Welcome to the Nu Upsilon website!

We are honored to be the Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society associated with Grand Canyon University

Reach our chapter at welcome@nuupsilon.com

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Welcome to our New Members

A special welcome to our new members recently inducted into our chapter.  We look forward to your involvement with Nu Upsilon, and we are here to support and mentor you as you continue your journey as a nurse leader. Our recent induction was a great success. Our ceremony had 60 attendees including 21 inductees. Families, friends and cohorts celebrated, honored and recognized our new member's commitment, dedication and high achievement. 

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Dear Nu Upsilon Members, 

As summer comes to a close and we look ahead to the new school year and fall term, I hope you are doing well and have had time for rest and renewal. As we prepare for the year ahead, we look forward to “Connecting, Collaborating, and Caring” with all of you.

I am pleased to congratulate our 2026–2027 interns. We received so many strong applications that we created two internship positions. Please join me in welcoming Alisha Boley, our Education and Social Media Intern, and Robin Jolly, our Leadership and Retention Intern. You will be hearing more from both Alisha and Robin soon.

This past year, we also welcomed a record number of new members at our induction ceremonies. A heartfelt welcome to all newly inducted members—we look forward to working with you. Our next in-person induction ceremony is scheduled for October 17 in the GCU Arena on our main campus. This will again be a joint ceremony with other GCU Honor Societies. We first participated in the joint ceremony in 2025, and it was so meaningful that we decided to continue it annually.

The date for our next virtual induction ceremony is still being finalized, so please continue to check our website for updates. Invitations to newly eligible members will be sent in early to mid-September. These invitations are emailed from the SIGMA national office and then followed by an email from Nu Upsilon. Some members mistakenly assume these messages are spam, but they are legitimate. If you have any questions, please contact us at welcome@nuupsilon.com.

We have had excellent discussions and presentations during our monthly Connecting, Collaborating, and Caring Zoom sessions, and we look forward to connecting with even more of you in the coming months. These sessions include both informal networking opportunities and structured educational presentations. To suggest topics, you would like to see covered, please email us a welcome@nuupsilon.com. Registration is required to attend, and the pre-registration link is available on our website (Home – Nu Upsilon Chapter). Please note that we do not hold sessions in August or December. Sessions will resume in September and are held on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 5:00 PM Arizona time.

Nu Upsilon also expanded its educational offerings this past year, and we hope you have been able to take advantage of the free continuing education opportunities. We plan to offer even more in the coming year, and we welcome your input on topics of interest.

We have additional opportunities for member engagement planned over the next several months. Please continue to check our website for updates, and feel free to reach out with any questions or suggestions at welcome@nuupsilon.com.

Finally, we would love to celebrate your accomplishments. Please share your achievements in The Circle or by emailing us at welcome@nuupsilon.com. We would be honored to highlight member milestones on the “Nurses Responding” page of our website.

As the seasons change, we are reminded to pause and recognize the collaboration, resilience, and accomplishments that have shaped our journey. Thank you for your dedication and participation—your support makes this work possible.

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Blessings with Love, Courage and Honor

Christy Torkildson, Ph.D, RN, PHN, FPCN, HEC-C
Program Lead, MSN-Public Health Nursing & MSN-Health Care Quality and Patient Safety
Professor, College of Nursing & Health Care Professions, Grand Canyon University
President, Nu Upsilon Chapter of Sigma

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Free CE Webinars...More available in our Nu Upsilon CE library and Collaborative CE library.

Free Continuing Education Credit
This presentation, A Musical Remedy: Music Listening to Reduce Delirium, explores a quality improvement project implementing the American Music Therapy Association's music listening guidelines to reduce delirium in ICU patients. The project used the modified Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (mRASS) to evaluate outcomes, guided by the Neuman Systems Model and Lewin's Change Theory. Evidence from the literature supports the efficacy of music interventions as a non-pharmacological approach to delirium prevention.This presentation addresses three objectives: to examine the prevalence, clinical impact, and assessment of delirium in patients, develop an evidence-based plan for implementing music listening interventions to reduce delirium, and describe current research supporting music interventions for delirium prevention.
Presenter:
Sheila Martinez, DNP, RN, PCCN, Chancel
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.FREE CNE/CEU/Contact Hour hour: 1    Access Evaluation 

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Leadership Intern Program         

The Nu Upsilon Chapter Internship is focused on enhancing administrative and leadership experiences for the selected intern.  The internship will focuses on the skills, knowledge, and abilities needed to lead a nursing organization in fulfillment of the mission of the GCU Nu Upsilon Chapter of SIGMA. Students must be in good academic standing.  This is a remote internship opportunity. There is a potential for face-to-face meetings with leaders if you are in the same geographical area.

Eligibility: Senior BSN or Graduate Nursing Student in good academic standing. An active member of Nu Upsilon and Sigma International Nursing Honor Society, or meet the eligibility criteria. (If selected, the intern must agree to join SIGMA and Nu Upsilon; Nu Upsilon will pay for 1 year of membership for the selected intern).

Commitment:  Minimum 6 months with a potential option to extend to up to 12 months. 

Internship Opportunities: Social Media/Education Intern or Leadership/Retention Intern

Mentoring Program

The Nu Upsilon Mentoring Committee is accepting requests for mentors from GCU senior pre-licensure and graduate nursing students and Nu Upsilon members who are early professionals. This will be an informal, virtual mentor/mentee relationship. We have a dynamic group of volunteers eager to mentor. Mentees must be eligible for Nu Upsilon membership.

Please reach out to our executive director if interested...welcome@nuupsilon.com.

Nu Upsilon Cares Award...Our Awards and Scholarship Committee proposed adding the Nu Upsilon Cares Award, a one-time grant to help alleviate the hardship membership dues may cause a new member. This passed unanimously by our board of directors and has already gone into effect. 

Doubling the Grants we offer...Additionally, our Awards and Scholarship Committee proposed doubling the grants we offer each year, dividing the grants between educational scholarships for members who are current students and professional development grants to help our members present their work or complete research/quality improvement projects.

Service Projects...Educational webinars, On-campus Heart Health Day, providing free ‘Hands-Only CPR’ for students and faculty at our sponsoring university – Grand Canyon University, “Connecting, Collaborating, and Caring” monthly calls with our chapter president and special guests, American Heart Association Heart Walk with teams across the US, volunteer at GCU CityServe not-for-profit providing essentials to those less fortunate, the National Alzheimer Walks, with teams representing Nu Upsilon across the country. 

Any and all suggestions welcome!  Please email us at welcome@nuupsilon.com. 

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Dr. Smith receives top Sigma award...

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We are thrilled to announce that our esteemed Membership Ambassador and Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions (CONHCP), Dr. Lisa Smith, has been awarded the prestigious Melanie G. Dreher Award for Outstanding Chapter Support by SIGMA International! Dr. Smith will be honored at the Tribute Awards Luncheon on Sunday, November 9, 2025, during the Biennium Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana.

This recognition is truly well deserved. Since stepping into her role as Dean, Dr. Smith has been an unwavering advocate for increasing membership and fostering active engagement within our chapter. Through her leadership and dedication, we have grown from a small chapter of a few hundred members to an impressive community of nearly 2,000 active members. Her impact has been profound, and we are incredibly grateful for her continued support.

A huge thank you to SIGMA International for recognizing Dr. Smith's invaluable contributions!

Please join us in celebrating this incredible achievement!

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Nu Upsilon receives 3rd KEY AWARD
Sigma's highest honor for Chapter excellence!

With great pride and excitement, we announce that the Nu Upsilon Chapter has become a 3-time recipient of the Chapter Key Award! THANK YOU to everyone who helped make this happen. For those who may not know, the Key Award is the highest recognition for a Sigma Chapter, "The Chapter Key Award, established in 1991, honors Sigma chapters that excel in chapter-related activities". 

This award is due to the efforts of many of our members, past and present, committed to excellence in scholarship, leadership, and service. Our commitment to Nu Upsilon and all of you has been strengthened with this recognition, and we hope it also motivates you to renew your commitment to Sigma and Nu Upsilon. We look forward to all we can do together!

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.If you are not currently a member of our Nursing Honor Society,  we would be honored to have you visit our  Sigma membership page  for information. 
There are two ways to become a member ... as a student or as a nurse professional.

Students that meet the criteria will be nominated by GCU and sent an invitation.
Nurse Professionals may apply here.

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We are honored to be the Sigma Theta Tau
Nursing Honor Society associated with Grand Canyon University.
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Caring for Those Who Cared for Us

Nu Upsilon is honored to announce our Call to Action...This year our focus will be ... Alzheimer's.
All of our leaders and committees are coming together to virtually connect, share, and support each other. Nu Upsilon will strive to educate and engage our members through a variety opportunities to become involved. Watch the events on our website service projects, continuing education, conferences and more. For more information, see our Embracing our Seniors page.

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CityServeNu Upsilon is proud to support the GCU CityServe Program. GCU CityServe is a compassionate Christian outreach ministry of Grand Canyon University that mobilizes resources and collaborative partnerships to provide life-transformational solutions to individuals and families in need. For more information, see the GCU CityServe page, and join us to meet needs, build relationships and transform lives.

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Grow. Lead. Thrive.

The Nurse Learning Exchange is here to help you unlock your potential, boost your confidence, and earn contact hours—all with FREE, high-quality courses that meet you where you are in your career. Thanks to support from Johnson & Johnson, you now have access to a powerful collection of learning designed just for nurses like you.

Explore the courses that inspire you and start learning today 

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The origin of Nu Upsilon began at Grand Canyon University in 1987 when the first steering committee met at a Greek dinner to form a nursing honor society. The society inducted 41 members at its first charter meeting in April 1998, using the Sigma Theta Tau International criteria.

The purpose of the society reflected the mission and goals of Sigma and had as its goal to become an official chapter as soon as all the criteria were met.

Nu Upsilon became an official chapter of Sigma Theta Tau in April 1994 and has been an active chapter since that time.

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The future of Nu Upsilon is bright and promising.  

Within the last few years, our chapter has almost quadrupled the size of our membership.  We have partnered with GCU with the goal of becoming the largest and most member-oriented chapter in Sigma.

We would love to have you stay with us and take advantage of Nu Upsilon's volunteer opportunities, scholarships, service projects, and much, much more.  We look forward to exciting times ahead.

We would like to thank all the friends, family and faculty who have supported us throughout the years.  We are honored by your membership, success and dedication.  You made it possible to become the honor society we are now!  

Blessings with Love, Courage and Honor

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