McGovern, DAISY winners honored at commencement
Three Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston faculty members and a graduating student were honored with special awards at the 2024 commencement ceremony on May 9.
Eloi, Blok receive McGovern Awards
Each year, students select an undergraduate and a graduate faculty member to receive the John P. McGovern Outstanding Teacher of the Year Awards. Assistant Professor Hildreth Eloi, DNP, MS, RN, received this year’s undergraduate award, and Assistant Professor Amy Blok, DNP, CRNA, received the graduate award.
Eloi, a three-time winner, also received the award in 2020 and 2022. She serves as senior-level track coordinator for the accelerated Pacesetter Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program. She joined the Cizik School of Nursing faculty in 2017 and teaches obstetrics and reproductive health.
Blok has long been associated with Cizik School of Nursing’s nurse anesthesia program, having earned her Master of Science in Nursing in Nurse Anesthesia and Doctor of Nursing practice at the school. The assistant director of the nurse anesthesia program has been teaching since 2014 and is a two-time winner of the McGovern award for graduate faculty.
The awards are made possible by an endowment from the John P. McGovern Foundation.
Lewandowski, Raley receive DAISY Awards
The DAISY Awards is an international program recognizing nurses for clinical excellence and compassion, based on nominations from patients and colleagues. Cizik School of Nursing participated for the first time in 2023 and honored Kala A. Christopherson, DNP, RN, FNP-C. The school expanded the program this year to include students as well as faculty.
Receiving the 2024 DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurse Educators was Assistant Professor Sara Lewandowski, DNP, CNE, HNB-BC, NC-BC. She has been a Cizik School of Nursing faculty member since 2018 and serves as track coordinator for the RN to BSN Program. Lewandowski was also recently honored as one of Houston’s top 200 nurses at the Houston Chronicle’s 2024 Salute to Nurses event.
Melanie Raley, who graduated in May with a BSN, received the school’s first DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Students. Raley graduated magna cum laude and received the nursing school’s Faculty Award of Excellence and Spirit Awards as well.
