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Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing Ph.D. student Kerry-Ann Dixon has been selected as a 2026 Deborah E. Trautman Future Nurse Leader Scholar, a national scholarship recognizing graduate nursing students who aspire to leadership roles in academic nursing. ��

Funded by Liaison International in partnership with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), the��scholarship honors AACN President and CEO Deborah Trautman, PhD, RN, FAAN. The highly competitive program awards just two scholarships annually.

“Receiving national recognition as a 2026 Trautman Scholar affirms that my��‘climb up a staircase filled with ‘tacks and��turnin’��corners,’��a line from Langston Hughes’ 1922 poem�� Mother to Son,�� holds meaning beyond my own story,” Dixon said. ��

Written during a time of profound social constraint, the poem mirrors Dixon’s journey and honors her parents’ sacrifices after immigrating from Jamaica when she was eight years old. ��

“This recognition celebrates my persistence as a nursing Ph.D. candidate and second-career nurse, as well as the students, communities and families who have shaped and molded my purpose,” she said. ��

“Kerry-Ann’s selection as a 2026 Trautman Scholar highlights the rigorous scholarship and leadership development at the core of our��doctoral��program��at the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing,” said��Dr.��Howard Butcher,��director of the Ph.D.��program. “Our goal is to prepare students who are ready to lead, collaborate and contribute to national conversations in nursing, and this recognition affirms that approach.” ��

Dixon, who plans to complete the program in spring 2027, serves as a Program Performance Officer at the Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County. A former educator with the Palm Beach School District, she initially considered a career in speech-language pathology. ��

Dixon said the recognition affirms that solutions developed at the bedside, in classrooms��and within communities,��and strengthened through advocacy,��deserve national attention and policy influence. It has reinforced her commitment to transforming barriers into bridges across maternal-child health, nursing��education��and community engagement. ��

She brings to the Trautman Scholars program a perspective grounded in lived experience across education, clinical practice,��leadership��and community partnership. ��

“My work reflects a commitment to shaping systems from within by mentoring nursing students into leadership, integrating service-learning into curricula and amplifying the voices of��groups��with limited representation, including Black fathers, in health policy discussions,” Dixon said. ��

Dixon applies a practitioner-scholar lens that connects community experience with academic rigor and policy action. Through the Trautman leadership program, she hopes to strengthen her ability to turn research into policy by building interdisciplinary partnerships and advancing equitable, family-centered health outcomes. ��

“I want to transform nursing and health��care��one student and one policy at a time,” Dixon��stated. ��