric Primary Care/Pediatric Acute Care, and Psychiatric Mental Health/Family Nurse Practitioner.
UTHSC’s College of Nursing has been ranked No. 27 by U.S. News & World Report for its Doctor of Nursing Practice programs in the magazine’s Best Graduate Schools list for 2023. This ranking places the college in the top 8% of all DNP programs nationwide, ranked and unranked. The college is in the top 17% of DNP programs that made the list.