May 23, 2005

Contact: Gordon Ovenshine: 724-738-4854; gordon.ovenshine@sru.edu

SIX INDUCTED INTO SRU’S CHAPTER OF NURSING HONOR SOCIETY

           SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Six Slippery Rock University nursing students and graduates, including a mother-daughter team, were recently inducted into SRU’s chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, the international honor society of nursing.

Sigma Theta Tau, an organization with 125,000 active members worldwide, works to improve healthcare by increasing the scientific base and use of technology in nursing.

            Inductees into the Lambda Tau chapter include Ruth O’Mara and her daughter Mary Zilaitis, both of Pittsburgh; Michele Okamoto of Honolulu; Erin O’Brien-Romano of Cranberry; Liz Kingsley of Volant; and Carolyn Kunkel of Sewickley.

           O’Brien-Romano and Kingsley are graduate students in the Clarion, Edinboro and Slippery Rock Universities Master of Science in Nursing Program; Okamoto, Zilaitis, O’Mara and Kunkel graduated from SRU in December and May with a bachelor of science in nursing.

More than 360,000 nurse scholars have been inducted into Sigma Theta Tau since its inception in 1922. Membership is by invitation to baccalaureate and graduate nursing students who demonstrate excellence in scholarship, and to nurse leaders exhibiting exceptional achievements in nursing.

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