Upstate Medical University to award 506 degrees at Commencement May 17
SYRACUSE, N.Y.-- Upstate Medical University Interim President Gregory L. Eastwood, MD, will award 506 degrees and five professional certificates to graduates of the university’s colleges of Graduate Studies, Health Professions, Medicine, and Nursing at Upstate’s Commencement ceremonies Sunday, May 17 at the John H. Mulroy Civic Center at Oncenter, 421 Montgomery St., Syracuse. Each college will present its own ceremony that day to individually recognize graduating students.
Linda Burnes Bolton, DrPH, RN, FAAN, a leader in health care policy and nursing development, will receive an honorary doctor of science degree at Commencement. She will also deliver the keynote addresses at ceremonies for Upstate’s colleges of Medicine and Nursing.
Burnes Bolton is vice president for nursing, chief nursing officer, and director of Nursing Research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles. She is one of the principal investigators at The Burns and Allen Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai. To date, she has served as the principal investigator on 10 research projects, totaling more than $12 million, related to health services management, the evolution of nursing and improved modes of patient care delivery. She is the current president of the American Organization of Nurse Executives and is past president of the American Academy of Nursing and the National Black Nurses Association. She serves as a trustee at Case Western Reserve University and is a member of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Board of Trustees.
College of Health Professions
Upstate’s Interim President Gregory L. Eastwood, MD, will address graduates and their families at 9 a.m. in the Crouse Hinds Theater. A reception will immediately follow the ceremony in the Campus Activities Building. Megan Maloney (MS, Physician Assistant Studies, 2015) and Rachel Bennett (BS, Radiography/CT, 2015) will offer remarks. The college will award 176 degrees: 63 BS, 42 MS, six BPS (Bachelor of Professional Studies) and 65 DPT (Doctorate of Physical Therapy).
College of Nursing
Commencement ceremonies will be held at 11:30 a.m. in the Crouse Hinds Theater. A reception will immediately follow the ceremony in the Campus Activities Building. Linda Burnes Bolton, DrPH, RN, FAAN, will deliver the Commencement Address. Salutatorians Dawn Burr (BS in Nursing, 2015) and Brian Pratt (MS in Nursing, 2015) will offer remarks. The college will award 125 degrees and four certificates: 35 BS, 87 MS, and three post-master’s certificates.
College of Graduate Studies
Commencement ceremonies will be held at 1:45 p.m. in the Carrier Theater. A pre-ceremony brunch will be served at 11 a.m. in the ninth floor Dining Room of Weiskotten Hall. Richard L. Cross, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Upstate, will offer the Commencement Address. Jason Gokey, (PhD, Anatomy & Cell Biology, 2015) will offer remarks. The college will award 36 degrees: 21 PhD, 6 MS, three MD/PhD, six MD/MPH. (Note: the MD/PhD and MD/MPH degrees are conferred jointly with the College of Medicine.)
College of Medicine
Linda Burnes Bolton, DrPH, RN, FAAN, will deliver the Commencement Address. Meenakshi Davuluri (Doctor of Medicine Program, 2015) and Marnie Annese (Master Public Health, 2015) will offer remarks. The ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. in the Crouse Hinds Theater. A reception will immediately follow in the Campus Activities Building. The College of Medicine will confer 181 degrees and two certificates: 147 MD, 25 MPH (Master of Public Health, three MD/PhD, and six MD/MPH. (Note: the MD/PhD and MD/MPH degrees are conferred jointly with the College of Medicine).
