2017 UG Commencement Program

36 C ollege of N ursing Cassandra Marie Hackworth , an entry-level nursing major, is from Miami, Florida. She earned two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Miami for broadcast journalism and art history in 2009. Prior to being a student at NSU, she was a high school history teacher for Miami-Dade County Public Schools. While at NSU, she became a substitute teacher to focus on the nursing program. From 2015 to 2016, Hackworth was a Scholar Nurse Partner at the Emergency Department at Baptist Hospital South Florida and continues to practice there as a registered nurse. In 2014, she received a full scholarship from Baptist Hospital to attend the nursing program at NSU. She has been on the Dean’s List since 2015, obtaining a 4.0 grade point average each semester. Hackworth was chosen to be the class representative to speak at the 2016 pinning ceremony for incoming nurses. She ultimately wants to instruct future nurses through innovation and instill change in the health care field to foster better patient outcomes. She also plans on seeing the world and experience all that life has to offer with her family and friends. Kenneth Allen Smith , an entry-level nursing major, is from Fort Myers, Florida. He has been a board-certified registered nurse in ambulatory care since 2014, a board-certified wound specialist since 2007, and a board-certified hyperbaric registered nurse since 2006. He works in Lee County, Florida, for Lee Health’s Ambulatory Adult Specialty Division as an ambulatory nurse manager. Smith is an active member of the American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing. He plans to continue working and further his education at the graduate level. F arquhar H onors C ollege John Harrington , an entry-level nursing major with a minor in psychology, is from Easthampton, Massachusetts. He is a member of the Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society and has been on the Dean’s List for several semesters. Harrington was one of the founding members of the South Florida chapter of the American Association of Men in Nursing and is working full time as a critical care nurse with the University of Kansas Health System.