This year's alumni honorees show the wide-ranging and significant impact of nursing leadership. Whether they are launching innovative clinical programs, leading national health initiatives, mentoring future nursing leaders or advancing policy reform, these recipients demonstrate excellence and compassion at every level of care.
Read on to explore the stories and accomplishments of this year’s distinguished award recipients.
Alumni Award for Excellence
Laura Calcagni, DNP, MSN, RN, CNE (FPB ’22) is the recipient of the 2026 Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing Alumni Award for Excellence, which recognizes an alumnus who demonstrates outstanding leadership development and makes significant contributions to healthcare. She earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree with a focus in educational leadership from the School of Nursing and is an associate professor at the Centofanti School of Nursing, Youngstown State University. A Certified Nurse Educator since 2013, she received YSU’s Distinguished Professor for Excellence in Teaching Award in 2020.
While pursuing a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, Calcagni was selected to represent Case Western Reserve University as a Sigma Rising Star of Research and Scholarship at the 33rd Sigma International Research Congress. Her research centers on improving student clinical judgment, effective clinical teaching and interprofessional student collaboration through simulation.
Calcagni has been an active member of the Sigma Xi chapter at YSU, serving as chapter president for seven years and continues to mentor emerging nurse leaders. Her ongoing contributions to nursing “reflect the lasting influence of her FPB experience and her commitment to advancing the nursing profession.”
Distinguished Alumni Award
The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes a Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing graduate who has made exemplary contributions to healthcare and continuously advocated for the advancement of the nursing profession. This year’s recipient is Leslie H. Nicoll, PhD, MBA, RN, FAAN (FPB ’88).
A fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, Nicoll is a nurse, editor, author and publishing scholar whose career has focused on advancing excellence and integrity in nursing scholarship. With more than 150 publications, her scholarly work focuses on peer review, editorial decision-making, the history of nursing publishing and the responsible use of artificial intelligence in editorial practice.
Nicoll served as Editor-in-Chief of CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing (1995 to 2025), and is the current editor of Visions: The Journal of Rogerian Nursing Science. As founder of Writer’s Camp and editor-in-chief of The Writer’s Camp Journal, she leads an active online community committed to helping nurses and healthcare professionals with scholarly writing, peer review and publishing.
Young Alumni Award
The Young Alumni Award recognizes a Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing graduate who has shown outstanding leadership growth and made significant contributions to healthcare within the first 10 years after graduating from an entry-level nursing program (BSN or MN). This year’s recipient is Catherine Wilkosz, MSc, BSN, RN (CWR ’17).
Wilkosz earned her BSN from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing and began her nursing career in the operating room before joining McKinsey & Company as a nursing implementation consultant, where she helped health systems improve workforce sustainability and clinical operations.
Currently, she is vice president of strategic content at Laudio Insights, where she amplifies and inspires frontline nurse leadership by developing and deploying workshops and educational resources for health systems across the country. Her work builds on the second edition of Leader Inspired Work, for which she served as lead editor, connecting evidence-based insights with real-world behaviors to build standardized, sustainable and inspirational frontline leadership.
