Cutline: Lerna Deyirmencian (right) receives the DAISY Award® from NOC Interim Nursing Division Chair Dr. Vickie Crouch (photo by Glenn Cope/Cope Photography)
Lerna Deyirmencian earns NOC Nursing DAISY Award®
Northern Oklahoma College nursing faculty member Lerna Deyirmencian was honored with The DAISY Award® for Extraordinary Nurse Educators at the NOC 2025 Nurses’ Pinning Ceremony Friday, May 1 at NOC Tonkawa.
The award is part of The DAISY Foundation’s mission to express gratitude to nurses with programs that recognize them for the extraordinary, compassionate and skillful care they provide patients and families.
DAISY Award recognitions honor the super-human work nurses do for patients and families every day wherever they practice, in whatever role they serve, and throughout their careers – from Nursing Student through Lifetime Achievement in Nursing.
Deyirmencian received her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience from UCLA and her Master of Science in Nursing from Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She completed her nurse residency program at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Since joining NOC in August 2024, she has contributed to the Adult I and Adult II Theory teams and serves as a clinical instructor. Her diverse nursing background includes cardiac/telemetry, medical-surgical, post-operative, rehabilitation, post-critical care, and intermediate care. In addition to teaching, she currently works as a float pool RN at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center.
She enjoys connecting with patients on a personal level and creating meaningful human connections at the bedside, and is committed to transforming nursing education into an approachable, engaging experience that builds both competence and confidence.
NOC Interim Nursing Division Chair Dr. Vickie Crouch said, “Lerna is an exceptional nurse who consistently models the core values of our program – excellence, integrity, resourcefulness, impactful relationships, and compassionate service. She goes above and beyond to ensure her students get the support they need both academically and emotionally. I can’t think of a more deserving individual.”
The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurse Educators was established by The DAISY Foundation in memory of J. Patrick Barnes who died at age 33 from Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), an auto-immune disease. The Barnes Family was awestruck by the clinical skills, caring and compassion of the nurses who cared for Patrick. They created this international award to demonstrate appreciation to faculty for their commitment and inspirational influence on their nursing students and to say thank you to nursing faculty everywhere.
Blind nominations for the award were submitted with a designated committee reviewing and ranking the nominees based on their commitment to student learning and success, utilizing personal interaction, providing rigorous instruction and innovative technologies, striving to provide high quality, accessible nursing education, and modeling the values of excellence, integrity, resourcefulness, impactful relationships, and compassionate service.
The winner was selected by the The DAISY Award® Selection Committee.
Semi-finalists included nursing faculty Deyirmencian, Wendy Spiva, Brian Baird, and Marie Head.
The winner in 2025 was NOC faculty member Rachel Kroemer
More information is available at http://DAISYfoundation.org.
