Rush University Commencement Ceremony, June 13 At The UIC Pavilion

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 21 May 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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Rush University will award 536 baccalaureate and graduate degrees at its 37th commencement ceremony on Saturday, June 13, at 1:45 p.m. at the UIC Pavilion, 525 South Racine, Chicago.

Dr. Larry Goodman, president of Rush University and CEO of Rush University Medical Center, and Dr. Thomas A. Deutsch, provost of Rush University and senior vice president of medical affairs at Rush University Medical Center, will preside over the ceremony and confer degrees to students from the University's four colleges.

This year's commencement speaker and recipient of the Rush University Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters is Dr. Mardge Hillary Cohen. Her address is entitled "Caring, Primary Care and National Health Care: Who Cares?"

Cohen is founder of the Cook County Hospital Women and Children's HIV Program and co-founder and medical director of Women's Equity in Access to Care and Treatment (WE-ACTx) of HIV. She is a Rush Medical College graduate from the class of 1976, as well as professor of internal medicine at Rush University.

Since 2004, Cohen has worked with WE-ACTx in Rwanda to facilitate primary care for victims infected with HIV during the 1994 genocide. Working with many grassroots women's associations and the Rwandan public health HIV infrastructure, WE-ACTx has set up health clinics as well as food and income generation programs for women and children with HIV. Cohen currently works at the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program. Additionally, she continues her work for the Rwandan Women's Inter-Association Study, the Rwandan Women's HIV Cohort, the Chicago Women's Interagency HIV Study Consortium, and the Perinatal Rapid Testing Initiative in Illinois.

Of the 536 Rush University students receiving degrees during the 2008-09 academic year, 122 will receive Doctor of Medicine degrees from Rush Medical College, 127 will be awarded Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees from the College of Nursing, 89 will receive Master of Science in Nursing degrees and 29 will receive Doctor of Nursing Practice degrees.

The College of Health Sciences will confer 16 Bachelor of Science degrees in clinical laboratory sciences and vascular ultrasound; 101 Master of Science degrees in clinical laboratory sciences, clinical nutrition, health systems management, occupational therapy, perfusion technology and speech-language pathology; and one Master of Arts degree in health care ethics. Additionally, the college will confer seven Doctor of Audiology degrees and two Doctor of Health Science degrees.

The Graduate College will confer 28 Master of Science degrees in anatomy and cell biology, biotechnology, clinical research and pharmacology and 14 Doctor of Philosophy degrees in immunology/microbiology, molecular biophysics and physiology, neurological sciences, nursing and pharmacology.

Rush University is the academic component of Rush University Medical Center. Chartered in 1837, Rush Medical College is the oldest medical college in Chicago and named for Benjamin Rush, a physician and humanitarian who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The College of Nursing, which grew from the diploma program of the Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital School of Nursing, opened in 1972, the same year that Rush University was established. The College of Nursing was the first in the Chicago area to offer the Doctor of Nursing Science degree. The College of Health Sciences, established in 1975, traces its origins to the School of Medical Technology sponsored by Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital from 1959 to 1972. This school was the second largest of its kind in the city of Chicago. The Graduate College was established as a separate academic unit in January 1981, having previously been organized as the Graduate School within the College of Health Sciences.

Rush University is distinct for its practitioner-teacher model for health sciences education and research and for its focus on community and global health as exhibited by the active volunteerism of faculty, students and staff. Eight programs in the Rush College of Nursing and three programs in the College of Health Sciences are ranked among the top 25 nationwide in the 2010 edition of the "America's Best Graduate Schools" survey published annually by U.S. News & World Report.

Source
Rush University

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