UB School of Nursing Celebrates 90th Anniversary, Announces 2026 Award Winners

Diane Thompkins, MS, BS, RN, is the 2026 recipient of the University at Buffalo School of Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award. Thompkins graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from UB in 1976. Thompkins is an icon in the nursing field whose impact was recognized by the American Board of Nursing Specialties when they renamed their lifetime achievement award after her in 2023. Her extraordinary record of service, dedication as an educator and commitment to patient-centered practice exemplifies why the American Board of Nursing Specialties bestows The Diane Thompkins Lifetime Achievement Award upon the nation’s most exceptional nurses.

Before she embarked on a nursing career, Thompkins volunteered at a local hospital where her mother worked as a medical secretary in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Although the University of Maryland was less than 30 miles from her home, Thompkins wanted to explore and was attracted to the University at Buffalo’s four-year baccalaureate nursing degree and SUNY’s desegregated educational system. Four-year nursing degrees were rare at the time, and Thompkins was also drawn to the diversity of Buffalo and UB’s urban campus. 

After graduating, Thompkins worked in the medical and surgical units at University of Chicago Hospital. In accordance with her dedication to service, she enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, where she became a flight nurse and rose to the rank of captain. After her commitment concluded, she earned her Master of Science in Nursing Education, while simultaneously working as an evening charge nurse at Prince George’s Hospital and Medical Center’s medical cardiology and renal unit. 

In 1984, she accepted a position as a clinical nurse at the National Institutes of Health where she began working as a nurse educator designing, developing, implementing and evaluating education programs for nurses. Thompkins left the National Institute of Health in 1998 and spent several years as an advice nurse for Kaiser while also working part-time guiding nurses through review courses, and again in nursing education and staff development. Then, in 2004, she accepted the position of Assistant Director of Certification Services for the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), a subsidiary of the American Nurses Association that is an internationally renowned for its credentialing programs that certify and recognize individual nurses in specialty practice areas.

For 19 years, she served the ANCC as a senior certification program analyst as liaison to faculty, students and schools seeking certification for nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists, and providing expertise, guidance and leadership as manager of accreditation. Her institutional memory and work in credentialing would lay the groundwork for providing support to several other nursing stakeholder groups, including the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties, National Council of State Boards of Nursing and National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists. 

Janice Cooke Feigenbaum, PhD, MS, BSN, is the 2026 recipient of the University at Buffalo School of Nursing Patricia H. Garman Award for Excellence and Service in Nursing. Dr. Feigenbaum earned her Master of Science in Nursing from UB in 1970 and has been an emeritus clinical professor of nursing at UB since 2014.

Feigenbaum is a prolific and award-winning researcher who has authored three books, numerous chapters in edited volumes and refereed articles. Feigenbaum is the premier historian of nursing education at UB and published The History of the University at Buffalo School of Nursing in 2011, with an addendum covering Dean Marsha L. Lewi’s tenure from 2012 –2022 in 2024. Because of her expertise, Feigenbaum was invited to speak at the newly relaunched Margaret A. Nelson Lecture in 2026. With co-lecturer and fellow UB Nursing alumnus Keith Mages, curator of the Robert L. Brown History of Medicine Collection, Feigenbaum will present "Visualizing 90 Years of Progress in the UB School of Nursing, 1936-2026" on Sept. 24.

In addition to her outstanding record of historical and scientific research, Dr. Feigenbaum taught at UB from 2002–2014 and at D’Youville University from 1972–2003. During her time as an instructor, she was recognized for exemplary teaching, including winning the Mecca S. Cranley Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2013. As a clinician, Feigenbaum practiced as a psychiatric nurse at Edward J. Meyer Memorial Hospital, now Erie County Medical Center, and as a public health nurse for the Erie County Department of Health. 

Jenny Rohlin, DNP ’24, BSN, FNP-BC, is the 2026 recipient of the University at Buffalo School of Nursing’s Outstanding Recent Graduate Award. Dr. Rohlin earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice from UB in 2024 and has served the rural population of Chautauqua County as a Family Nurse Practitioner at The Chautauqua Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Jamestown, NY, since 2024. Her decade of diverse nursing experience in primary care, emergency medicine, public health and healthcare leadership informs her holistic approach to patient care across the lifespan. Elizabeth Kidder, MD, PhD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer of The Chautauqua Center, notes that she has “… been consistently impressed by her exceptional clinical skills, her ability to effectively manage complex and challenging patients, and her deep passion for improving access to care for our most vulnerable populations.” She has been instrumental in increasing access to women’s, reproductive and LGBTQ+ services through championing the center’s mobile health unit. She has demonstrated leadership and innovation through her work as Technical Lead for Community Health with the Chautauqua Health Network. In this role, she led project development, grant management, and program evaluation initiatives focused on addressing social determinants of health across Chautauqua County. Her work included initiatives in respiratory health, substance use prevention and treatment, child protection, and population health. 

Carrie Vangrol, FNP-BC, is the 2026 recipient of the University at Buffalo School of Nursing’s 2026 Distinguished Preceptor Award. Vangrol opened Warsaw Family Care as an independent practice in the rural community of Warsaw, NY in 2015. Vangrol’s office specializes in adult primary care case management and addiction medicine. She has precepted for UB SON family and adult-gerontology nurse practitioner students for over a decade and was nominated by four UB faculty members for this award—a record number of nominations for a single preceptor. Lynn Scott, post-master’s DNP coordinator and clinical assistant professor, notes that “she is an asset to the patients in her community, and the students have learned the value of that service, and the impact that they can have on those within their care.” Vangrol is an exceptional mentor who models how to provide compassionate care to underserved and vulnerable populations. 

By Shannon O'Sullivan