Curry College Announces Commencement Speaker

From Curry College: Curry College alumna Karen Daley, PhD, RN, FAAN ’85 will serve as the Commencement Speaker and be awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree during Curry College Commencement Exercises on May 21, 2017.

“Karen’s life story is compelling ─ it is one of service, sacrifice and achievement, and I am grateful that she will share it in her address to the Curry College Class of 2017 and guests,” said Curry College President Kenneth K. Quigley, Jr.

Karen's biography, extracted below, describes her exceptional service to the nursing profession and outstanding accomplishments as a Curry College alumna.

Karen Daley, PhD, RN, FAAN, served from 2010 to 2014 as the president of the American Nurses Association, the nation's largest nursing organization representing the interests of the nation's 3.6 million registered nurses. During her four-year tenure as ANA president, Karen spearheaded a major organizational transformation, initiating the most substantive changes made to ANA in over three decades that have resulted in significant overall growth for the organization. She is a current member of the Board of Trustees of the American Nurses Foundation and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Karen spent more than 25 years as a front-line caregiver and staff nurse at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) in Boston. She practiced for more than 22 years in the BWH emergency department until January of 1999 when she left due to a needlestick injury that resulted in her infection with both HIV and hepatitis C. Since that time, she has been actively engaged at the state, national and international levels as an advocate for use of safer needle devices in health care practice settings. Karen played an integral role in the passage of federal legislation to update the 1991 OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, and in November 2000 witnessed the “Needlestick Safety Prevention Act” being signed into law in the Oval Office.

Karen holds a diploma in nursing from Catherine Labouré School of Nursing, a bachelor’s of science in nursing from Curry College, a master’s in public health from Boston University School of Public Health, and a master’s in science and PhD in nursing from Boston College.

She has been honored for her outstanding leadership and excellence in practice, including being recognized as a living nurse legend by the Massachusetts Association of Registered Nurses. In 2006, she was inducted as a Fellow into the American Academy of Nursing in recognition of her advocacy work in needlestick prevention. In 2011, Daley was listed among Modern Healthcare’s “100 Most Influential People in Health Care” and, in 2013, was selected by Modern Healthcare as one of the “Top 25 Women in Healthcare.”

Karen’s address is particularly appropriate this year, as Curry celebrates the 40th anniversary of Nursing at the College and the launch of the College’s first School, the Curry College School of Nursing.

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