January 8, 2009
Best of 2008: School of Nursing
The school celebrated its newly remodeled simulation lab with an open house in April. The Center for Excellence in Nursing Education offers state-of-the-art simulated hospital and clinical settings and allows some 600 nursing students a year to get hands-on experience before stepping into their first nursing jobs.
A new $80,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will provide scholarship support to expand the number of students in the Graduate Entry Program in Nursing. The New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program grant will allow the school to increase GEPN enrollment by eight students, from 24 to 32, for students enrolling in summer quarter 2009. The program was created to help alleviate the nursing shortage and increase diversity among nursing professionals.
Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems
Basia Belza, the Aljoya Endowed Professor in Aging, and her editorial team were selected to receive the 2008 President’s Award from the Arthritis Health Professionals Association (ARHP) for her role as scientific editor for the nurse practitioner and physician’s assistant post-graduate rheumatology training program, an innovative online educational resource.
Elizabeth Bridges and Hilaire Thompson, both assistant professors, were inducted as fellows into the American Academy of Nursing during the academy’s annual meeting and conference in November.
Martha Lentz, research professor, was inducted as the new president of the Western Institute of Nursing at the organization’s annual meeting in California in April.
Sarah Shannon and Brenda Zierler, both associate professors, were accepted as HERS scholars for 2008-09. HERS, or Higher Education Resource Services, is an educational nonprofit organization providing leadership and management development for women in higher education administration. They will attend five sessions at Wellesley College with 70 other women leaders in higher education over the next academic year.
Joachim Voss, assistant professor, was one of 15 junior faculty nationwide to receive an inaugural Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar award. The three-year, $350,000 grant began Sept. 1. The award will support Voss’s research into finding better methods to manage fatigue in HIV patients. The award also will support Voss’s participation in a training program to help prepare him for academic leadership and translating evidence into policy and practice initiatives.
Catherine Warms, research assistant professor, was appointed to the Governor’s Committee on Disability Issues and Employment for an initial three-year term. This committee identifies issues and concerns affecting people with disabilities and advises policymakers and others on disability issues with an emphasis on increasing opportunities for independence and employment.
Brenda Zierler, associate professor and associate dean of technology innovations in education and research, was selected as a 2008 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation executive nurse fellow, one of 20 nurses in executive leadership roles nationwide chosen for the three-year fellowship program. As part of the fellowship, Zierler will undertake a leadership project to benefit the UW, with funding from the foundation and matching funds from the UW. For her project, Zierler will facilitate an interprofessional team approach to education in patient safety and quality improvement by creating the infrastructure that supports simulation-based team training for UW health professional students.
Department of Family and Child Nursing
Michele Acker, senior lecturer and director of the pediatric nurse practitioner program, was named the 2008 Distinguished Member of the Washington chapter of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners.
Professor Marcia Killien was elected the new secretary of the faculty in the UW Faculty Senate.
Former Nursing Dean Nancy Woods, who left the deanship last fall to return to teaching and research, was honored with the Shining Star award by the King County Nurses Association in May. The award honors nurses nominated by their peers for excellence in clinical, educational, research or administrative practice.
Department of Psychosocial and Community Health
Betty Bekemeier, assistant professor, was awarded the Scholars Grant in Public Health, a two-year fellowship intended to support a junior researcher pursuing community-based, public-health practice research.
David Lovell, research associate professor, became the new UW Faculty Senate chair in October.
A book edited by new Dean Marla Salmon was awarded the American Academy of Nursing media award for 2008. “Nurse: A World of Care” documents the vital and often invisible work of nurses throughout the globe.
