The Pi Theta chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing inducted 35 University of Arkansas undergraduate students, three graduate students, two faculty members and two practicing nurses recognized as community leaders at a ceremony Tuesday, Nov. 13.

The ceremony, which took place at a local restaurant, featured Patricia Schafer, regional director of Sigma Theta Tau, as speaker. Schafer is a registered nurse and also holds a doctoral degree.

The purpose of the honor society is to recognize superior achievement in nursing, to recognize the development of leadership qualities, to foster high professional standards in the field, encourage creative work and to strengthen commitment to the ideals and purposes of the profession. Criteria for membership can be viewed on the nursing school’s website.

Community leaders may be elected if they have demonstrated marked achievement in nursing education, practice, research, administration or publication. Nurses in this category must have a minimum of a baccalaureate degree.

The faculty members of the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing inducted were Jacklyn Gentry and Russell Stroud.

Gentry, a visiting instructor of nursing, graduated from the school with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2002. She received her Master of Science in Nursing in 2007. After several years of nursing and teaching experience, she joined the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing faculty in the fall of 2011.

Stroud was hired in January as a visiting instructor of nursing. He is a 1996 B.S.N. graduate of the University of Arkansas and earned an M.S.N. as an acute care nurse practitioner from California State University.

Other professional inductees were Teresa Briggs and Candice Long. Briggs works as a risk manager for the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks. She holds a law degree from the University of Arkansas and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from other institutions. She has been a registered nurse for 21 years. Long, who has been a nurse for 20 years, works at Springwoods Behavioral Health Hospital. She received a B.S.N. from the University of Arkansas in 2006.

Undergraduate students in the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing who were inducted:

• Caitlyn Becker
• Elizabeth Erin Bradford
• Jennifer Breathitt
• Farah Abdi Buck
• Lindsay Campbell
• Brittany Clark
• Randi Collins
• Kenita Davis
• Sarah Elizabeth Dickson
• Alice Catherine Dunn
• Paige Elizabeth Giles
• Cindy Green
• Katherine Harter
• Alison Harvey
• Lizabeth Jan Henley
• Jessica Huckabay
• Nicole Johnston
• Dawn Larabee
• Ashley Renee Linder
• Kendall Linz
• Macy Lipham
• Anna Beth Mann
• Helen Mary Mashie
• Kayla McKane
• Ashley Morris
• Rachel Ora
• Olivia Risch
• Maxine Rosen
• Rajib Shrestha
• Sarah Sopcak
• Gina Spring
• Sara Taylor
• Chad Thurman
• Angela Dawn Timmons
• Laina Womack

The three graduate students inducted were Cathy Hale, Melanie Haney and Melissa Peterson.