Happy New Year! Welcome to the January newsletter.

In this issue:

• FCN Impact Report
• Nursing Graduate Recognition
• National Forum Abstracts
• FCN In the News
• Upcoming Events
• Nursing History

Impact Report 2025

The Florida Center for Nursing will soon release the 2025 Impact Report, detailing our activities, reach, and growth over the year in pursuit of FCN goals.

This report highlights a year focused on three critical priorities:

1. Workforce data and research
2. Strategic planning and partnerships
3. Education and professional development

With this work, the FCN has reinforced and expanded its efforts to ensure the health care needs of the residents and visitors of Florida are met by a competent and sufficient nursing workforce.

Nursing Graduate Recognition

Recognize your nurse graduates this semester!

The FCN is offering the opportunity to recognize cohorts preparing to graduate from pre- or post-licensure nursing education programs in Florida.

Nursing program staff and faculty can request graduate recognition packets sponsored by FCN for their nursing graduates.

Click the button below or visit flcntr.org/gradrecognition to complete the form. FCN staff will then mail the packets to be distributed to your graduates.*

*Please allow at least four weeks before your graduation date for shipping.

Call for Abstracts

The National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers is seeking abstracts for 25-minute podium presentations or posters for the 2026 annual conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 22-24.

All abstracts will be evaluated based on their alignment to this year's theme, Illuminating the Future: Solutions for Tomorrow’s Nursing Workforce.

The deadline to submit abstracts is February 1, 2026. Submitters will be notified of decisions by March 15, 2026.

Visit nursingworkforcecenters.org/annual-conference for more information.

FCN in the News

Florida Center for Nursing research was cited in the Florida Trend article "Rx for the NCLEX."

The National Academy for State Health Policy mentioned the FCN as a model workforce center for the new Florida Center for Behavioral Health Workforce in its brief "How Behavioral Health Workforce Centers Leverage Partnerships to Address Workforce Education and Gaps."

Upcoming Events

The Florida Center for Nursing hopes to see you at these upcoming events.

Upcoming FCN Events

National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers State Representative Subscriber Business Meeting and Professional Development, January 6-7, Tampa, FL

• The Florida Center for Nursing is hosting this event.
• FCN Executive Director Rayna Letourneau, PhD, RN, FAAN, will attend and connect with fellow National Forum subscribers.

HealthImpact 2026 Conference "Educating Nurses: A Radical Transformation," January 15-16, Las Vegas, NV

• Dr. Letourneau will attend and connect with the national health care community.
• FCN is a sponsor of this event.

Florida Nurses Association 2026 Advocacy Days, February 4, Tallahassee, FL

• FCN staff will attend and connect with legislators and the Florida health care community.
• FCN is a sponsor of this event.

On January 5, 1926, Mary Eliza Mahoney passed away. Born in 1845 to freed slaves, Mahoney knew she wanted to be a nurse from an early age. She was in her teens when she began working at the New England Hospital for Women and Children.

She entered the hospital's nursing school—the first in the nation—at 33. She was one of only four people to complete the program, becoming "the first Black woman to graduate from a nursing program and the first to earn a professional nursing license," according to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

Thank you for reading! If you have feedback or comments, please email flcenterfornursing@usf.edu or click the button below.

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About the Florida Center for Nursing

The Florida Center for Nursing is established to research and address issues of supply and demand for nursing, including issues of recruitment, retention, and utilization of nurse workforce resources. The vision of the FCN is to ensure that the health care needs of the residents and visitors of Florida are met by a competent and sufficient nursing workforce.

The FCN is proudly headquartered at the University of South Florida College of Nursing.

Click the button below to learn more about the Florida Center for Nursing.