Sticking Together: Nursing Launches Alumni Association

The Southern University School of Nursing (SUSON) will be launching the kick-off of their Alumni Association on the day of the Homecoming game November 2. The new association is a true milestone for the nursing program, as there have been a lot of interest in the creation of an official School of Nursing Alumni Association for many years.
There are nearly 3,000 graduates of the nursing program, over 2,500 undergraduate students who are registered nurses, and anywhere between 600 to 700 graduate students. “Our goal in establishing this alumni association is to have our graduates feel connected with the School of Nursing, to know that they’ll always have a home in the School of Nursing, to remember that they received an excellent education that launched their careers, and to give them an excellent opportunity to pay it forward to other students, a new generation of students coming in,” says Dr. Sandra Brown, Dean of the College of Nursing and Allied Health.
If an alum would like to become a charter member of the alumni association, they would first need to become a member of Southern University Alumni Federation (SUAF). The fee for the alumni federation is $50, but if you’re already a member of SUAF, which there are already 600 nursing alums who are members of the alumni federation, you won’t have to pay that additional fee. However, they will have to pay the early bird prorated, reduced fee of $20.19. The amount of $20.19 was chosen because it correlates with the year 2019, the official founding year of the association.
The charter will hopefully be up and running by the end of the year, which is the reason SUSON is using homecoming as a way to invite alumni to come and be apart of it.  Big plans are being garnered by the alumni association. With the alumni dues, SUSON would like to provide scholarships for students to help differentiate the cost of their tuition, and to also recognize their alum for doing amazing things in the world. Graduates from this program are state legislatures, CEOs of hospitals, directors of hospitals, are on national boards, and are doing astonishing things by making milestones in the nursing industry. 
Once homecoming 2019 is over, there will also be a massive email distribution to all SUSON graduates informing them of this historical event and requesting their interest in joining our charter. 
“Nurses who are located in hospitals will serve as liaisons, reaching out to those nurses that are employed at the surrounding hospitals. Of course, social media, we are going to have an official SUSON Alumni Association Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter pages where most of our information will be available. Any SUSON alum, anyone that holds a beloved place for SUSON are welcome to be apart. It’s just not exclusive for our alums, but friends and family of our alumni are welcome to join,” says Dean Brown.  The SUSON Alumni Association is hoping for one day to host a gala that will celebrate and honor their alumni.