For the new class of graduate students at the UF College of Nursing, orientation marked the beginning of their next chapter, one where they can expand their expertise, pursue research questions, serve their communities and help shape the future of nursing.
This year’s graduate orientation brought together students from the Doctor of Nursing Practice and Ph.D. programs. While their backgrounds and goals vary, they share a common desire to use nursing to make a difference.
A lifelong calling to nursing
For MacKenzie Simmons, being a nurse was a childhood dream.
“I’ve always wanted to be a nurse since I was little,” Simmons said.
After earning her nursing degree from Jacksonville University, Simmons began working as a nurse and developed a growing appreciation for the advanced role nurse practitioners play in patient care. That experience inspired her to pursue a DNP and continue expanding her expertise.
“I’ve always loved school. Always loved learning,” she said. “I just wanted to continue honing my expertise and learn more so I can better serve my patients and be a more active part of their care plan.”
Simmons is pursuing a family nurse practitioner degree and hopes to expand into patient advocacy.
The UF College of Nursing was the only place she wanted to attend. Her father is a UF graduate, and after researching colleges, she knew it was where she wanted to continue her education.
“It truly was my dream school,” she said.
Simmons, who lives in Jacksonville and works at UF Health Jacksonville, said the reception at the Gainesville orientation event only reinforced that she made the right decision.
“Everyone is warm and welcoming,” she said. “It’s been a pleasure.”
Simmons is breaking new ground in her family. She is the first nurse in her family and the first to pursue a graduate degree.
“I’ve always wanted to be in healthcare,” she said. “I love nursing. I would not go and do anything else.”
Using data and technology to serve communities
For one of the college’s new Ph.D. students, the journey to UF is rooted in a desire to improve healthcare in underserved communities in his native Ghana.
Isaac Ayirebi, of Accra, Ghana, wants to use information technology and artificial intelligence to analyze health data to better understand health challenges and inform decisions that affect communities.
He sees technology as a powerful tool for identifying problems, particularly in communities where detailed health data may be limited.
“Everybody has a smartphone,” he said. “Using those tools, you can communicate, you can easily get data. You can know where the problems are coming from and implement good solutions to those problems.”
His goal is to use his education to create meaningful change in his home country and in communities facing similar challenges.
From Saudi Arabia to Gainesville
Jamilah Aldawsaria, another new Ph.D. student, is originally from Saudi Arabia and hopes to become a professor, teaching the next generation of nurses.
Her interest in nursing education began during her own studies. After completing her master’s degree at Yale University, she worked as a research assistant before becoming a teaching assistant in maternity nursing.
Those experiences helped clarify the direction she wanted to take.
“I feel like I want to make changes, either in academics or in healthcare,” she said.
She wants to focus on women’s health, particularly pain management and palliative care.
UF stood out for its faculty and research opportunities, as well as the connections she had developed with people already part of the college’s academic community, including Diana Wilkie, PhD, RN, FAAN, professor, Prairieview Trust – Earl And Margo Powers Endowed Professor and director of the Center for Palliative Care Research & Education. Aldawsaria said she had been accepted to other universities but ultimately chose UF because she felt its faculty and research environment aligned best with her goals.
Beginning with possibility
For all three students, graduate orientation was an opportunity to meet faculty, connect with classmates and begin learning what lies ahead.
Whether their future is at the bedside, in a classroom, in a research laboratory or working with policymakers and communities, these new graduate students enter the program with clear, ambitious goals.