A group of retired nurses crowds around old photos set out on a table. These four women are part of the CU Anschutz College of Nursing Bachelor's Class of 1976, formally known as the CU School of Nursing – and they used to be roommates. They share stories and laugh at photos of all of them together in their college apartment.
Nursing alumni traveled from across the country to gather for the 2026 CU Anschutz All Alumni Celebration, where CU Anschutz alumni, including CU Nursing alumni, celebrated the Classes of 1976 BSN, 1996 ND, and 2016 BSN, with a reception and class dinner.
Members of the Class of 1976 look at old photos from their time as roommates. |
The BSN Class of 1976 celebrated their 50-year reunion and spent much of the evening remembering friends and reminiscing on their time together.
Alice Johnson is one of the roommates reflecting on old memories. She says that even though she doesn’t stay in touch with everyone in the class, it was fun to see some familiar faces.
“The reunion dinner and celebration were great, there’s some people I don’t remember. But there's this peace when you see someone and can recognize them, because you have a memory that you spent time with them, but it didn't come up on the radar right away,” she says.
Johnson says the program also gave her some long-lasting friendships. One classmate says she and Johnson talk regularly despite living apart – and came to the reunion dinner because Johnson encouraged her to come. Johnson served as a Class Champion, a role created to inform, excite, and encourage her former classmates to attend.
Feeling Prepared to Become Nurses
Many of the nurses from 1976 reflected on how the college prepared them to enter the workforce as skilled professional nurses.
After earning her BSN, Shawna Reynolds came back to CU Anschutz Nursing in 2010 to earn her advanced nursing degree to become a psychiatric nurse practitioner. She is now retired and lives locally in the Denver area.
“What I remember the most is the program really was trying to instill in us a very strong ethic and responsibility to patients,” she says. “They really laid heavy responsibility on us, and I think all the people that I've known and stayed in touch with have all carried that.”
Her classmate, Katherine Berndt, also remembers this as a core takeaway. She is a retired pediatric nurse practitioner.
Alice Johnson, a retired nurse and an alumna from the BSN Class of 1976, speaks during the alumni class dinner. |
“The college instilled professionalism in us, and I thought that was leading edge. When I moved around the country, I found a lot of nurses' attitudes, and even hospital attitudes, about being a nurse did not recognize professionalism,” she says.
Alice Johnson went on to have a successful career as a nurse and later founded a company that specializes in healthcare placements. She says while there were challenges, both academically and culturally, when they were in school, the program gave her a progressive skill set.
“1976 was a really chaotic time in the world. And I think that that education gave us a basis to be able to do things that we probably were not able to do just a few years before,” she says. “I left the school with confidence that the world was open to me.”
Will you be celebrating your 10- or 50-year CU Nursing reunion soon? Reach out to Katelyn.Nolan@cuanschutz.edu to start planning your milestone reunion!
