Davis & Elkins College Professor of Nursing Dr. Denice Reese, APRN, DNP, CPNP, CHSE, will serve as the speaker for the College’s 44th Professional Nurses’ Pinning Ceremony at 2 p.m. Friday, May 6 in Myles Center for the Arts Harper-McNeeley Auditorium. Reese’s address is titled “Be That Nurse!”
The traditional ceremony will include the pinning of nursing graduates, rose presentations and a candlelit Florence Nightingale pledge. Students in the Associate in Science and RN-BSN programs will be recognized.
“The Nurses’ Pinning Ceremony is always a highlight of Commencement weekend activities at D&E,” said President Chris A. Wood. “It is a fitting ceremony that recognizes the vocational calling for maintaining and restoring the health and wellness of all those who will be their patients thanks to the exceptional training they have received at D&E.”
Reese currently serves as an adjunct professor at D&E teaching pediatric content after retiring as Professor of Nursing in December 2021.
Reese earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology with a minor in chemistry from Western Reserve College, Case Western Reserve University in 1978. She began her nursing career in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1979 after graduating from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing of Case Western Reserve University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing. She has worked in or taught pediatric nursing her entire career starting at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland.
Reese worked as the school health nurse for Tucker County Schools for 16 years while also serving as an instructor in the Health Science & Technology Academy at West Virginia University. In 1996 she was chosen as West Virginia’s first School Nurse of the Year and was named National School Nurse of the Year that same year.
She became a Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in 1996 after earning her Master of Science in Nursing, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Specialization from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University.
In 2003, she joined the faculty of Davis & Elkins College and since 2017 has been a full professor in the Division of Nursing.
Reese earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice in 2016 from Case Western Reserve University focusing on quality improvement in healthcare. She received the Director’s Award for Outstanding DNP Graduate and, along with her mentor Mary Dolansky, achieved second place for the Duncan Neuhauser Award, Academy of Healthcare Improvement.
In addition, Reese is a Certified Health Simulation Educator and has been the simulation lab coordinator at D&E since 2015. She also teaches Quality and Safety in Nursing and Ethics in Healthcare in the online RN-BSN program.
At D&E, she has been active in committee work at the division and college level, including chairing Faculty Assembly from 2011-2013. She was awarded Davis & Elkins College’s 2019 Lois Latham Award for Teaching Excellence and has led domestic study experiences as well as study abroad trips to Mexico.
Reese has also been enthusiastically involved with the Augusta Heritage Arts Center since 1983, as both a participant, instructor and theme week coordinator.
Reese and her husband, photographer John Warner, live in Tucker County. She is mother to Lucas Warner and Julianna Warner.
The Nurses’ Pinning ceremony is part of the 113th Commencement Weekend at Davis & Elkins College. Two Baccalaureate Services will take place at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Friday, May 6. Two Commencement Ceremonies are scheduled for 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday, May 7. All ceremonies will be in Myles Center for the Arts Harper-McNeeley Auditorium.
Denice Reese
