The Alice Ramez Chagoury School of Nursing honored its graduating Class of 2026 during its annual Recognition and Pinning Ceremony held on June 2, 2026, at the Byblos campus, celebrating graduates who completed their education amid some of the most challenging years in Lebanon’s recent history.

Held under the theme “Rising Strong, Leading Forward,” the ceremony marked a significant milestone for the graduates as they received the school’s nursing pin—a symbol of professional responsibility, service, and commitment to patient care.

Addressing the graduates, LAU President Chaouki T. Abdallah reflected on the deeper meaning of the tradition, noting that while graduation celebrates academic achievement, “the pinning ceremony welcomes students into a profession and a calling” that extends far beyond bedside care, describing nurses as educators, advocates, problem-solvers, and leaders “who often [are] the steady presence that brings calm during moments of fear and uncertainty.”

Highlighting the uniquely human dimensions of the profession, President Abdallah noted that while technology continues to transform healthcare, nurses occupy a place that cannot be replaced. “Nurses stand at the intersection of science and humanity,” he said. “They combine knowledge with compassion and technical expertise with human understanding.”

In turn, Dean Costantine Daher moved from the meaning of the pin to the price paid to earn it, acknowledging what it had actually cost this cohort to reach the stage. Many, he recalled, had come to class carrying burdens far heavier than textbooks—managing work, family, and financial pressures as uncertainty hung over their heads. “Yet they showed up, day after day, for their studies, for their patients, for one another,” said Dr. Daher.

Their pinning, he added, “is not merely an emblem of academic success, but a promise to uphold the values of integrity, empathy, service, and excellence in a profession that the world desperately needs.”

That sense of purpose was sharpened further by Nursing Program Director and Assistant Dean Bahia Abdallah, who argued that what the school was celebrating was as much about character as it was about competence.

“Patients may not remember every intervention or every procedure,” she said, “but they will always remember the nurse who stood beside them when they felt most vulnerable.” In invoking this year’s International Council of Nurses’ campaign—“Our Nurses. Our Future. Empowered Nurses Save Lives”, she said: “What these graduates carry within them will ripple outward into communities and healthcare systems far beyond this room.”

“Our message extends far beyond healthcare,” added Dr. Abdallah. “It is a social, economic, and moral imperative. Nurses are not merely participants within health systems. They are the foundation of those systems.”

Head of Nursing at Rafik Hariri University Hospital and Manager of the Public Health Emergency Operations Center at the Ministry of Public Health Wahida Ghalayini, who was the guest speaker at the ceremony, drew on her rich experience across the many dimensions of the nursing profession.

Nursing, she said, was a calling her father recognized before she fully understood it herself. “Patients don’t just need your skills. They need your calm when they’re panicking, your patience when they’re frustrated, your empathy when they feel alone, and your integrity when no one else is watching.”

To the young nurses before her, who had already proven those qualities during the recent war, her charge was simple: “Your resilience, compassion, and integrity are the real qualifications, and they must be protected.”

Class representative and Lions Club Award winner, Nicole Elias Gebran, reflected on her years at LAU as anything but ordinary—having lived through instability, fear, and moments when safety felt like a privilege rather than a right.

Gebran said the experience had reshaped her understanding of leadership. “There was no time to ask if we were ready,” she said. “We simply showed up.” She urged her classmates to keep working hard, stay kind, and trust the pace of their learning.

Following their pinning, the graduates took the Nightingale Pledge, the professional oath for nursing. The ceremony also featured two faculty rewards as follows:

• Clinical Instructor Madeleine El Hajj received the Teaching Excellence Award in recognition of her innovative teaching, passion and tireless efforts to uphold the highest standards in nursing.
• Assistant Professor Mahmoud Salam and Associate Professor Rita Doumit received the Research Excellence Award.

Graduating and current students were also recognized with Dean’s Awards as follows:

• Dean’s Award for Clinical Excellence: BSN II student Taline Osman
• Dean’s Award for Academic Achievement and Peer Mentorship: BSN II student Rana Baz
• Dean’s Award for Community Service: BSN II students Marwa Omama and Tala Al Kawam
• Dean’s Award for Clinical Excellence: BSN III student Bahaa Jamal El Dine
• Dean’s Award for Academic Achievement and Peer Mentorship: BSN III student Mariam Al Flity
• Dean’s Award for Community Service: BSN III students Leen Ghannam and Shahed Jouaid
• Dean’s Research Award for a Graduating Student: BSN III student Maha Mansour