Joyce Keenan, Dr. Evelyn Ramming and Dr. Joanne M. Diana, all members of the Thiel College Nursing Department, were honored for their service to the college. This year also marked the close of the college's nursing program.

Keenan, who has spent nearly 40 years in the field of nursing, joined the Thiel faculty in 1994 as an associate professor of nursing. Keenan -- who graduated in 1964 from the Philadelphia General Hospital School of Nursing -- taught courses in health assessment skills, personal health, critical care of adults, medications, anatomy and physiology, and pediatrics, among others.

She also taught clinical and theory courses in maternal-newborn nursing and clinical nursing techniques. She has been involved with various continuing education programs in topics ranging from women's health to AIDS and ethics.

Keenan earned a bachelor's degree in nursing from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania in 1988 and a master's in nursing from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 1993. In May 2000 she also graduated from Edinboro's Family Nurse Practitioner Program.

She resides in Saegertown.

Ramming, of Greenville, was appointed director and chairperson of the college's nursing department in November 1993, bringing nearly 25 years of teaching experience to the position.

Ramming joined Thiel College from the University of Oklahoma, where she worked as an assistant and associate professor in the College of Nursing since 1969.

At Thiel, Ramming presented courses in research methodology, food patterns and health, fundamentals of nursing, health assessment skills, and nursing care of adults with critical health problems.

She also has been involved with various committees and events including the college's institutional planning committee.

Ramming earned her bachelor's degree in nursing from the University of Pittsburgh in 1959, her master's from Wayne State University, Detroit, in 1969, and her doctorate from the University of Oklahoma in 1992.

Diana, who also received professor emerita status, began her Thiel College career in 1989. Diana, who currently holds the rank of full professor at Thiel, arrived at the college from Lynchburg (Va.) General Hospital, where she had served as director of continuing education.

Diana graduated from the Youngstown Hospital Association School of Nursing in 1961. She earned her bachelor's degree in nursing Youngstown State University in 1963, her master's in 1977 from Medical College of Georgia, and her doctorate in education from Walden University in Minneapolis in 1988.

She has been named to "Who's Who in America," "The World's Who's Who of Women," "Who's Who in American Nursing," and "Who's Who Among America's Teachers." She resides in Youngstown.