Angelica Fernandez-Dizon and Susan Bindon discuss their divergent paths to UMB, deliver messages of resolve, and call on their peers to keep up the good work on improving the human condition.
Photo: Angelica Fernandez-Dizon delivers her speech, which detailed her journey from the Philippines to the United States and the School of Nursing at the Universities at Shady Grove, during Faculty Convocation on Sept. 17. (This photo and photos below by Matthew D’Agostino)
University of Maryland School of Nursing (UMSON) faculty members Angelica Fernandez-Dizon and Susan Bindon took the audience on a trip back in time Sept. 17 at the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s (UMB) Faculty Convocation.
As the event’s featured speakers, Fernandez-Dizon and Bindon talked about their journeys into nursing and teaching, the former starting in a town in the Philippines and the latter on a Pennsylvania farm, with both paths leading to UMB. Their stories of persistence and appreciation captivated an audience that came to celebrate faculty excellence and the new academic year during the fifth annual event, where UMB President Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, and Interim Provost and Executive Vice President Mark A. Reynolds, DDS, PhD, MA, presided over the ceremony.
“The Faculty Convocation has become an important tradition at UMB, a time when we come together to celebrate the beginning of the new academic year,” Reynolds said. “We are joined by many UMB faculty and staff — our colleagues and friends whose dedication and hard work make UMB such a vibrant community. Each of you plays an essential role in our University’s tradition of excellence in education, research, clinical care, and service.”
‘The Kid from Kidapawan: The Power of Becoming’
Fernandez-Dizon, MD, DNP, MBA-HCM, MSN, BSN, RN, NP-C, assistant professor, UMSON at the Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville, Md., centered her speech’s message on three pillars: reflection, readiness, and relationship, with the first pillar tied to her upbringing in Kidapawan and attending nursing school in Manila and medical school in Biñan before immigrating to the United States in 2000.
“Reflection is where leadership begins. It is the moment we realize: ‘My story matters,’ ” she said, adding that she was raised by her grandparents, who “gave me everything they had and everything they were,” and grew up in “a small city with a big heart, the type of place where people are raised with grit and a sense of purpose.
“This reminds us of something essential: Every one of us, no matter where we begin, has a fair chance to contribute to making this world a better place,” Fernandez-Dizon said.
- At Convocation, President Jarrell asks UMB faculty to tell their stories of impact.
- Watch a video recap of the Faculty Convocation below or on YouTube.
Fernandez-Dizon’s contributions began in nursing school, where she earned her bachelor’s degree then yearned to attend medical school. “There was a fire in me that wouldn’t let go — the fire to become a medical doctor,” she said. “It wasn’t that the dream was unnecessary or unreasonable, it was that I understood the financial responsibility that came with the dream.”
She passed the Philippines’ National Medical Admission Test but faced this question: What now? “Passing an exam doesn’t pay tuition,” she said. Unbowed, Fernandez-Dizon walked into the Perpetual Help College of Manila president’s office and bravely and respectfully asked for a full scholarship.
“I told him I would work harder than anyone. I told him I would honor the opportunity,” she said. “And what’s even more remarkable is that he believed me and said, ‘Yes.’ That moment changed my life, because someone saw what I could become before I fully saw it myself.”
That college president, she said, recognized her readiness to take that next step to get her medical degree.
“As nurses, educators, and leaders, we know that readiness is built through practice, mentorship, and the willingness to show up even when the path is uncertain,” Fernandez-Dizon said. “Our students learn readiness every time they walk into a clinical setting, advocate for a patient, and push through a challenge they didn’t think they could overcome. Readiness is the muscle that turns potential into action.”
She called the third pillar, relationship, the bridge that gets UMSON students from where they are to who they’re becoming, adding that educators play a major role in building that bridge.
“Our students thrive when they feel seen, supported, and connected,” Fernandez-Dizon said. “Relationship is what transforms education from information to transformation. As we begin this academic year, my hope is that we honor the power of our own becoming just as deeply as we honor the becoming of our students.
“We are all still unfolding — with more to grow, more to give, and more to learn. Because every challenge we face, every innovation we pursue, every moment we choose empathy over ease, it shapes not only our classrooms and clinics, but the future of the communities we serve.”
With her background in medicine, nursing, and health care management, Fernandez-Dizon has become well-respected for bringing an interdisciplinary perspective to strengthening health systems, advancing workforce development, and promoting equitable access to high-quality care.
Enjoying this kind of career and her success might have seemed like an impossible journey, she said, before noting that all UMB faculty members’ path to the health professions and academia might have seemed out of reach at some point.
“We have all made impossible journeys,” Fernandez-Dizon said. “The final question isn’t simply, ‘How did you get here?’ The final question is, ‘Where will you go from here?’ ”
Susan Bindon talked about growing up on a Pennsylvania dairy farm during her Faculty Convocation speech.
‘Payment in the Form of Gratitude’
Bindon, DNP, RN, NPD-BC, CNE, FAAN, ANEF, professor and associate dean for faculty development, UMSON, began by describing scenes from growing up on a Western Pennsylvania dairy farm — the taste of strawberry shortcake, the smell of freshly baled hay, the sound of a squeaky metal wagon — and how once she and her siblings saw the dust kick up from their father’s truck as it neared the house, they knew it was “go time.” Everyone in the family had to contribute to preparing supper (not dinner), eat quickly, and then get back to work each day.
“Getting back to work, that was a mainstay,” she said. “My dad instilled a gritty kind of pride and strong work ethic for which I’m very grateful, but this is a story about my mom, Sherry. I come from generations of farmers, but I’m also the daughter, granddaughter, mother, and hopefully someday grandmother of registered nurses. My mom learned to be a farm wife, but she was a registered nurse at heart.
“When neighbors in our rural community found this out, it was not uncommon to hear a knock on the door or a ring of the phone, and a humble voice saying, ‘Hey, Susie, is your mom around?’ ”
Bindon said her mother was always around and ready to help anyone in the community with a health issue, treating dog bites, bee stings, toothaches, and earaches or checking blood pressure and giving insulin shots.
“She was demonstrating access, inclusivity, and triage before I had any idea what those words meant,” Bindon said. “ My mom donated goodwill to our community and took care of them, and they developed a large trust in her ability to get them back to work. Payment always came in the form of gratitude by way of a dozen eggs, a jar of pickles, a homemade cake, ham, jam, peaches, apples, whatever was in season.”
Inspired by her mother, Bindon attended nursing school in Pittsburgh and carried Sherry’s three-part “recipe for life” to the big city: Be strategic, aka pay attention. Be ready, ready or not. Contribute, period.
“I learned to read the room, think on my feet, use my resources, ask only pertinent questions, and remain calm,” Bindon said, regarding the first ingredient. “Sherry was always prepared for whatever or whoever might show up at the door.”
As for the second ingredient, Bindon said, “Nurses, farmers, and academics, we all need to be ready for the next thing, whatever it might be — a drought, a policy change, market fluctuations, a curriculum revision, a pandemic.
“Being prepared and being ready are different. Being prepared means you’ve done your homework, done your research, you have your data, and you might even have a plan. But being ready means you’re in the game, ready to jump into action. And Sherry was both.”
Referring to the third ingredient, Bindon said her mother told her that, in life, you can be a consumer or a contributor, “and she strongly suggested that we choose the latter.” In addition to her lending her nursing skills to the community, Bindon’s mom would contribute by leading Girl Scout troops, volunteering at church, sending treats to family and friends, and performing other acts of kindness.
Bindon related her mother’s recipe for life to the work being done at UMB as it educates the next generation of health and human services professionals.
“We all come to work every day trying to make the world a better place,” she said. “We’re not always perfect, but we come together, we help each other, we learn, we regroup, and we keep going. We’re strategic, we contribute, and we are ready.
“When I visit my family, I fall back easily into the rhythm of the community my parents helped build. I’m so grateful for the grounding that it gives me and for the lessons I carry with me. Today, as I look out at the audience, I can almost see the dust from my dad’s truck, and I can hear Sherry saying, ‘It’s go-time, Susie.’
“So now, here at UMB, let’s all get back to work.”
Anthem Soars, Awardees Shine
Tiffany White, MS, PA-C (in photo, right), assistant professor, University of Maryland School of Graduate Studies, opened the convocation with a stirring performance of the national anthem, bringing sustained applause from the crowd of 450 that attended the event under the tent at Koester’s Lot. Reynolds stepped to the dais to welcome attendees, UMB deans and vice presidents, leaders of the Faculty and Staff senates, and presidents of the student governance bodies.
Reynolds introduced the University’s 2026 cohort of Distinguished University Professors and detailed the stellar work each had done to earn the highest appointment that can be bestowed upon a faculty member at UMB. The honorees walked to the stage one by one, posed for photos, and received their medals, which are handcrafted by Jarrell, an accomplished metalsmith.
The 2026 Distinguished University Professors:
- Deanna L. Kelly, PharmD, BCPP, FAAPP, Dr. William and Carol Carpenter Professor in Psychiatry for Mental Illness Research, Department of Psychiatry, and Director, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, School of Medicine (UMSOM)
- Eun-Shim Nahm, PhD, RN, FAAN, FGSA, Professor, Department of Organizational Systems and Adult Health, and Associate Dean for PhD Program, UMSON
- Thomas M. Scalea, MD, Honorable Francis X. Kelly Distinguished Professor of Trauma Surgery, Department of Surgery, and Director, Program in Trauma, UMSOM
- Michael P. Van Alstine, JD, Francis King Carey Professor in Business Law, Francis King Carey School of Law
- Hongbing Wang, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy
- Huakun Xu, PhD, MS, FADM, Professor and Chair, Department of Biomaterials and Regenerative Dental Medicine, School of Dentistry
(Read about the 2026 Distinguished University Professors.)
UMB President Bruce Jarrell, far left, and Interim Provost and Executive Vice President Mark Reynolds, far right, pose with the 2026 UMB Distinguished University Professsors: From left: Michael Van Alstine, Thomas Scalea, Deanna Kelly, Eun-Shim Nahm, Hongbing Wang, and Huakun Xu.