Compassionate Leadership

Donato J. Tramuto and Jeffrey Porter establish the Tramuto Porter Compassionate Leadership Scholarship

 

During the 2022 Commencement ceremony, renowned health care and social justice activist, philanthropist, and author Donato J. Tramuto announced the formation of the Tramuto Porter Compassionate Leadership Scholarship that will be awarded each year to a Regis student in the Young School of Nursing.

In his keynote address delivered to 1,300 graduates at the Leader Bank Pavilion in Boston, the 2022 honorary degree recipient and generous Regis supporter challenged graduates to discover their “why.”

“Graduates, your lives will not be about doing one great thing, rather it will be about doing many little things that have the capacity to drive great change. It is important to not only uncover your professional why, you must uncover your personal why. Nobody cares what you do until they know why you do it.”

Tramuto’s book, The Double Bottom Line, is focused on how to be a compassionate leader—which is a key element of the scholarship as well. The scholarship is awarded to a student who shows compassionate leadership during their time at Regis through their academics or a leadership role on campus.

“Imagine your possibilities: I feel excited about them; I feel optimistic; I feel a sense of good beginning...” Tramuto said to graduates. “I am announcing the creation of the Tramuto Porter Compassionate Leadership Scholarship Fund that will be awarded each year to a future nursing professional beginning their own journey in care and discovering their own personal ‘why.”’

The first Tramuto Porter Compassionate Leadership Scholarship was awarded in spring 2023 to nursing major Bryan De Souza ’25 (pictured right), a first-generation student from Everett, Massachusetts. “I am passionate about mental health and erasing the stigma, especially in communities of color like where I grew up,” says De Souza. “I have dreams of becoming a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner who incorporates hip-hop into his practice, and I know Regis and my Compassionate Leadership Scholarship will help me achieve that.”