This is the 40th year Auburn University has conferred the BSN degree. The Year 2020 was heralded as the Year of the Nurse declared by the World Health Organization, and it brought a pandemic to our doorstep along with it! Our response commanded all our resources, stamina and dedication to pull us all through the dark times. As we slowly return to a new normal in 2021 and an extension of the Year of the Nurse, we take this opportunity to honor two outstanding recipients who bring tremendous distinction to our school as community leaders and public servants.

The School of Nursing is proud to honor exceptional graduates through our Distinguished Alumni Awards. Started in 2009, these awards are one way we recognize distinguished and committed alumni who excel in the areas of leadership, professional achievement and community service. We recognize the collective depth and breadth of their interests, talents, career paths and achievements in all spheres. Through their career achievements and engagement with the university and community, these alumni set a standard to which our students and fellow alumni can aspire.

Dr. Gregg Newschwander, Dean of the School of Nursing, presented the 2021 Distinguished Alumnus Award to two of our graduates, a first for the school!

The first recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award was Brooke Bailey. The second recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award was another, equally accomplished graduate — Captain Ronald A. Fancher of the Nurse Corps, United States Navy.

A leader and a role model in the field of nursing, the Cordova Alabama native, Fancher first enlisted in the US. Navy in 1987. Two years later, after completing training, he was assigned to the USS Bergall (SSN 667) — a sturgeon-class attack submarine — as lead engineering lab technician. He was selected for the Navy’s Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship program and graduated from Auburn in 1997.

After graduation, Ensign Fancher was assigned to the naval hospital in Pensacola where he served on the Medical-Surgical ward, then as a team nurse and assistant division officer of the family practice clinic. It was during his stint in Pensacola, in 2001, that he completed an MSN as a Family Practitioner from the University of Mobile. He obtained a Post-Master’s certification as a certified nurse midwife in 2007 from the University of Florida.

Captain Fancher has multiple deployments to combat zones in support of military operations. He has served in numerous leadership roles during his naval career, as a medical officer in charge of multi-national humanitarian missions in Liberia and Indonesia, served in Japan and Kuwait on overseas missions as medical officer, assigned as the senior medical officer of U.S. Aegis Ashore Missile Defense System in Romania in 2018.

Capt. Fancher is a much-decorated member of the U.S. Navy, with an impressive record of accolades from the service. He has received Three Meritorious Service Medals, Seven Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medals, Navy Achievement Medal, Air Force Achievement Medal, Outstanding Military Volunteer Service Medal, and various unit and service awards.

He is a member of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, American College of Nurse Midwives, and serves on the certificate maintenance committee of the American Midwifery Certification Board. He currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer of Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command in Bethesda where he is responsible for all active-duty Navy personnel assigned to both Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in Virginia.

“Capt. Ronald Fancher is an exceptional representative of the Auburn School of Nursing,” Dean Newschwander said, presenting the Distinguished Alumnus Award to Capt. Fancher.

Congratulations to Capt. Ronald A. Fancher!