CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Tania Denise Shaffer Strout, daughter of Dennis and Patricia Shaffer, wife of Officer Kenneth Strout, and mother of Meighan Li and Molly Xiao Yu Strout, all of Lisbon Falls, was awarded a doctoral degree at the 135th commencement of Boston College on May 23. Approximately 3,000 graduates received degrees.

Dr. Strout is a graduate of St. Dominic Regional High School, the University of Southern Maine College of Nursing and Health Professions and the University of Southern Maine Muskie School of Public Service. At Boston College, she studied at the William F. Connell Graduate School of Nursing and also completed a research fellowship there. Her dissertation research focused on the development of an instrument used by healthcare professionals to evaluate agitated behavior in emergency department patients with mental health issues. She is employed as the associate director of research in the Maine Medical Center Department of Emergency Medicine.