About 700 students will receive health professional degrees and advanced education certificates from the Health Science Center during commencement ceremonies of the university’s five schools May 18-20. The schedule of ceremonies with speaker information and unofficial graduate numbers follows.
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences — 4 p.m. Friday, May 18, Central Campus auditorium; 30 graduates; speaker: Robert S. Nelsen, Ph.D., associate provost at The University of Texas at Dallas. Dr. Nelson is a faculty leader and an accomplished author. He serves on The UT System Task Force on Doctoral Programs and Postdoctoral Education. He has spoken to the board of regents about topics such as set fields of study and standardized, high-stakes testing.
School of Medicine — 9 a.m. Saturday, May 19, Laurie Auditorium, Trinity University; 203 graduates; speaker: Ruth Berggren, M.D., Health Science Center associate professor of medicine. The daughter of two public health physicians, Dr. Berggren grew up in rural Haiti, which profoundly affected her future decisions. A graduate of Harvard Medical School, she is board-certified in both internal medicine and infectious diseases. Dr. Berggren has particular interest in clinical AIDS and viral hepatitis research, and in implementing HIV care in resource-poor settings. During Hurricane Katrina, she was the teaching physician assigned to the infectious disease ward of New Orleans’ Charity Hospital. She remained there for six days and nights caring for critically ill patients.
School of Nursing — 2 p.m. Saturday, May 19, Laurie Auditorium; 168 graduates; speaker: Joseph Schmelz, R.N., Ph.D., director of the Health Science Center Institutional Review Board. Dr. Schmelz, an associate professor in the School of Nursing, is a retired lieutenant colonel who served in the U.S. Air Force Nurse Corps between 1980 and 2000. His Ph.D. from Boston College is in clinical nursing research. He is a member of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing and the American Association of Critical Care Nurses.
School of Allied Health Sciences — 9 a.m. Sunday, May 20, Laurie Auditorium; 195 graduates; speaker: Sister Rosemary Welsh, R.S.M. Sister Welsh is a member of the Religious Sisters of Mercy, a Roman Catholic order of women religious. She is director of outreach services for the Primary Health Care Programs of Mercy Ministries of Laredo, and serves as executive director of the Casa de Misericordia Domestic Violence Shelter and the Casa de Misericordia Lamar Bruni Vergara Education Center. In 2004, the Laredo Commission for Women inducted her into the Women’s Hall of Fame for her work in the health field. She previously spent 10 years in Guatemala, Honduras and Chiapas, Mexico, working as a community health educator and faith leader.
Dental School — 2 p.m. Sunday, May 20, Laurie Auditorium; 107 graduates; speaker: Charles N. Bertolami, D.D.S., D.Med.Sc. Dr. Bertolami, dean of the University of California, San Francisco, School of Dentistry since 1995, will soon become the dean of the New York University College of Dentistry. According to information from UCSF, he is a nationally recognized expert in the field of connective tissue repair and disorders of the temporomandibular joint. During his tenure, the UCSF School of Dentistry has led the nation’s dental schools in total National Institutes of Health funding.
