SUNY Poly presents nursing students their white coats during Dec. 1 ceremony

MARCY — SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) presented first-year nursing students with white coats during a ceremony held Dec. 1 in the Wildcat Fieldhouse on the school’s campus in Marcy.

White-coat ceremonies for nursing are held to “promote the importance of compassionate, patient-centered care” to new nursing students. Students take an oath “pledging their commitment to the highest professional standards,” SUNY Poly said in a news release.

“This tradition is a terrific way for our students to start their academic careers with an official commitment to their profession and the high-quality of care they will provide their patients,” Bahgat Sammakia, interim president of SUNY Poly, said. “It is a special moment for our students, and we are honored to be there with them as they re-affirm their dedication to caring for others.”

About the speaker

Carol Anne Kozik, a professor of practice at Le Moyne College and a graduate of SUNY Poly, was the Dec. 1 ceremony’s keynote speaker, SUNY Poly said.

Emphasizing the “privilege” a family nurse practitioner (FNP) has when spending time, “no matter how great or small,” with his/her patients, Kozik stressed the impact that a nurse practitioner makes upon the lives of patients and their families.

Prior to her work at Le Moyne, Kozik was an assistant clinical professor at Upstate Medical University in its College of Nursing. She is an FNP, presently working at Liberty Resources Family Health Care Resources Center in Syracuse, according to SUNY Poly. 

With 21 years as a FNP, she has worked in care settings throughout Central New York — ranging from those focused on at-risk children and adolescents to hospice care.