T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F N O R T H C A R O L I N A A T C H A P E L H I L L S C H O O L O F N U R S I N G • S p r i n g 2 0 0 3
Carolina
NURSING
Engagement
in the Community
Dear Alumni and Friends,
During this springtime of global
unrest, I am especially proud of the
many ways in which School of
Nursing students, faculty, and staff
are engaged in partnerships with
communities, local and global, and
with our alumni, through the work
of the Alumni Association and the
SON Foundation Board. These part-nerships
shape how we learn, what
we learn and the nature of the citi-zens
we become in this world.
In January, I had the opportunity
to develop a stronger understanding
of our world as I represented the
School of Nursing at a meeting in
Bangkok, Thailand, that included
the boards of the Kenan Institute
Asia (KI Asia) and the Kenan
Institute for Private
Enterprise. The Provost
and deans from three UNC
schools had the privilege of
interacting with the former
prime minister of Thailand, a vari-ety
of UNC-Chapel Hill alumni and
Thai government and business offi-cials
as we sought ways to enhance
student and faculty exchanges
throughout Southeast Asia.
KI Asia made local arrange-ments
for me with the nursing
leaders of Thailand. In Bangkok, I
worked with the dean and directors
from Mahidol-Ramathibodi and
Mahidol-Siriraj to plan the interna-tional
conference on chronic illness
that our School will co-sponsor
with Mahidol and Yale Universities
in January 2006. At Chiang Mai
University, the dean and I began
negotiations for a partnership
similar to the one we have with
Mahidol University, where our
faculty participates in doctoral
education of Thai nurses.
The trip was an incredible expe-rience,
enhanced each day by the
warmth and hospitality of our Thai
nursing colleagues. I spent
evenings in Bangkok with our
recent doctoral graduate, Kwan
Amnatsatsue, and with Renu
Pookboonmee, a faculty member
from Mahidol-Ramathibodi, who
recently completed a post-doc year
in Chapel Hill. In Chiang Mai, I
visited with current doctoral student
Nada Lukkahatai and her mother,
the head of nurse-anesthesia at
Chiang Mai Hospital. Faculty mem-bers
and deans at both universities
graciously hosted events where
I could learn about Thai culture,
food and religion, in addition
to learning about Thai nursing
education and research.
One is forever changed by
immersion in another culture. It is
why the faculty of this School and
University promote cross-cultural
experiences at home and abroad.
I hope you enjoy reading about the
many ways in which your School is
engaged in the world in this issue
of Carolina Nursing. If you are far
away from Chapel Hill, I also hope
you remember the dogwoods and
the way the campus looks in the
full bloom of spring.
Linda Cronenwett, PhD, RN, FAAN
Dean
FROM THEDean
Dean Cronenwett with Dr. Kobkul
Phancharoenworakul, dean of the
faculty of nursing at Mahidol
University, Siriraj, and Dr. Supanee
Senadisai, director of nursing, faculty
of medicine, at Mahidol University,
Ramathibodi.
Dean Wipada Kunaviktikul and
Associate Dean for International
Relations Dr. Achara Sukonthasarn
of Chiang Mai University with
Dean Cronenwett.
Carolina Nursing is published by the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing for
the School’s alumni and friends.
Dean
Linda R. Cronenwett, PhD, RN, FAAN
The Office of Advancement
Norma Hawthorne, Director
Anne Aldridge Webb, Associate Director, Alumni
Affairs and Annual Fund
Sunny Smith Nelson, Associate Director, Public
Relations and Communications
Cami Harwood, Public Information Assistant
LaToya Wills and Sarah Wood,
Health Affairs Communications Interns
Shelley Clayton, Work-Study Intern
Editor
Sunny Smith Nelson
Contributing Writers
Cami Harwood
Norma Singleton Hawthorne
Marcia Kaye
Sarah McConnaghy
Merle Mishel, PhD, RN, FAAN
Anne Aldridge Webb
Sarah Wood
Natasha Worthington
Photography
Barbara Germino, PhD, RN, FAAN
Steve Exum
Sunny Smith Nelson
Merle Mishel, PhD, RN, FAAN
Ann Doxey Turner
Anne Aldridge Webb
John Young
Design and Production
Alison Duncan Design
School of Nursing
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Carrington Hall, CB #7460
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7460
(919) 966-4619
E-mail: sonalum@unc.edu
http://www.unc.edu/depts/nursing
Spring 2003 Carolina
NURSING
ENGAGEMENT IN THE COMMUNITY ISSUE
Local Community
6 You Get What You Give:
SON Students Aid Community,
Build Skills through Volunteer Efforts
8 New Service-Learning Project Creates
Campus-Community Partnership
Statewide Community
10 Sustainable Solutions:
Nursing Education for Golden Leaf Counties
12 Just What the Nurse Manager Ordered:
A New Leadership Program for Clinical Managers
National Community
14 A Partnership in Reducing Health Disparities
16 Nurse Educators:
How the SON Is Helping Supply Meet Demand
International Community
18 “Uncertainty” Comes to South Korea
20 A Powerful Exchange of Ideas:
The UNC-Mahidol University
Nursing Scholar Exchange Program
REGULAR FEATURES
2 Roll Call
4 SONdries
22 Alumni News
29 Noteworthy Nurses
30 Development News
33 Alumni Notes
34 Calendar of Events
ON THE COVER: School of Nursing students Melissa Dedmond and Jenny Neifeld
practice their skills for SHAC, UNC’s Student Health Action Coalition. The organization,
which is staffed by students and faculty mentors from each of UNC's health affairs
schools, is the oldest student-run free clinic in the country.
Congratulations to Dr.
Judy Miller on being
the Carolina recipient of
the UNC Board of
Governors Award for
Excellence in Teaching.
Established in 1994 by
the BOG, the awards are given to a
tenured faculty member from each UNC
campus to recognize and reward excel-lence
in teaching. Miller will receive a
$7,500 stipend and a bronze medallion
to mark the honor.
Dr. Joanne Harrell
received the American
Heart Association’s
2002 Katharine A.
Lembright Award in
honor of her contribu-tions
to cardiovascular
nursing research. The award was estab-lished
in 1987 in honor of an AHA staff
member who played a significant role
in the development of the AHA Council
on Cardiovascular Nursing.
Congratulations
to Drs. Jo Ann
Dalton and Sheila
Englebardt, winners
of North Carolina
Nurses Association
awards at the 2002
annual conference. Dalton was honored
with the NCNA Board of Directors Award
for her outstanding contributions to
nursing in North Carolina. Englebardt
received the Informatics Nurse of the
Year Award in recognition of her inno-vation
and leadership in the field of
nursing informatics and educational
technology.
Dr. Diane Kjervik
has been appointed as
a leadership fellow in
UNC’s Institute for the
Arts and Humanities
Academic Leadership
Program for 2003.
In addition to providing a stipend, the
award will allow Kjervik to expand her
scholarship related to women’s health,
leadership and therapeutic
jurisprudence.
Congratulations to Dr. Diane
Holditch-Davis, recipient of the
Southern Nursing Research Society���s
2003 Distinguished Researcher Award.
She was chosen in recognition of her
established program of research that
has enhanced the science and practice
of nursing in the Southern region.
Dean Linda R. Cronenwett has
been chosen to serve as a research
group member for the Hastings Center’s
Ethical Issues in Improving Healthcare
Quality and Safety Project. She will
serve for two years.
Congratulations to North Carolina State
University doctoral candidates Kathy
Alden, SON clinical assistant professor,
and Carol Durham, SON clinical
associate professor, who were inducted
into Phi Kappa Phi, NCSU’s oldest and
most prestigious honor society. Only 1%
of the university’s graduate students
were inducted this spring.
Congratulations to
Drs. Dennis Cheek
and Sandy Funk,
both of whom accepted
fellowships in presti-gious
national organi-zations
this past fall.
Cheek was honored
with becoming a fel-low
of the American
Heart Association and
the Council of
Cardiovascular
Nursing, while Funk
was elected an honorary fellow of the
American Academy of Nursing.
Jane Campbell, a SON adjunct
faculty member and clinical nurse
specialist in gerontology at UNC
Hospitals, was selected as one of the
top 100 nurses in North Carolina in
practice and commitment to the
profession by The Great 100, Inc.
Dr. Susan Pierce
was elected by the
American Nurses
Association House of
Delegates to serve on
the 15-member ANA
Congress on Nursing
Practice and Economics. She will serve
a four-year term and her duties will
include focusing on nursing’s approach
to emerging trends within the socioeco-nomic,
political and practice spheres of
the health-care industry; recommend-ing
policy alternatives to the ANA Board
of Directors; and updating, disseminat-ing
and assuring implementation of the
Code of Ethics for Nurses. In addition to
serving as a member of the congress,
Pierce was selected by ANA’s governmen-tal
affairs office to serve on ANA’s
Committee on Legislation.
Kim Larson, a SON PhD student, has
been appointed dean of the Barton
College School of Nursing in Wilson,
North Carolina.
Rebecca Gary, also a SON PhD stu-dent,
won a Dean’s Award for Graduate
Student Research Benefitting North
Carolina. Her winning research submis-sion
was "The effectiveness of home-based
exercise in older women with
diastolic heart failure." The University-wide
award was presented to Gary in
March as a part of the UNC-Chapel Hill
Graduate School’s centennial celebration.
Several SON students won prestigious
academic scholarships recently from
the North Carolina League of Nursing.
They include doctoral students Kim
Larson and Kerry Thompson and
master’s students Kelly Berry and
Melanie Stephens. The NCLN
Academic Scholarship Fund is adminis-tered
by the Foundation for the
Carolinas.
Harrell
Dalton
2 CAROLINA NURSING
ROLL CALL
Kjervik
Cheek
Miller Pierce
Funk
Dr. Gail Mazzocco accepted the
position of statewide Area Health
Education Centers (AHEC) nursing
liaison, joining the faculty in
February 2003. Mazzocco formerly
served as an associate professor at
the University of Maryland School of
Nursing and was involved with
Maryland’s AHEC program since its
inception.
Dr. Rumay Alexander has accepted
the position of director of the SON’s
Office of Multicultural Affairs, join-ing
the faculty in April 2003.
Alexander formerly served as presi-dent
of a health-care consulting
company specializing in change
management, leadership develop-ment
and workforce and diversity
issues. She has held positions with
the Tennessee Hospital Association,
most recently as the senior vice
president for clinical and profes-sional
services, and served as a
board member and chair of the
diversity committee for the
American Organization of Nurse
Executives.
Dr. Shielda Rodgers joined the
SON faculty in July 2002 as a clini-cal
associate professor. She comes to
UNC from North Carolina Central
University where she served for four
years as an associate
professor.
Dr. Vicki Kowlowitz joined the
SON this fall as the director of the
School’s Center for Instructional
Technology and Educational
Support and a clinical associate
professor. Before joining the SON
she served as a research assistant
professor in the UNC-Chapel Hill
Department of Family Medicine.
Dr. Debra Brown, a newly
appointed assistant professor,
joined the SON this past summer.
Most recently, she served as a
program associate for the Office
of Multicultural Affairs at the
University of Michigan School of
Nursing.
Kathy Moore, director of admis-sions
and students services, recently
accepted a faculty appointment as a
clinical assistant professor.
In a move to recognize the strong
working partnership between the
School of Nursing and UNC
Hospitals, Dean Linda R.
Cronenwett and Dr. Mary Tonges,
UNC Hospitals senior vice president
and chief nursing officer, have
accepted positions within one
another’s institutions. Cronenwett
will serve as the associate chief
nursing officer for academic affairs
at UNC Hospitals, and Tonges will
serve as the associate dean for UNC
Health Care at the School of
Nursing.
ROLL CALL
Alexander
SPRING 2003 3
Rodgers
New Full-Time Faculty
Appointments
Cultural competence: it’s one of the
hottest topics in health-care education
today. But what is it and how does one go
about getting it? The SON’s Ethnic
Minority Visiting Scholars Task Force
invited Dr. Nilda Peragallo, an associate
professor and the director of the Pan-
American Health Organization/World
Health Organization Collaborating
Education and Practice Center at the
University of Maryland at Baltimore
School of Nursing, to share her
perspective on the issue in late January.
Dr. Peragallo is a leader in the cause to
promote culturally competent HIV/AIDS
prevention education among Hispanics
in the United States and has devoted
the majority of her career to outreach
efforts with Hispanic communities.
Here are a few of the suggestions she gave
during her visit for developing
cultural competence.
Remember that excellent nursing
competence supports cultural com-petence.
Learn to routinely and skill-fully
ask patients to describe them-selves,
including the history and
context of prejudice, racism, hetero-sexism
and intolerance in their lives.
Ask useful assessment questions
with an immigrant population.
Answers to questions like "Where were
you born?" or "How long have you
been in this country?" and "How
many years of school did you receive
before and after coming here?" can
provide preliminary information
on the acculturation of the patient
and their literacy capabilities. The
country of origin may be relevant to
the health issue at hand.
Seek out learning opportunities by
developing experiences with clients
who are different from your cultural
group. Examples of learning activities
include focusing on a particular dis-parity
and tracking the issue through
several clients or critiquing the larger
aggregate risk and epidemiological
facts and figures of clients in order to
tease apart the socioeconomic and
prejudicial practices that make a par-ticular
group look like they have
"more" of a particular disease or
condition.
Overcome biases and distance
through coordinated activities.
Develop ongoing linkages with target
communities through volunteer work
or audit local university or communi-ty
college classes and programs that
explore diversity and cultural
competence.
Dr. Peragallo suggested several
resources for learning more about cultur-al
competence. One such resource is the
US Department of Health and Human
Services’ Health Resources and Services
Administration website found at
http://www.ask.hrsa.gov/Minority.cfm.
It features many free publications on
minority health. Another good resource is
the DHHS’ Office of Minority Health web-site
found at http://www.omhrc.gov. You
can learn more about statistics on minor-ity
health, upcoming conferences and
OMH’s new initiative to make recommen-dations
for national standards to assure
cultural competence in health care.
SONDRIES
Minority Students and Faculty
Attend National Conferences
The School’s Ethnic Minority
Visiting Scholars Task Force chose and
granted stipends to several minority stu-dents
and faculty members to attend
national nursing conferences in the
summer of 2002. The initiative is a way
to promote mentoring relationships and
encourage minority students to pursue
nursing leadership roles.
Students Nena Harris, Nancia
Odum and Wendell John attended the
National Black Nurses Association
conference in Houston, Texas, July
24–28, 2002, and Carlos Jara-Acosta
and Monica Sanchez attended the
National Association of Hispanic Nurses
conference in Miami Beach, Florida,
July 17–19, 2002.
Each was chosen based on their
academic excellence, service to the
community and School and the ability
to be ambassadors for the SON.
Cultural Competence: A Visiting Scholar Shares Her Expertise
Nancia Odum, Wendell John and Nena Harris attended
the 2002 National Black Nurses Association conference
in Houston last summer.
4 CAROLINA NURSING
Photo courtesy of Nancia Odum
SPRING 2003 5
A Semester
at Sea
Sonya Montgomery, a SON
clinical instructor, was select-ed
from a highly competitive
pool of applicants to serve as
a nurse practitioner this past
fall for the University of
Pittsburgh’s Semester at Sea
program. She cared for 650
undergraduate students,
faculty and staff while
onboard the ocean liner that
took them to places such as
China, Japan, Kenya, South
Africa, India, Brazil and Cuba.
The purpose of the trip was
to comparatively study struc-tural
changes occurring in
the world today. “The most
rewarding aspect of Semester
at Sea is the fact that we
were not traditional tourists,”
explains Montgomery. “The
program allows for home
stays in each country, and
we had the opportunity to
interact with national leaders
such as South African Bishop
Desmond Tutu, winner of the
Nobel Peace Prize. He told the
group, ‘To whom much is
given, much is expected.’
He said we must not forget
what we’ve seen and that we
have a responsibility. I think
this experience taught me
that we as a nation have
to look beyond our own
communities.”
A Fitting Memorial for a Nursing Pioneer
Dean Elizabeth L. Kemble led the
School of Nursing from its founding in
1950 until her retirement in 1969.
During her 19-year tenure as the
School’s first dean she touched many
students’ lives, including that of Audrey
Booth, the School’s first MSN graduate
in 1957. Booth credits Dean Kemble
with giving her the knowledge and
skills to develop a successful nursing
career and inspiring her to serve the
SON herself as an associate dean for a
number of years.
Booth visited Dean Kemble’s grave a
few years ago during the SON’s fiftieth
anniversary celebration. What she
found there, however, was a great disap-pointment
to her. "I delivered a floral
arrangement from one of our events to
the Kemble grave in the new Chapel
Hill cemetery and was struck by the
lack of information there on her leader-ship
role in the first years of the history
of the School which we were so enthusi-astically
celebrating," she recalls.
"I proposed to Dean Cronenwett that
we—faculty, students and alumni—
remedy this oversight by placing an
informational plaque on the grave site."
The plaque, pictured here, was
placed on Dean Kemble’s grave on July
23, 2001. Today, thanks to the efforts of
a particularly grateful student, all visi-tors
who pass by Dean Kemble’s grave
can learn about her important role in
making the SON one of the top nursing
schools in the country.
Audrey Booth (MSN
’57) led an initiative to
honor the memory of
the SON’s first dean,
Dr. Elizabeth L.
Kemble, with a grave
marker noting her
important role in the
School of Nursing.
The NBNA Conference: A Student’s Perspective
SONDRIES
Photo by John Young
BY WENDELL JOHN
MSN student
This past July the National
Black Nurses Association held it’s
thirteenth annual institute and
conference in the beautiful city of
Houston, Texas. The affair gave
Nena, Nancia and me a wonderful
opportunity to interact with
outstanding minority nurses who
have excelled in their education
and careers.
The purpose of the conference
was to bolster the value of health
screening and detection and to
identify various strategies to decrease
the morbidity and mortality of
minority populations.
Workshops ranged from how to
obtain research funding to pain
management and from bioterrorism
to complementary health. During
the institute, we attended various
focus groups and discussed ways to
incorporate the social dynamic into
the mitigation of minority health
issues. These workshops and the
conference as a whole enhanced
our professional development and
provided a plethora of master’s and
doctoral prepared mentors to provide
guidance and inspiration in our
endeavors.
Nena, Nancia and I truly appreci-ated
the generous assistance of the
Ethnic Minority Visiting Scholars
Task Force and the UNC-Chapel Hill
School of Nursing Foundation that
made attending the conference
possible.
BY SARAH MCCONNAGHY
Every Wednesday evening, stu-dents
from the School of Nursing
join their peers from UNC’s fellow
health science schools to operate a
free medical clinic in Carrboro.
These volunteers are members of
the Student Health Action Coalition
(SHAC), an organization comprised
of students in nursing, dentistry,
medicine, pharmacy, physical thera-py,
public health and social work.
Formed by students in 1968, SHAC is
the oldest student-run free clinic in
the country.
SHAC allows students to learn
from each other, especially because
of the interdisciplinary interaction,
and serve the community’s medical
needs. Patients come from tradition-ally
underserved communities that
often face economic and language
barriers. SHAC provides efficient
health care that attempts to educate
recipients and prevent further med-ical
problems.
“SHAC serves a wonderful and
much-needed purpose,” says SON
senior Melissa Dedmond, who
began volunteering with SHAC last
spring. Older and outgoing volun-teers
trained her so she could start
working on her own during the
summer. She will work through the
spring and train the next set of new
volunteers that will take over after
she graduates.
Students coordinate and staff the
clinic, which is hosted by the
Carrboro Community Health Center,
and work Wednesday nights. Faculty
members from each of the schools
accompany them to serve as their
clinical and administrative advisors.
Dr. Ed Halloran is the SON’s faculty
representative.
“I think it is wonderful that the
people who can’t afford health-care
services can come to a student-run
clinic for no charge at all,”
Dedmond says. “The patients get
the care they need, and students
get to improve their skills.”
SON senior Jenny Neifeld is one
student who thinks SHAC has
improved her clinical skills. “I have
really enjoyed working with SHAC,
especially in the lab,” she says.
“Because of SHAC, I feel very com-fortable
with my immunization and
blood drawing skills.”
Neifeld gets to the lab around
5:20 p.m. and checks in on the on-site
pharmacy. Patients come to the
lab after their check-ups with third-and
fourth-year medical students.
She says that her main tasks are
immunizations and blood work, both
of which involve lots of paperwork.
Neifeld’s night “usually ends
around 10 to 10:30 p.m., but we
stay until the last patient is seen.”
In addition to their Wednesday
clinic, SHAC students also sponsored
special sport physicals and kinder-garten
clinics that were held on
Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. this
fall. Neifeld worked at both pro-grams
and says, “They were both
great opportunities to focus on
specific physicals that together can
take a long time on a normal SHAC
night.” Shots For Tots, a program to
give kindergarten-bound children
their necessary immunizations,
used to be a special event, but now
is available during the regular
Wednesday medical clinic.
SHAC is not the only way that
SON students volunteer in their
community. In November 2002, the
SON Alumni Association and BSN
students teamed up for a second
time and sponsored a blood drive.
Senior Amy Brenneman and junior
Erin Seitz were class leaders for the
event in which enough blood was
donated to serve 120 people.
Brenneman, who is on the 2003
Senior Class Board, started the blood
drive in April 2002. “I thought it
was a good way to get the nursing
students to give back to the commu-nity
that is helping to educate us,”
she says.
Seitz and Brenneman met with a
Red Cross organizer to plan the date
and time for the event and e-mailed
SON faculty, students and staff to
encourage their participation. On
the day of the blood drive, they set
up the registration area in the
6 CAROLINA NURSING
You Get What You Give
SON Students Aid Community,
Build Skills Through Volunteer Efforts
local community
“I think it is
wonderful that the
people who can’t
afford health-care
services can come
to a student-run
clinic for no charge
at all,” Dedmond
says. “The patients
get the care they
need, and students
get to improve
their skills.”
SPRING 2003 7
ground floor lobby of Carrington
Hall. During the event, they helped
sign in, register and recruit donors.
After the donors are signed in, they
go to the Blood Mobile, a Red Cross
bus that comes to donors to collect
the blood.
Both the students and Alumni
Association want to make the blood
drive a tradition. “I'd love to see more
donors and more pints collected,”
says Seitz.
The blood donated by the School
stays in the area, so it could directly
affect patients that students interact
with in the near future. Brenneman
hopes future drives continue to
reach their blood product goals.
“As student nurses we are learn-ing
how to care for patients, and
giving our patients blood products
will eventually be part of our job.”
Jenny Neifeld, standing, often practices the skills she uses with her SHAC patients with fellow classmate and SHAC volunteer, Melissa Dedmond.
BY SUNNY SMITH NELSON
Wednesday, November 20,
8:55 a.m., Medical Drive
outside of Carrington Hall
They come tumbling off the
yellow school bus, one by one,
zipping their jackets against the
cold, swiping errant strands of hair
from their eyes, making jokes with
their classmates and feeling rather
important and grown-up. These
sophomores and juniors from Cedar
Ridge High School in Hillsborough,
North Carolina, have arrived at the
School of Nursing after nearly four
months of classroom preparation,
eager to learn what college—and a
career in health sciences—is really
all about.
They are participants in the
SON’s new Service-Learning
Project—high school students
who have spent the semester in a
health occupations career education
class learning about the many
professions available in the health-care
field and at least two hours a
week in tutoring sessions with a
SON student mentor. Now that
they have learned about the many
educational and professional
options open to them, they are ready
to see health care in action.
10 a.m., The Clinical
Education and Resource
Center, Carrington Hall
Divided into four groups, the
students rotate throughout different
CERC labs, listening to heart and
lung sounds, mischievously check-ing
one another’s reflexes in a
sensory testing session and, most
importantly as the word in the hall-way
goes, visiting “Stan the Man,”
the School’s human patient simula-tor.
Eyes a-glow and questions a-fly-ing,
the students are proof-positive
that the project is working. Their
SON student mentors who are help-ing
lead the tours know that those
many hours of helping with science
“This project gives
high school stu-dents
a sense of
hope that they
can develop the
skills and moti-vation
to enroll
in our University
and become a
nurse.…”
DR. RICHARD REDMAN
8 CAROLINA NURSING
Meghan Linthicum and Ryan Bateman were fascinated by the SON’s human
patient simulator. They were able to visit real patients at UNC Hospitals
later that day.
New Service-Learning Project
Creates Campus-Community
Partnership
local community
SPRING 2003 9
and math homework, giving pep
talks and lending a listening ear to
fears and aspirations have been
worth the effort.
Dr. Richard Redman, the SON’s
associate dean for academic affairs,
and Kathy Moore, director of the
Office of Admissions and Student
Services, check in on the students
periodically. Redman and Moore are
the “proud parents” of the project,
having created it through a grant
from UNC’s Assisting People in
Planning Learning Experiences
Service-Learning Program
(APPLES) as a service-based honors
project that would engage senior
nursing students in the community
while helping them earn credit
toward graduating with honors.
The three senior SON honors
students who have been instrumen-tal
in helping Redman and Moore
get the project off the ground are
Mary Elaine James, Terri Sue Giles
and Crystal Hudson-Blackwell. They
look at the project as more than a
way of graduating with honors.
“More than anything, I believe I
have gained a deeper understanding
of working with the community,”
says James. “I have found working
with the community to be extremely
challenging, but also very reward-ing.
It also has helped reinforce and
supplement the principles I have
been learning in my community
health and clinical education classes.”
As student leaders for the project,
James, Giles and Hudson worked
with Redman, Moore and faculty
advisors from Cedar Ridge to design
a tutor/mentor training program,
develop a system of scheduling and
coordinate the twice-weekly tutori-als.
Moore also helped them design
a volunteer bank of undergraduate
and graduate nursing students to
serve as mentors throughout the
year. Weekly meetings with faculty
advisors and a reflection journal
helped round out the experience.
The daylong visit to the Carolina
campus, coordinated once a semes-ter
by the nursing students, was the
culmination of their efforts.
“Community partner-defined
goals and students’ reflection are
critical components that distinguish
service-learning from other types of
clinical or fieldwork experiences
that students typically have in nurs-ing
education,” says Redman. “The
students reflect on their experience
and relate it to the larger social
issues behind the needs he or she is
responding to in the community.
Our hope is that our students will
realize the impact of civic engage-ment
and continue their involve-ment
throughout their career.”
Noon, UNC Hospitals
It’s now after lunch, and the
high schoolers have moved on to
UNC Hospitals to visit the NC Jaycee
Burn Center. James and fellow men-tor
Ben Furnas lead them through
the hallways, telling them about the
nature of the unit and what to
expect. The students are excited
about the prospect of seeing actual
patients and nurses in person.
The day for the SON mentors is
long, and answering question after
question from these inquisitive teens
can be a little overwhelming, but it
is well worth the effort, they say.
“I hope that working with the
students has helped them consider
nursing as a career,” says James. “I
know after this experience that serv-ice
activities will continue to be a
part of my career and private life. I
have found nothing more fulfilling
than working for others in order to
better the entire community.”
Once the students are boarded
up on the bus for their return to
Cedar Ridge, Redman and Moore
reflect on the effectiveness of the day
and the new program. Their com-ments
echo one another, saying that
everyone benefitted from the visit
and the effort that went into the
months leading up to it.
“This project gives high school
students a sense of hope that they
can develop the skills and motiva-tion
to enroll in our University and
become a nurse, and it provides
nursing students the opportunity to
model nursing as a career option
while critiquing the social factors
and structures that influence life
circumstances among students from
varied backgrounds,” says Redman.
Moore nods her head in agree-ment.
“This program offers a win-win
situation for both their students
and ours. We all grow as we learn
more from, and about, each other.”
Taneesha Stephenson tested Ashley
Brooks’ reflexes during one of the
interactive skills labs.
Getting hands-on experience with Stan the Man was one
of the highlights of the students’ visit. Pictured here are (l-r)
Whitney Mitchell, Jasmine Torian, Ashley Brooks,
Danielle Wilson and Taneesha Stephenson.
10 CAROLINA NURSING
It is August 2002 and the dead-line
for the Golden LEAF grant pro-posal
is approaching. A team of
School of Nursing faculty members,
administrative leaders and advance-ment
officers, led by Dr. Jean
Goeppinger, a faculty member who
holds joint appointments with the
Schools of Nursing and Public
Health, comb through the grant
guidelines to prepare a response.
They submit “Sustainable
Solutions to Economic Distress,
Tobacco Dependence, Limited
Health Care Access and the Nursing
Shortage: Nursing Education for
Golden LEAF Counties,” one of five
proposals submitted by UNC-Chapel
Hill schools and departments. Soon,
the SON team learns that there are
384 applicants statewide requesting
more than $96 million.
Golden LEAF, Inc., created by the
State of North Carolina in 1999 to
receive and distribute half the funds
from the settlement of litigation
against tobacco product manufac-turers,
plans to make about $15
million in awards in 2003 for pro-grams
benefitting areas in the state
considered rural, economically
challenged and tobacco-dependent.
The SON waits.
In late November Golden LEAF
announces its awards and the SON
learns that it will receive $200,000,
making it the only UNC-Chapel Hill
project to be funded by the organi-zation.
The grant will support a col-laborative
effort to prepare associate
degree- and baccalaureate degree-educated
registered nurses in
Alamance, Durham, Edgecombe,
Granville, Halifax, Nash, Vance and
Wilson counties to become nurse
practitioners. A major goal of the
grant is to make it easier for nurses
to continue working, living and con-tributing
in their home communities
while they are students in the SON’s
RN to MSN and MSN programs.
To offer the RN to MSN and MSN
programs to the eight counties, the
SON is partnering with area com-munity
college nursing programs
and NC Area Health Education
Centers to design new ways of deliv-ering
the programs. The grant also
provides for scholarships that will
cover the cost of tuition, books, a
laptop computer, access to an
Internet service provider and a
small stipend.
As soon as the announcement of
the grant is made, inquiries begin to
come into the Office of Admissions
and Student Services from prospec-tive
students living in the counties
targeted for the program, five of
which are designated as shortage
areas for health professionals such
as nurse practitioners. Kathy Moore,
the SON director of admissions and
student services, says the prospective
students with whom she has spoken
are most interested in the family
nurse practitioner (FNP) and adult
nurse practitioner (ANP) programs.
“They’re telling me that they want
to contribute to their communities
where there is an insufficient supply
of health-care providers or lack of
access to providers for uninsured
patients,” she says. “They like this
option because it will prepare them
to fill a provider gap that is in their
communities.”
Many of the people Moore has
heard from have been working for
more than 10 years and are at a
point in their careers where they are
ready to do something different. She
says they’re excited about the prospect
of enrolling and feel the program is
tailor-made to fit their needs.
Keeping highly skilled health-care
workers in the area will con-tribute
to improved health-care
access and a healthier workforce
and economy for each of the coun-ties,
another goal of the grant,
explains Goeppinger.
“We believe this program has
the potential to build a group of
nurse practitioners that will earn
higher salaries, remain in their
communities to contribute to the
workforce, stimulate the economic
Sustainable Solutions
Nursing Education for Golden LEAF Counties
statewide community
“We believe this
program has the
potential to build a
group of nurse
practitioners that
will earn higher
salaries, remain in
their communities
to contribute to the
workforce, stimu-late
the economic
life of the area and
serve as role models
for others to follow.”
DR. JEAN GOEPPINGER
SPRING 2003 11
A Golden LEAF grant is
enabling the SON to offer
its RN to MSN and MSN
programs in innovative
ways to registered nurses
in eight NC counties.
life of the area and serve as role
models for others to follow,��� she says.
“We see this as a unique opportunity
to introduce change in the health-care
infrastructure and in the work-force
of these communities.”
When students graduate they
will be prepared to contribute to
their home communities as nurse
practitioners in community and
migrant health centers, public
health departments, hospitals,
schools, nursing homes and retire-ment
communities, occupational
health clinics and private medical
practices, among a host of other
options, she says.
By the end of February the
School establishes an advisory board
that will help shape the model that
will work best for offering the neces-sary
instruction. It is comprised of
leaders from the SON and commu-nity
college associate degree nursing
programs and the AHECs located in
the eight counties. Recruitment
activities in those areas will include
on-site briefing sessions and a direct
mail brochure intended to inform
all nurses about the program.
Sessions will explain the curricu-lum,
specialty options, part-time
and full-time options, prerequisites,
and application and admissions
process. Applicants will be invited to
Chapel Hill to meet faculty mem-bers
and current students to begin
valuable mentoring relationships.
The School also will offer GRE
preparation support in cooperation
with the AHECs since this often
seems to be one of the biggest barri-ers
to the application process. “We
want to help overcome this per-ceived
obstacle and provide the
needed support to help people suc-ceed,”
says Moore.
As community-based health pro-fessionals,
nurse practitioners have
tremendous potential to help mem-bers
of vulnerable populations make
decisions about their health and
their lives, explains Goeppinger.
Nurse practitioners build communi-ty
capacity, and as more people gain
advanced health-care expertise in
Golden LEAF counties, there will be
more opportunity for entrepreneur-ial
health services to develop, there-by
potentially stimulating the local
economy.
“The Golden LEAF priorities to
create and retain jobs, provide job
training and skills development and
create a competitive workforce are
all being addressed through this
program,” she says. “More nurses
will be educated to take a participa-tory
approach that involves working
with the family and community to
define their health problems and
seek solutions.”
For more information, please
contact the Office of Admissions and
Student Services at (919) 966-4260
or nursing_applications@unc.edu.
Photo by Steve Exum
12 CAROLINA NURSING
BY CAMI HARWOOD
All that hard work has finally
paid off. You’ve just been promoted
to nurse manager of your unit and
you can see the rewards waiting in
the wings—more respect, more
money, more opportunities to show
off those leadership skills. But
wait—you haven’t been in this kind
of leadership position before. How
do you balance your unit’s ever-growing
needs with limited
resources? How do you juggle the
needs of your patients with those of
your staff? And how do you keep
morale up in the face of increasing
patient workloads? It’s enough to
make some nurse managers second-guess
their decisions.
Leading figures in North
Carolina’s health-care industry
know a lack of leadership experi-ence
or education is a problem for
many of the state’s clinical middle
managers. Dr. Barbara Jo Foley, the
director of the School of Nursing’s
Continuing Education Department,
Dr. Richard Redman, SON associate
dean for academic affairs, and Dr.
Cheryl Jones, an associate professor
and MSN coordinator of the Health
Care Systems option, heard the
same message from chief nursing
officers, members of the North
Carolina Nurses Association and
constituents of the North Carolina
Hospital Association: clinical middle
managers need more leadership
training to prepare them for their
role.
“One of the most critical posi-tions
in any nursing department
today is that of front-line manager,”
explains Redman. “The responsibil-ities
and demands in any nurse
manager position today are incredi-ble.
Often these clinicians are pro-moted
into their managerial posi-tions
with little formal education in
management, yet they are running
‘small businesses’ when you consid-er
the number of employees and the
size of their budget.”
Just What the Nurse
Manager Ordered
statewide community
A New Leadership Program for
Clinical Managers
One of the most
critical positions
in any nursing
department today is
that of front-line
manager ... They
are running small
businesses when you
consider the number
of employees and the
size of their budget.
Heeding the call, Foley, Redman
and Jones worked with SON faculty
members and staff in the CE
Department to design the Certificate
in Leadership program, a weeklong
conference that centers on discussion
of communication issues, ethical
dilemmas, organizational culture
issues, issues of leadership style and
budget and quality care. A manage-ment
project and follow-up two-day
institute round out the program. Real-life
issues and everyday dilemmas
presented through stories and case
studies form the basis of program.
The SON’s initial offering of the
program was held in September at
Wayne Memorial Hospital in
Goldsboro, North Carolina. Twenty-three
participants from WMH and
three from Roanoke-Chowan
Hospital attended and reported posi-tive
experiences overall. “The facul-ty
incorporated real issues into the
course teaching,” and “I loved the
ability to
be informal, flexible and able to
discuss topics that were important
to our facility,” were some of the
comments Foley received.
“I found the participants to
be energized and engaged in the
program,” says Redman. “I think
they were very impressed that their
employer would support their
participation and free them up
for a week so they could acquire
additional skills to become more
effective and confident in their
responsibilities. This program
provides an excellent opportunity
for health-care organizations to
invest in their clinical managers
and to help them acquire the skills
necessary for carrying out their
responsibilities.”
The next certificate program will
begin this spring at the William and
Ida Friday Center for Continuing
Education in Chapel Hill. The
participant fee includes instruction,
faculty support for the required
managerial project, a clinical
management textbook, all handout
materials and breakfast and lunch
each day of the program.
According to Foley, the demand
for the program continues to grow.
“I expect the demand for this pro-gram
to remain high for the next
three to five years,” she explains.
“Upon completion of the program,
our graduates will be able to
describe successful leadership
styles, identify key human resources
management issues, describe basic
cost and budgetary concepts, and
identify elements that are necessary
to create a climate of clinical
excellence. Research has shown
that the nurse manager is critical
to creating the kind of work
environment that is satisfying and
rewarding for nurses, and that
includes themselves.”
SPRING 2003 13
Miriam Greene,
clinical lead for
UNC Hospitals’
Gynecology/
Gynecological
Oncology unit,
and nurse
manager Nancy
Cartledge work
closely together to
ensure smooth
opteration of their
unit.
14 CAROLINA NURSING national community
Health disparity, both in the
quality and availability of care, is a
major concern for the nation’s
minority populations. Getting to the
roots of the problem, from differ-ences
in the safety of neighborhoods
and access to affordable health care
to the lack of minority representation
in health-care research, service and
education, is a daunting yet crucial
task.
The National Institute of
Nursing Research and the National
Center for Minority Health and
Health Disparities, both branches of
the National Institutes of Health,
recently combined efforts to address
health disparities. The result: $15
million to fund health disparity
research centers between partnered
universities. Eight centers were
established across the country, and
among those universities chosen to
host a center were Winston-Salem
State University and North Carolina
Central University, both historically
black universities, and the
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. The Center is appropri-ately
named the Center for
Innovation in Health Disparities
Research.
Why one Center shared among
three universities? According to Dr.
Chris McQuiston, an associate pro-fessor
and Center director from
UNC-Chapel Hill, they are stronger
as a team than separate entities.
“The partnership among the uni-versities
is one of the Center’s great-est
strengths,” she explains. “We all
bring a different type of expertise to
the Center and will learn from and
teach one another as we share the
common vision of reducing health
disparities and promoting social
change.”
McQuiston, who shares the title
of Center director with Dr. Betty
Dennis, chair of the Department of
Nursing at NCCU, and Dr. Sylvia
Flack, dean of the WSSU School of
Health Sciences, says the Center was
created to advance three primary
goals: to increase the number of
minority nurse researchers; develop
programs of health disparities
research; and improve the way
researchers collaborate with and
conduct research with minority
populations and communities. This
latter item is one of the most
important aspects of the Center,
A Partnership in
Reducing Health
Disparities
North Carolina’s African Americans are more than two times as likely to die
of diabetes, and its recent Hispanic immigrants are two to three times more
likely to acquire the disease than the state’s majority population.
Hispanics are more than three times as likely and African Americans are more
than 10 times as likely to die from AIDS than non-Hispanic whites in North
Carolina.
North Carolina’s African Americans are more than four times as likely and
Hispanics are nearly five times as likely to die due to homicide compared
with the majority population.
BY SUNNY SMITH NELSON
SPRING 2003 15
McQuiston believes.
“We want to build community
capacity,” she says. “We will be ask-ing
community members to identify
their needs and, based upon their
responses, match researchers and
students with expertise to identified
areas of need. We believe this
philosophy is critical to developing
the innovative methodologies that
will be necessary to further the
agenda of health disparity research.”
The Center’s community partners to
date include El Centro Hispano in
Durham; El Centro Latino in
Carrboro; University/ Community
Wellness Center in Winston-Salem;
and community groups in Bertie
County, North Carolina.
“We are looking forward to a
true partnership with our partner
schools and communities,” says
McQuiston. “We are attempting to
level the balance of power between
partner schools and participants in
research programs—particularly
racial, ethnic and cultural
minorities.”
Drs. Betty Dennis,
Chris McQuiston,
Dean Linda
Cronenwett and
Dr. E. Joyce
Roland celebrated
the inauguration
of the Center for
Innovation in
Health Disparities
Research with a
ceremony at NCCU
in February.
NINR/NCMHD-Funded Health Disparity
Research Centers
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill
North Carolina Central
University, Durham, NC
Winston-Salem State University
Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore, MD
North Carolina Agricultural and
Technical State University,
Greensboro, NC
University of California,
San Francisco
University of Puerto Rico
Medical Sciences, San Juan
University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor
University of Texas Health
Science Center, San Antonio
University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia
Hampton University, Hampton,
VA
University of Texas, Austin
New Mexico State University,
Las Cruces
University of Washington,
Seattle
University of Hawaii, Honolulu
Yale University, New Haven, CT
Howard University, Washington,
DC
Photo courtesy of Alonda Thomas, North Carolina Central University
16 CAROLINA NURSING national community
BY SUNNY SMITH NELSON
Sure, you’ve heard the facts
about the nursing shortage: in
2000, according to a study by the US
Department of Health and Human
Services, the shortage of full-time
equivalent registered nurses was
estimated at 110,000, or six percent.
By 2010, the shortage is expected to
increase to 12 percent. And by 2020,
if current trends continue, the short-age
will reach an estimated high
of 29 percent. Staggering statistics,
to be sure. But what do you know
about the nursing educator shortage?
According to a survey conducted
by the American Association of
Colleges of Nursing in 2000, more
than one-third of nursing schools
that responded to a poll said faculty
shortages were the reason for not
accepting all qualified candidates
into entry-level baccalaureate pro-grams.
That translates into nearly
6,000 potential nurses turned away
because there was no one there to
teach them. Shrinking budgets,
aging faculty and competition from
the private sector for well-educated,
highly skilled nurses are all con-tributing
factors to this shortage.
Nursing faculty in North
Carolina’s universities and commu-nity
colleges know the reality of the
nursing shortage all too well. The
shortage of nursing educators isn’t
just limited to nursing schools,
either. Nurse administrators and
educators in hospitals, rehabilita-tion
centers, assisted living facilities
and other health-care agencies
also feel the effects of the nursing
educator shortage. So how can the
educational demands of complex
academic and health-care environ-ments
and future generations of
nurses be met in the face of this
shortage?
Carolina’s School of Nursing
is trying to address this critical
concern. Dr. Bonnie Angel, a SON
clinical associate professor, Dr.
Cheryl Jones, Health Care Systems
coordinator and associate professor,
and Dr. Barbara Jo Foley, director of
Continuing Education and clinical
associate professor, are spearheading
an effort to craft three educational
options to prepare future nursing
faculty and help current nursing
educators learn the best practices in
teaching: the Health Care Systems-
Education Option in the master’s
program, the Health Care Systems-
Education Option in the post-mas-ter’s
program, and the Certificate in
Nursing Education.
“These innovative programs
were created to challenge students
to integrate knowledge and skills in
nursing with education to under-stand
how educational theory, cur-riculum
development, evaluation
strategies and the use of educational
technology apply to nursing educa-tion,”
explains Jones. “We believe
these options will prepare students
to fill important educational roles
in academic, staff development or
patient care arenas.”
Both the Health Care Systems
Area—Education master’s and
post-master’s options provide in-depth
learning experiences about
educational theory and practice
relevant to nursing. “These options
are designed to give nurses
advanced knowledge and skills to
succeed in educational leadership
roles and prepare graduates to
develop, implement and measure
the impact of nursing educational
innovations in academic and
health-care organizations,” says
Jones.
Because the classes are offered
through a combination of
traditional classroom settings and
web-enhanced technologies, they
offer students flexibility in meeting
learning and educational needs.
Nurse Educators
How the SON is Helping
Supply Meet Demand
According to a
recent survey, faculty
shortages were the reason
for not accepting all
qualified candidates into
entry-level bacalaureate
programs. That translates
into 6,000 potential
nurses turned away.
“Students who enroll in the master’s
degree program complete 40-credit
hours of coursework and an inten-sive
residency in a related educa-tional
or practice site with expert
nurse educators,” explains Jones.
The post-master’s option is targeted
at nurses who already have a mas-ter’s
degree, and who are interested
in gaining advanced knowledge and
skills in nursing education to com-plement
their previous degree.
Post-master’s students take 15-credit
hours of coursework that also
includes an intensive residency
experience. Both master’s and
post-master’s options are offered
for students interested in part-time
or full-time study.
The Certificate in Nursing
Education, first offered in the spring
of 2002, is a continuing education
program open to all registered
nurses who want to learn more about
nursing education or who desire an
update in teaching theory and strate-gies.
It is comprised of two four-day
institutes on basic and advanced
principles of teaching, two focused
teaching workshops and an education
project. There are no prerequisites to
meet prior to enrollment, and the
program can be completed in one to
two year’s time. Nurses earn at least
76 CE credits for completing the
program.
“We believe the activities includ-ed
in both institutes provide a rich
learning environment that promotes
interaction and collegiality among
participants. The institutes are also
arranged to be flexible so that work-ing
nurses can fit them into their
schedules. The educational project
provides an opportunity for partici-pants
to integrate program content
with a real-life educational need
that is relevant to their jobs and
practice,” explains Angel, the
program coordinator. “We had a
tremendous response in our initial
offering of the program, and we
encourage all registered nurses who
desire to increase their teaching
effectiveness in clinical or academic
settings to apply for the next
session.��
Additional information is avail-able
for all of these opportunities.
To learn more about the Master’s or
Post-master’s Health Care Systems
Area—Education Option, please
contact the Office of Admissions and
Student Services at (919) 966-4260
or nursing_applications@unc.edu.
Information may be viewed on the
web at http://nursing.unc.edu/
degree/index.html.
For more information on the
Certificate in Nursing Education
continuing education program,
please contact the Office of
Continuing Education at (919) 966-
3638 or nursing_ce@unc.edu.
Information on the Certificate in
Nursing Education is also available
on the web at http://nursing.unc.
edu/lifelong/nursing_ed_cert.html.
SPRING 2003 17
Dr. Bonnie Angel,
center, is the program
leader for the
Certificate in Nursing
Education. The program
is one of three options
now available at the
SON for nurses interest-ed
in learning the latest
skills and knowledge in
nursing education.
18 CAROLINA NURSING international community
BY MERLE MISHEL, PHD, RN, FAAN
AND MARCIA KAYE
Uncertainty: it’s a feeling that
has touched the lives of countless
people who are suffering or have
suffered from chronic illnesses. I’ve
dedicated my career to researching
how to help patients manage the
uncertainty that arises from not
knowing which treatment to pursue
or not knowing how to handle their
emotions in the face of a recur-rence.
I’ve been fortunate that my
research on the topic has touched
people around the world, so it was
with pleasure I accepted an invita-tion
last March to speak on uncer-tainty
at the 2002 International
Conference on Middle Range
Nursing Theory at Kyunpook
National University in Daegu, South
Korea. Janet Stewart, a doctoral stu-dent
whom I mentor, accompanied
me on the journey and joined me in
presenting talks at the conference.
My presentations covered man-aging
uncertainty in chronic illness,
the reconceptualization of the
uncertainty theory and uncertainty
management intervention. The
audience, comprised of faculty
members, doctoral students, nursing
administrators and nurses in clini-cal
practices, were for the most part
familiar with the Mishel Uncertainty
in Illness Theory, and a few had
even performed their own research
on uncertainty and the scales for
measuring it. I found the research
techniques and theory development
of the faculty and students with
whom I spoke to be very advanced.
Each of the several hundred
attendees brought a manual to my
keynote speech entitled “Uncertainty
in Illness: Theory, Intervention, and
Application across All Age Groups.”
Following opening speeches by
Dr. Moon Sook Jung, the director of
nursing, Dr. Dal Ung Kim, the presi-dent
of the university, and Dr.
Byung-Chul Park, the dean of the
medical school, I presented an
explanation of the uncertainty
theory and supporting research.
In the sessions that followed, I
lectured on uncertainty in chronic
illness and uncertainty nursing
intervention. Janet presented
“Uncertainty in Childhood Illness:
Parent and Child Perspectives” and
“Uncertainty”
Comes to South Korea
Dr. Cho-Ja Kim, advisor to SON
visiting scholar Dr. Hee Young
Song, and Dr. Merle Mishel
discussed the Mishel Uncertainty
in Illness Theory before Mishel’s
presentation on the subject at
Yonsei University.
The questions [asked at the conference}
were very complex, thoughtful and
proved that the doctoral students in this
university are well trained in critical
thinking and nursing theory.
Photo courtesy of Dr. Merle Mishel
SPRING 2003 19
Dr. Merle Mishel and
PhD student Janet
Stewart gave several
presentations on man-aging
uncertainty while
visiting South Korea last
spring.
her test of a conceptual model of
uncertainty in childhood cancer. We
also led group discussions and ques-tion
and answer sessions. I must say
that the questions were very com-plex,
thoughtful and proved that the
doctoral students in this university
are well trained in critical thinking
and nursing theory.
Janet and I were fortunate
enough to squeeze in some time to
explore the city and the countryside
of Daegu both before and after the
conference and found it to be a
most beautiful city. We went on a
city bus tour, which took us to
Dosun-Sa, a very beautiful temple,
with at least 100 steps to climb to
the top. Once at the temple, a three-story
tall stone Buddha, singing
monks and a mountain range in
the background greeted us. It was a
scene right out of Shangri-La. As
luck would have it, there was a festi-val
going on in the city and since I
had forgotten my sun hat, I browsed
through the stalls looking for one.
What did I find? A UNC baseball
cap! No, I did not buy it. I bought
something a little more native to the
area. But it shows that even far from
home UNC is never that far away!
After our time in Daegu and our
brief excursions, we traveled north
toward Seoul, home of Yonsei
University. Most of the cities in
South Korea have universities that
offer doctoral programs in nursing,
and we traveled here to give another
presentation on the Mishel
Uncertainty in Illness Theory. Janet
and I enjoyed meeting Dr. Cho-Ja
Kim, advisor to our own SON visit-ing
scholar Dr. Hee Young Song,
and the approximately 85 faculty
and doctoral students who attended
the two-hour presentation. The stu-dents
at this university also were
well informed and asked insightful,
thought-provoking questions.
As all good things must come to
an end, so did our time in South
Korea. Upon leaving, I was presented
with a wonderful gift of two celadon
tea mugs, a most kind gesture.
Through this international
exchange I found that South Korea
is a beautiful country with excellent
universities and doctoral programs
in nursing. The people are gracious
and friendly. We enjoyed our time
together while we mutually gained
an even greater appreciation for the
use of theory as a basis for research
and an understanding of the process
for developing theory. By sharing
knowledge and incorporating it into
one another’s research, our univer-sities
grow. It is the proverbial “win-win”
situation.
Photo courtesy of Dr. Merle Mishel
20 CAROLINA NURSING international community
BY SARAH WOOD
In the summer of 2002, the
schools of nursing at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
and Mahidol University in Bangkok,
Thailand, initiated an international
faculty and doctoral student
exchange program. Dr. Barbara
Germino, UNC-Chapel Hill
Beerstecher Blackwell Professor in
Thanatology, was the first SON fac-ulty
member to participate in the
program. She spent three weeks in
Thailand that summer, two of
which were spent teaching an
intense seminar-style version of a
doctoral course on theories of man-agement
in chronic conditions.
Mahidol University approached
the SON a few years ago about
developing an international
exchange program to help them
build their nursing research capa-bilities.
With the recent establish-ment
of a doctoral nursing program
featuring internationally trained,
doctorally prepared faculty and
more research opportunities and
government funding, administrators
at Mahidol wanted to develop a pro-gram
that would further support
and complement their efforts to
develop nursing knowledge in
Thailand.
In the exchange program, a
faculty member from the SON trav-els
to Thailand to teach a particular
course in his or her area of expertise
each year. The faculty member is
chosen based on the compatibility
of their area of expertise and the
courses that Mahidol University
plans to offer. The next SON faculty
member to participate will be
Dr. Merle Mishel, who will travel to
Thailand in February 2004.
Doctoral students from Mahidol
University can elect to spend up to a
year in the United States at any one
of several schools of nursing,
including UNC-Chapel Hill. Usually
one or two students go to each
school with which Mahidol has
established an agreement. They are
assigned a mentor to help them
with their doctoral research and
they audit classes that fit their inter-ests.
Two students from the interna-tional
doctoral program in nursing
at Mahidol University, Sermsri
Santati and Pennapa Pakdewong,
are attending the SON this academ-ic
year. There also is an option for
Mahidol University nursing faculty
to act as visiting scholars at UNC for
up to a semester, as well as opportu-nities
for postdoctoral work.
“Nurses in Thailand are going
through many of the same struggles
that we did in the United States in
developing nursing research,”
explains Germino. “It is imperative
to help each other as the world is
becoming even smaller and more
A Powerful
Exchange of
Ideas
The UNC-Mahidol University
Nursing Scholar Exchange Program
“Nurses in Thailand are
going through many of
the same struggles that
we did in the United
States in developing
nursing research.”
DR. BARBARA GERMINO
intensely involved. This internation-al
program will prepare people who
have familiarity with and knowl-edge
of Western nursing research lit-erature,
as well as Asian research lit-erature,
which is growing.”
Germino says it was interesting
to find that Thailand has many of
the same health concerns as the
United States does, but their ways of
addressing and treating these con-cerns
can be unlike our own due to
cultural differences. Heart disease,
substance abuse and cancer are all
major problems common to both
the US and Thailand, but the
specific kinds of cancer most preva-lent
are different. Cervical cancer,
which can be treated effectively in
its early stages in the United States
due to correct diagnosis through
pap smears, is the number one
killer of women in Thailand. Pap
smears are not a part of routine
health care for many women in
Thailand, particularly for older
women or women in rural areas,
with less education or with less
exposure to modern medicine,
explains Germino.
Germino says she learned many
valuable aspects about the culture
of the Thai during her visit, as well
as the feeling of community they
have with other Asian countries.
“Hospitality is a very important
aspect of Thai culture, and the fac-ulty,
staff and students at Mahidol
University School of Nursing were
incredible hosts. They enabled me to
see and learn a great deal about
Thailand and its culture in a very
short time and to gain an apprecia-tion
for the beauty and richness
of Thai history and traditions.”
She was happy to learn that the
Thai government has invested
significantly in nursing research,
and the “progress nursing science
has made in the last ten years there
is amazing.” She hopes to return for
a planned international conference
on chronic illness, which will be
co-hosted by Mahidol University
and the SON in January 2006.
Chiang-Mai University in north-ern
Thailand recently approached
the SON about arranging a similar
exchange program there. According
to Dean Linda Cronenwett, that
decision will be made this spring.
“Both institutions gain oppor-tunities
to enhance cross-cultural
learning and understanding among
our students and faculty through
this type of program,” says
Cronenwett, “as well as new oppor-tunities
for collaborative research
and teaching.”
SPRING 2003 21
Dr. Germino posed before a tile mural in one of the temple buildings of the Grand Palace in Bangkok. The
Palace is actually a complex of palaces, temples and public buildings that represent hundreds of years of
Thai history, culture and architecture.
Photo courtesy of Dr. Barbara Germino
22 CAROLINA NURSING
ALUMNI NEWS
Dear Alumni, Friends
and Colleagues,
First of all, thank you for elect-ing
me to serve as president of our
Alumni Association. I am honored,
as I know I lead one of the most
elite groups of alumni anywhere!
If you are unfamiliar with the
Alumni Association, let me take a
minute to introduce you to our
Association. Our Alumni
Association is composed of over
6000 alumni. By virtue of gradua-tion,
you become an alumni mem-ber.
(It’s that simple—no hidden
inductions, fees or commitments!)
A Board of Directors guides the
Association. These 23 alumni repre-sent
the diversity of our School in
that they come from various ethnic
backgrounds, different class years,
different geographical areas
(including outside our state) and
different nursing backgrounds. In
fact, perhaps the only thing that is
common among the members of
the Board of Directors is graduation
from our School of Nursing!
The mission of the Alumni
Association is to “stimulate, nur-ture,
and support positive interac-tion
between the school and its
alumni.” One of the tasks of the
Board of Directors is to see that this
mission is accomplished. Through
the many projects that are carried
out by committees within the
Association, we are able to accom-plish
the mission. You may read
about these projects in Carolina
Nursing. In this issue of Carolina
Nursing, you will read about the
annual meeting of the Alumni
Association and the panel presenta-tion
on nursing given in November
to the current junior class and the
14-month second-degree students.
I doubt I am alone when I say
that there is no greater feeling of
accomplishment than to talk to a
group of future nurses or serve as
a mentor to a current nursing
student! But, we have many areas
in which you can also serve as
alumni, and we would love to hear
from you regarding your interests
and have your participation.
Chances are there are many
ways that you could contribute
within the Alumni Association.
We need input and direction from
you—fellow alumni. I invite you
to become active with the Alumni
Association. If alumni are to be the
voice of the School, then we need
to hear from each of you! Please
feel free to contact me, or the
Alumni Association’s executive
director, Anne Webb, at either son-alum@
unc.edu or (919) 966-4619.
I look forward to hearing from
you and hearing your ideas for our
alma mater!
Tonya Rutherford Hemming,
MSN, ANP, RN (1993, 2001)
FROM THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
President
SPRING 2003 23
ALUMNI NEWS
On November 2, 2002, over 120
alumni, family and friends gath-ered
at Carrington Hall for the
annual School of Nursing Alumni
Day celebration. The morning was
filled with greeting friends and
exploring new areas of the School.
Alums got hands-on experience
with the new human patient simu-lator
and spent time touring the
Biobehavioral Laboratory. They also
enjoyed information sessions about
the new building addition, continu-ing
education opportunities and
a display of historical SON
memorabilia.
Lunch was served on Carrington
Lawn where Alumni Association
President Tonya Rutherford
Hemming (BSN ’93, MSN ’01) wel-comed
the group. Members of the
Alumni Association Board
Recognition Committee presented
three outstanding alumni awards.
Katherine Harper Kent (BSN ’95)
was presented with the Carrington
Award for Community Service and
two alums were co-recipients of the
2002 Alumni of the Year Award.
Mae Massey Carroll (BSN ’67) and
Jacqueline Lytle Gonzalez (BSN ’79)
shared the honor. Senior Laura
Correll spoke to the group on behalf
of the current BSN students and
proved that some aspects of being a
nursing student never change.
The BSN Class of ’67 had the
most members present as they cele-brated
their 35th class reunion, but
the BSN Class of ’62 and MSN Class
of ’87 also had strong reunion
groups. After the lunchtime festivi-ties
most alumni headed to Kenan
Stadium for football and a continu-ation
of their Carolina memories.
(BELOW) Olivia Griffin (BSN ’67) investi-gated
one of the SON’s clinical labs.
(LEFT) Melissa LeVine (BSN ’77,
MSN ’81) checked Stan the Man’s
heartbeat in the Monroe Human
Patient Simulator Laboratory for
Critical Care Skills Development.
Helen Bridges (BSN ’79) posed with a one
of the uniforms that SON students wore
in the ’60s. “Can you imagine wearing
one of these nowadays?” she said.
Alumni Day 2002
Mark your calendars now for the next Alumni Day celebration on October 18, 2003!
24 CAROLINA NURSING
Classes of ’62,
’67 and ’87
Celebrate with
Reunions
ALUMNI NEWS
The Class of ’62 enjoyed good attendance at their 40th reunion. Pictured are (first row, seated, l–r) Sabra Brew Taylor,
Andé Gorcia Kirchenhelter and Undine Caudle Garner; (second row, l–r) Ann Doxey Turner, Ann Bennett Propert, and
Ester Tesh; (third row, l-r) Judy Buxton Collins, Nancy Wills Hudock, Ann Davisson, Doris Bankert Anderson, Linda
Knott Strother and April Longanecker Mayville; (fourth row, l-r) “Sistie” Boatwright Howie, Eugenia Allen Howell,
Jane Huber Clark and Ann Hopkins Fishel.
Alumni Day is a time for all alumni to
come back to the SON and enjoy fun
and fellowship together, but there is
something really special about sharing it
all with former class members. This year
several classes did just that as they built
reunions around alumni weekend.
MSN Class of ’87 members
Deborah Betts and Gary Crotty
said they had a wonderful
time discussing SON memories
with Gary’s wife, Pat, at their
15th reunion.
Photo courtesy of Anne Doxey Turner
SPRING 2003 25
ALUMNI NEWS
“What is it really like to be a
new grad in nursing?” This and
many other questions were
answered honestly and with much
humor by a panel of Alumni
Association Board members who
spoke to junior and 14-month
option BSN students this fall. The
career panel was a way to bring the
practical knowledge and experience
of School of Nursing alumni to cur-rent
nursing students, but everyone
learned something from the lively
and informative exchange.
Panelists Derek Chrisco (BSN
’91), Meg Gambrell (BSN ’01),
Mary Holtschneider (BSN ’95),
Zelda Moore (BSN ’78), Courtney
Rawls (BSN ’01) and Tonya
Rutherford Hemming (BSN ’93,
MSN ’01) shared their diverse per-spectives
based on their varying
years of experience and areas of
specialty. However, they all had one
thing in common with each other
and the audience: starting out as a
Carolina nursing student.
The idea, which was eagerly
embraced by the students, is a result
of the Alumni Association’s enhanced
goal of serving the student popula-tion
through education and men-toring.
“The career panel was a
wonderful experience for both
students and Board members,”
says Hemming.
A future career panel is
being planned with different
alumni representatives. If you
would like to share your experiences
as part of a future panel, please
contact the Alumni Association
at sonalum@unc.edu or
(919) 966-4619.
Alumni Career Panel Shares Working Experiences,
Advice with BSN Students
Meg Gambrell (BSN ’01), Derek
Chrisco (BSN ’91) and Courtney
Rawls (BSN ’01) enjoyed sharing
their perspectives as nurses work-ing
in diverse fields with students
at the Alumni Career Panel.
The Class of ’67
boasted the largest
reunion turnout for
Alumni Day. Pictured
here are (l-r) Betty
Jones, Vivian Varner,
Pay Haynes, Nancy
Crutchfield, Cherry
Howe, Margaret
Raynor, Carole
Wilmot, Susie Tonski,
Barbara Jo Foley and
Olivia Griffin.
Classmates from the MSN Class
of ’87 celebrated their 15-year
reunion in style as they caught up
with one another while dining at
the Weathervane Cafe. Classmate
Gary Crotty has published a
newsletter since the group graduat-ed,
which keeps them informed
about each other’s lives and helps
them stay in touch. Copies of the
class newsletters printed over the
past 15 years were distributed to
those in attendance.
Thirty-five years had passed
since members of the BSN Class
of ’67 studied at the SON, but they
fit right in during alumni weekend.
The group met for dinner at the
Sheraton Hotel on Friday night
where they first reunited for the
weekend. Dean Linda Cronenwett
gave the class an update on the
state of the School and they enjoyed
a great party. Saturday they attend-ed
the school’s Alumni Day celebra-tion
and proudly had the most class
members present at the gathering.
That evening they enjoyed a casual
dinner together and continued to
share news and memories.
The BSN Class of ’62 had
a great turnout for their 40th
reunion. They began the weekend
with a gathering with Dean
Cronenwett at the Radisson
Governor's Inn on Friday evening.
Saturday was spent on campus at
the SON festivities and visiting the
old hangout, the Rathskeller.
Saturday evening the entire
group gathered for dinner at the
Governor's Inn. They enjoyed not
only the fun of catching up on new
events, but also discussing their
nursing school escapades.
Organizer Anne Doxey Turner
said, “The weekend was enjoyed
by all. Mark your calendars—
we want 100% attendance in five
years!”
26 CAROLINA NURSING
ALUMNI NEWS
The SON Alumni Association
Board of Directors celebrated their
achievements and made plans for
the future at their annual board
meeting on November 1, 2002. This
group of Carolina nurses from
diverse backgrounds, class years and
specialties enjoyed a lively, daylong
discussion about the SON and the
importance of its alumni. Dean
Linda Cronenwett, Assistant Dean
Maggie Miller and Advancement
Director Norma Hawthorne worked
with the Board in the morning and
gathered feedback from these alum-ni
representatives. One of the SON’s
most recent alumni, Ben Roberts,
also spoke to the group about the
new 14-month option.
The Board had an active year in
2002 under a new structure of
working subcommittees. They
implemented an alumni survey, ran
strong recognition and scholarship
programs and formed partnerships
with student groups through special
events. This year the focus will be
on offering continuing education,
reaching out to alumni in different
geographic areas and mentoring
students. Recognizing Carolina
nurses for their accomplishments
and encouraging participation
from all alumni are also goals for
2003. The Board will support the
campaign for the new building
addition by purchasing and naming
a brick for the brick walkway.
President Tonya Rutherford
Hemming (BSN ’93, MSN ’01)was
installed as was President-Elect BJ
Lee Simpson (BSN ’93, MSN ’97)
and Secretary Meg Gambrell (BSN
’01). Seven new board members
were installed and outgoing mem-bers
Helen Bridges (BSN ’79), Zelda
Moore (BSN ’78) and Melanie Bunn
(BSN ’83) were recognized for their
service. Carolyn Graham (PhD ’97)
was given special recognition for
her role as past president and
remains on the board for one year
as past president.
The Board constantly seeks input
and participation from all alumni.
Please contact Executive Director
Anne Webb at (919) 966-4619 or
sonalum@unc.edu to get involved.
The SON Alumni Association Board of Directors held their annual meeting November 1, 2002. Pictured here are (first
row, l-r) Meg Gambrell, Becky Olson, Tonya Rutherford Hemming, Jo-Anne Trowbridge Martin, BJ Lee Simpson; (second
row, l-r) Bonnie Angel, Mary Holtschneider, Jo Lentz Williams, Courtney Rawls, Mary Lou Booth; (third row, l-r)
Alyshia Smith, Carolyn Graham, Bret Temming, Derek Chrisco, Geraldine Laport, Anne Allen and Greg Simpson.
Alumni Association Board Holds Annual Meeting
The University of
North Carolina at
Chapel Hill School
of Nursing Alumni
Association Board
of Directors
Executive Committee:
Tonya Rutherford Hemming
(BSN ’93, MSN ’01)
President
BJ Lee Simpson (BSN ’93, MSN ’97)
President-Elect
Susan King-Zeller (BSN ’95)
Treasurer
Meg Gambrell (BSN ’01)
Secretary
Carolyn Graham (PhD ’97)
Past President
Bonnie Angel (BSN ’79)
Faculty Representative
Bret Temming (BSN ’03)
Undergraduate Representative
At-Large Members:
Prentiss Anne Allen (BSN ’67)
Mary Lou Booth (BSN ’57)
Derek Chrisco (BSN ’91)
Abby Ensign (BSN ’00)
Mary Holtschneider (BSN ’95)
Michael Joyner (MSN ’00)
Geraldine Laport (BSN ’55)
Heather Mackey (MSN ’01)
Jo-Anne T. Martin (BSN ’69)
Susan Minnix (BSN ’95)
Becky Olson (BSN ’74)
Robin Perry (BSN ’96)
Courtney Rawls (BSN ’01)
Greg Simpson (MSN ’01)
Alyshia Smith (BSN ’89)
Carole Barrow Warren (BSN ’71)
Jo Lentz Williams (BSN ’69)
SPRING 2003 27
ALUMNI NEWS
In addition to hosting social and
networking events, the SON Alumni
Association Board of Directors is
providing personal and professional
development opportunities for
alumni. A current focus of this
effort is continuing education.
The Association worked this spring
to create top-notch programs at a
low cost for several groups of
SON alums in the communities
where they live and work.
The first of these programs was
held in Charlotte during the month
of March. Dr. Marcia Van Riper, an
associate professor at the SON, pre-sented
“Genetics and Nursing in the
21st Century.” Following the educa-tion
session, participants enjoyed
brunch and an update on the School
from Dean Linda Cronenwett. Not
only did the event offer 1.5 contact
hours of ANCC credit at a special
rate, it also gave local alumni the
opportunity to meet one another
and learn together.
Charlotte alum Glenda Wooten
(BSN ’82) helped arrange logistics
for the event, which was held in the
auditorium of Carolinas Medical
Center. Another regional continuing
education session, featuring a legal
issues update, is planned for the
Winston-Salem area on July 12.
Local alumnae Heather Thompson
Mackey (MSN ’01) and Pat Dodson
Hayes (BSN ’67) are helping to plan
the day. If you would like more
information on this event, please
contact Anne Webb at (919) 966-
4619 or Anne_Webb@unc.edu.
Alumni Association Hosts Regional CE Events
As part of its plan for student out-reach,
the Alumni Association Board
again awarded scholarships for the
spring semester to several deserving
nursing students. Recipients includ-ed
Master’s student Andrea Biondi,
seniors Debra Davis and Jewel Scott
and junior Mary Glenn Smith.
Members of the Board’s scholarship
committee reviewed nearly 30
strong applications for the four
awards. Dean Cronenwett and
Alumni Association President Tonya
Rutherford Hemming honored the
recipients at a celebration luncheon
on February 20. Both agreed that
these outstanding students will
bring strong talents to the nursing
profession.
Alumni Association Awards Scholarships
Alumni Association President Tonya Rutherford Hemming and Dean Linda
Cronenwett offered their congratulations to scholarship award winners (l-r)
Jewel Scott, Mary Glenn Smith, Andrea Biondi and Debra Davis at a cele-bratory
luncheon this spring.
Dean Linda Cronenwett and
Dr. Marcia Van Riper enjoyed
sharing the latest informa-tion
on genetics research
and the state of the school
at a Charlotte CE event.
Pictured here are (first row,
l-r) Jane Mayes Link (BSN
’74), Brenda Gail Summers
(BSN ’74, MSN ’81), Amy
Walters Courson (BSN ’98),
Tonya Rutherford Hemming
(BSN ’93, MSN ’01) and
Alene Fuller Cooley (BSN
’70); (second row, l-r) Danita
Winchester Terrell (BSN ’75),
Glenda Sue Wooten (BSN
’82), Dr. Van Riper and
Dean Cronenwett.
ALUMNI NEWS
Alums are strengthening school
ties and getting the most out of
their Carolina nursing connections
through a new regional alumni
program. The program was put in
place to draw together alums in
various communities and bring a
bit of the SON to them. Three
groups have formed in North
Carolina and spent time with each
other and Dean Linda Cronenwett
this past fall. The participants
enjoyed meeting other alums and
comparing notes on career opportu-nities,
health-care networks and
even social and family life.
Greensboro, Southern Pines and
Wilmington were all places where
regional events took place this fall.
In Greensboro, Bonnie Fields
(BSN ’80), Beth Jaekle (BSN ’80,
MSN ’85) and Nancy Caddy (BSN
’71) were alumni organizers for an
afternoon reception in October. Area
alumna Ann McPhaul (BSN ’65)
provided a location for the meeting.
In addition to getting to know each
other, the group heard an update
on School events and had a lively
discussion about nursing education
and the role of the SON in the state.
“The event gave many of us the
opportunity to reconnect with old
friends, but perhaps even more
importantly it gave us the opportu-nity
to make new ones,” says Fields.
“The breadth and depth of our
alumni network is quite amazing
and these events give us the oppor-tunity
to link and get to know one
another in our local area.”
Southern Pines-area alumni
enjoyed lunch with Dean
Cronenwett in September. Cheryl
Banks Bachelor (BSN ’79) helped
organize this gathering of alums
from various classes.
A Wilmington-area committee
formed in 2001 and has been very
active. Headed by alum and faculty
member Betty Woodard (MSN ’87),
these SON graduates have hosted
two events so far and hope to con-tinue
getting together. Committee
members are co-chair Donna Bost
(BSN ’76), Tyler Baucom (BSN
’96), Beth Chadwick (BSN ’81),
Denise Darden (BSN ’77), and
Robin Harper (BSN ’86). Together
they represent a wide range of nurs-ing
knowledge and also enjoy hav-ing
fun with fellow UNC grads. The
committee put together one event
just to get to know younger alumni
in the area who recently started
careers and can benefit from the
advice of other Carolina nurses.
Bringing the School out to
alumni is also a goal of this year’s
Alumni Association Board of
Directors. “Gathering feedback from
alumni who are doing the work
that we train our students to do is
invaluable to the School,” says
Anne Webb, Alumni Association
director. “Getting together with
fellow alumni seems to be a real
benefit for our graduates and is
always lots of fun.” If you are
interested in helping form a group
in your area, please contact Webb
at Anne_Webb@unc.edu or
(919) 966-4619.
Bonnie Fields (BSN ’80), Nancy Scott Fuller, Dean Linda Cronenwett, Shawn Houck
(BSN ’86), Karen Highfill (BSN ’90) and Beth Jaekle (BSN ’80, MSN ’85) met in
October for a Greensboro-area alumni event.
SON Alums Keep in Touch
through Regional Events
28 CAROLINA NURSING
NOTEWORTHY NURSES
Mae Massey Carroll,
BSN ’67, MSN, RN
Carroll is co-recipient of the
2002 Alumna of the Year Award, an
award given to SON graduates
known for their outstanding service
in the area of nursing, either
through scholarly efforts, promotion
of health care or service to the field
of nursing.
Carroll works as a psychiatric
clinical specialist at the Veterans
Affairs Medical Center in Salisbury,
North Carolina, where she developed
the first post-traumatic stress disor-der
outpatient clinic for veterans. She
also developed STOP (Salisbury
Transitional Outpatient Program), a
program that allows homeless veter-ans
to participate in a wellness pro-gram
at the center during the day and
reside at the local Rowan Helping
Ministries during the night while
awaiting admission into an appro-priate
rehab or treatment program.
Carroll earned recognition as
the first African American to teach
nursing at the Louise Harkey School
of Nursing at Cabarrus College of
Health Sciences in Concord, North
Carolina, and the Decker School of
Nursing at Binghamton University in
Binghamton, New York. She also
broke ground as the first African
American female to serve as com-mander
at the JC Price American
Legion, Post 107, in Salisbury, North
Carolina, where she introduced
health education for Legionnaires.
Jacqueline Lytle Gonzalez,
BSN ’79, MSN, CNAA, RN
Gonzalez is the other recipient
of the 2002 Alumna of the Year
Award. She has served as vice
president of patient care services
and chief nursing officer at Miami
Children’s Hospital in Miami,
Florida, since 1998.
After graduating from Carolina
in 1979, she began her career at
Charlotte Memorial Hospital (now
Carolinas Medical Center) in
Charlotte, North Carolina, as a staff
nurse. In 1980 she moved to Miami
to work as a staff nurse at Miami
Children’s Hospital, where she has
held several nursing positions since
then, including assistant head
nurse, head nurse, nursing supervi-sor,
associate director of nursing
and director of operations.
Gonzalez is active in her local
nursing community, having served
as adjunct and guest faculty at
Florida International University
School of Nursing, University of
Miami School of Nursing and
Florida Atlantic University College of
Nursing. She works with a number
of Miami-area health-care councils
and organizations, including Parent
to Parent, an organization devoted
to the support of families of children
with disabilities, and is a member of
several nursing organizations,
including the National Association
of Children’s Hospitals, American
Organization of Nurse Executives
and the Nursing Shortage
Consortium of South Florida.
Katharine Harper Kent,
BSN ’95, OCN, RN
Kent is the recipient of the 2002
Carrington Award for Exceptional
Community Service, given to an
individual who has given remarkable
service to the community, state or
other beneficiary organizations
(though not necessarily through
direct nursing activity) and who has
reflected favorably on the SON
through this remarkable service.
Kent started her nursing career
as an oncology nurse at Frye
Regional Medical Center in Hickory,
North Carolina. Not long afterward,
she was hired as a breast health
nurse at the Center for Breast Health
at Caldwell Memorial Hospital in
Lenoir, North Carolina.
In her capacity as a breast
health nurse, she performs clinical
breast examinations, coordinates
breast health outreach programs,
writes grants for breast health
awareness programs and counsels
breast cancer patients and their
families. She also works as a
volunteer with the Susan G. Komen
Breast Cancer Foundation and
helped start a local affiliate of the
foundation in the North Carolina
foothills. She currently serves on
the Dallas Komen Foundation’s
National Advocate Grant Review
Committee.
SPRING 2003 29
SERVICE. COMPASSION. EXCELLENCE. All words that describe nurses who
on a daily basis care for patients who span the human diaspora of age,
race, creed and color. The School of Nursing recently honored three of its
most outstanding nursing alums at the 2002 Alumni Day celebration with
awards that recognized their significant contributions to the profession.
Jacqueline Lytle Gonzalez,
pictured here with her
husband and mother, visited
Chapel Hill for the first time
since she graduated more than
20 years ago.
Katharine Kent received a
corsage from Alumni Affairs
Director Anne Webb to note
her special place at the
SON on Alumni Day.
Mae Massey Carroll thanked
the Alumni Association and
her fellow alums for the
day’s honor.
If you know of any noteworthy nursing
alumni who deserve recognition, please
fill out and return the alumni award
nomination form found in the back of
this magazine.
Noteworthy Nurses:
The 2002 Alumni of the Year
BY NATASHA WORTHINGTON
30 CAROLINA NURSING
The University of
North Carolina at
Chapel Hill School of
Nursing Foundation, Inc.
Board of Directors
Executive Committee:
Margaret Ferguson Raynor
(BSN ’67)
President
Franklin Clark, III
Past President
Nancy Scott Fuller
Vice President
Karen Coley Harrison (BSN ’65)
Secretary
Greer Cawood
Treasurer
At-Large Members:
Evelyn Scott Alexander (BSN ’56)
Denise Taylor Darden (BSN ’77)
Barbara Jo Foley (BSN ’67)
Terry Graedon
Pamela Jameson (BSN ’76)
Steve Martin
Joyce Page
Gary Park
Mary “Bebe” Rose (BSN ’64)
Gwen Russell
Janet Askew Sipple (MSN ’70)
Carolyn Underwood (BSN ’79)
Honorary Emeritus Members:
Audrey Booth (MSN ’57)
Frances Fox Hill
Carolyn London (BSN ’56)
Thomas Norris, Jr.
Mary Ragsdale
Dear Alumni and Friends,
This was one of those extraordi-nary
days when the generosity and
thoughtfulness of alumni, friends
and faculty gives me pause. I have
just opened four envelopes. They
were postmarked from Salisbury,
North Carolina, Richmond,
Virginia, Rochester, New York, and
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. One of them
contained five one-dollar bills with
a note to apply the gift wherever
there was greatest need and the
cheer, “Go Heels.” This gift was as
touching as the other gifts I opened
from family and friends who wished
to honor the memory of a wonder-ful
alumna and her mother, both of
whom died of cancer.
Earlier, a highly regarded faculty
member came into my office, closed
the door, sat down and confided that
she and her husband had just com-pleted
their wills and it is their
intention to leave a major (and
anonymous) bequest to the School
to use for scholarships. She plans to
complete a planned gift information
sheet so that we can document this
and count it toward our campaign
goal. During lunch today Dean
Cronenwett and I met with a group
of Raleigh alumni from the classes
of ’59, ’70, ’73 and ’74. Each
woman told stories about how her
nursing education and UNC-Chapel
Hill experience was a constant thread
of dependability in their lives and a
source of support as they built upon
personal and professional successes.
You constantly remind me of
your compassion and your values
that are demonstrated by your desire
to give to others and create a future
for those who come after you. You
express this in the work you do and
the many ways you give back to us.
We have now reached 42% of our
$15 million campaign goal, and
have brought over $6 million in
private gifts to the School of
Nursing. This is accomplished as
much by small donations as it is by
large gifts. We still have some dis-tance
to go. Yet, I am reassured by
your love for Carolina nursing and
know that because of this, we will
fully fund our new building and
establish the scholarships and
professorships we need to create
our future.
With heartfelt thanks,
Norma Singleton Hawthorne, MS
Director of Advancement
The Generosity of Friends
During an all-day planning session
called by President Margaret Raynor
(BSN ’67) on November 14, 2002, the
Board of Directors of the School of
Nursing Foundation, Inc., met to estab-lish
a new working committee structure
and identify strategic goals that would
help the School reach its $15 million
campaign goal.
The meeting was facilitated by
Carolyn Underwood (BSN ’79), president
and CEO of Artecel Sciences, Inc., a
Research Triangle Park biotechnology
company, who led individual and group
visioning exercises that explored ways to
grow major gifts and bequests, develop
corporate and foundation contacts and
create stronger ties to alumni, students
and friends of the School.
By the end of the day, the working
committees had identified nine major
goals that included holding a gala event
in spring 2003, identifying family foun-dations
that could support the School
and supporting student recognition cere-monies
to build early loyalty.
Dr. Janet Askew Sipple (MSN ’70) will
chair the Major Gifts Committee and
plans to co-host a fall 2004 reception for
alumni and friends in the eastern part of
the state with Paul Chused. To support
the Campaign, Denise Taylor Darden
(BSN ’77) plans to entertain Wilmington
alumni and friends in her home this
summer. President Raynor will further
explore efforts to link students more
closely with Foundation Board goals with
new board member Gwen Russell, parent
of Kim Russell (BSN ’02).
The Board also welcomed new mem-ber
Joyce Page of Durham. She joined
directors Evelyn Alexander (BSN ’56),
Greer Cawood, Dr. Franklin Clark III, Dr.
Barbara Jo Foley (BSN ’67), Nancy Scott
Fuller, Dr. Terry Graedon, Karen Coley
Harrison (BSN ’65), Pam Jameson (BSN
’76), Gary Park and Bebe Rose (BSN ’64)
in the lively discussion that established
the action plan for the immediate future.
SON Foundation Board Update
Carolyn Underwood (BSN ’79) facili-tated
the fall 2002 Foundation Board
meeting with group exercises and
brainstorming sessions.
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
31 CAROLINA NURSING
When Bette Davis (BSN ’55) called
her classmates to urge them to support a
class gift that would name the Alumni
Welcome Center Reception Room in their
honor, she hoped to get 100% participa-tion.
And, thanks to the generous support
of her classmates, she did. On November
9, many of the first to graduate from the
School of Nursing reunited at Aurora
Restaurant in Chapel Hill to celebrate a
collective $60,000 gift to the building
fund. Joy Burton, Gwen Butler, Martha
Cline, Winnie Cotton, Bette Davis, Patsy
Johnson, Geri Laport, Mary Leggette,
Janet Littlejohn, Gloria Peele, Ramelle
Starnes and Louise Thomas were all in
attendance. Those who made individual
gifts or pledges of $5,000 or more will
receive added recognition on the Wall of
Honor plaque in the entry lobby of the
new building. Ed Starnes (AB ’56),
painter and husband of Ramelle Starnes,
is creating a commemorative watercolor
to hang in the reception room when the
new building is dedicated in 2005, also
the 50th reunion of the class.
Classmates Karen Coley Harrison and
Helen Wilson (BSN ’65), along with hus-bands
David Harrison and Ronny Wilson,
gathered before the UNC v. UConn bas-ketball
game to begin exploring a Class
of ’65 gift to the Carolina First
Campaign. Their hope is to present it at
their 2005 reunion. They discussed
options, including naming an endowed
scholarship or a room in the new build-ing
in honor of the class. They plan to
survey classmates about preferences soon.
The Class of ’69 also recently kicked
off an initiative to support the new build-ing.
At this time, they are looking at sev-eral
possible rooms for the class to name.
Jo Lentz Williams and Jo-Anne
Trowbridge Martin are leading the effort.
Class of ’93 members Tonya
Rutherford Hemming, BJ Lee Simpson and
Jennifer Christian Wilkins are organizing
a class effort to coincide with their
upcoming 10th reunion. They are plan-ning
a collective gift to the building fund
and will present it at Alumni Day this fall.
Some of the most recent graduates
are also getting involved. Courtney Rawls
and Meg Gambrell have launched a BSN
Class of ’01 effort to support the brick
campaign and have their class well rep-resented
on the paved walkway alongside
the new building addition.
These group gifts will add to those
made by the Class of ’56 ($350,000) and
the Faculty Emeriti ($140,000).
If you’d like to know more about
organizing a steering committee of your
classmates for a class gift, please contact
Norma Hawthorne or Anne Webb at
(919) 966-4619 or sonalum@unc.edu.
Class Gifts to Carolina First:
Leveraging the Power of Individuals
The Class of ’55 gathered for dinner recently to celebrate a collective $60,000 gift to the Building Campaign. Participation in the
Campaign was 100%. Pictured here are (l–r) Bette Davis, Ramelle Starnes, Gloria Peele, Gwen Butler, Joy Burton, Geri Laport,
Winnie Cotton, Patsy Johnson, Janet Littlejohn, Mary Leggette, Martha Cline, Dean Cronenwett and Louise Thomas.
Bette Davis, Gwen Butler and Gwen’s husband, Robert, caught up with
one another and fellow classmates at the celebratory dinner at Aurora.
Class Gift Notes
A “class gift” represents
the sum of individual gifts
made by each classmate
to the building fund. This
collective gift can have a
substantial positive impact
on the future of the SON.
If an average individual
gift or pledge is $25,000
to $50,000, a class gift
could generate enough
collective impact to name,
for example, the dean’s
suite ($200,000) or the
undergraduate computer
laboratory ($400,000) in
honor of a class.
A significant gift from an
individual who contributes
toward the class gift will
also have a naming oppor-tunity
in the building.
We are unable to count
bequests toward a class
gift, as they cannot be used
for capital building funds.
All gifts over $5,000 will
be recognized on the Wall
of Honor.
All gifts of whatever size
are valued and welcomed.
32 CAROLINA NURSING
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Planned Giving:
For Something
You Believe In
Making a bequest to the
School of Nursing testifies
to your concern for the
welfare of others and for
your commitment to the
future of the School, its
faculty and students. By
informing the University
of your intention to benefit
Carolina, you give us the
opportunity to thank you
now for your generosity.
For some, the combination
of a campaign gift or
pledge and a deferred gift
can result in significant
financial advantages.
• You do not need to send
us a copy of your will to
document a bequest.
• An easy, one-page deferred
giving information sheet
is the only necessary
paperwork.
• The University understands
that people’s intentions
may change and they may
want to make later modi-fications.
A documented
bequest is considered a
revocable gift to the
University.
• All information is confi-dential
and anonymous
unless you tell us otherwise.
• Documented bequests
count toward the
Carolina First Campaign.
• This is a VERY important
way you can help us reach
our $15 million goal.
Please visit
www.carolinafirst.unc.edu\
giftplanning to learn more.
In March and June of each year the
faculty who teach undergraduate BSN
students are asked to submit names of
two graduating seniors, one from the 14-
month option and one from the 24-
month option, who they feel best exem-plify
nursing leadership qualities. Ballots
are prepared, faculty votes are tallied and
the dean honors the recipients at a spe-cial
ceremony or during commencement.
Turn back the clock. 1956. A group
of senior BSN classmates gather daily at
the Carolina Coffee Shop where owner
George Livas makes a place for them at
the front window alongside Chapel Hill’s
civic and business leaders. Nursing stu-dents
are among the first women on
campus, and Mr. Livas wants them to feel
comfortable. Sometimes, when they are
short on change, he treats them to lunch
or a soda and offers help to solve a
particularly perplexing mathematical
problem. They make him an honorary
class member as they prepare to
graduate. His warmth and good nature
are supportive and encouraging.
When Mr. Livas died suddenly that
year, still a relatively young man, the
women wanted to pay special tribute to
his memory. They established the George
Livas Leadership Award and solicited
contributions from some of Franklin
Street’s notables. A small fund was estab-lished
and over the years it has grown
modestly, with the interest accrued each
year enough to make two small awards.
When Mrs. Sophia Livas came to visit
Dean Linda Cronenwett in October 2002
with daughter Elaini Bingham, she
recounted the era with Carolyn London
(BSN ’56) and Jeff Dudley (BSN ’02), last
year’s 14-month option Livas Award
recipient. Jeff, who is now working at UNC
Hospitals, says the award is especially
meaningful to him because it represents
special recognition by the faculty and is
a long-standing tradition in the School.
Carolyn London remembered how
classmates Landy Fox, Jess Carraway
Heizer, Coolie Monroe, Jane Sox Monroe
and she were accepted by Mr. Livas and
what it was like to be a student at that
time. Their recollections have inspired
the SON to look for ways to build the
Livas Award fund. If you are interested in
contributing to this special fund, please
contact Norma Hawthorne at (919) 966-
4619 or norma_hawthorne@unc.edu.
The George Livas Leadership Award
Dean Cronenwett and Carolyn London (BSN ’56) were appreciative of Sophia Livas
and her daughter, Elaini Bingham, sharing a few memories of George Livas.
2002: Jeffrey Dudley,
14-month option
Leslie Collins,
24-month option
2001: Emily Joubert
2000: Christopher Norwood
1999: Jonathon Rector
1998: Laura Calamos
1997: Jennifer Simms
1996: Susan Richard
1995: Mary Holtschneider
1992: Becky Guess
George Livas
Leadership Award
recipients from
the past 10 years:
1970
Gwen Dorminey Sherwood
(MSN) was inducted into the
American Academy of Nursing in
2001 and became president-elect of
the International Association for
Human Caring. She is a professor
and associate dean for practice and
outreach at the University of Texas-
Houston School of Nursing.
1973
Maryann Patterson Ingersoll
(BSN) has returned to live in the
United States after three years in
Kuwait, though her husband still
travels back and forth for business.
She keeps busy with volunteer work
at Houston Children’s Hospital,
KUHF Radio and the Houston
Museum of Fine Arts. She is a mem-ber
of the Holistic Nursing
Association and hopes to certify in
aromatherapy soon.
Suzanne Limparis Ward(BSN)
is now a licensed and nationally
certified massage therapist in
Maryland. She is also a part-time
costume designer.
1974
Carol Zimmerman Garrison (BSN)
began her tenure as president of the
University of Alabama at
Birmingham September 1, 2002.
She completed her MSN from UAB
and her PhD in Epidemiology from
the University of North Carolina in
1982.
1983
Mary Maddrey Chandler (BSN) is
in the post-masters FNP program at
the University of Virginia and looks
forward to her graduation in May
2003. She completed her MSN at UVA
in 1992. She is married to the Rev.
Dr. John Chandler (BA ’83). They
have two sons, Preston and Roland.
1984
Nancy Walters Harman (BSN)
marked seven years at Womack Army
Medical Center in Ft. Bragg, North
Carolina, in June 2002 as a staff
nurse midwife. In August, she
opened Birthwise of Central North
Carolina in Chatham County, which
provides home birth services and
well woman care. She stays busy
growing organic vegetables and
herbs on her family farm, volunteer-ing
with the Chatham County Social
Health Council, directing the choir
at her church and raising her three
teenage sons.
1985
Cynthia Cumbo Klaess (BSN)
received certification in case man-agement.
She now works as a
cardiovascular surgery case manager
at Rex Healthcare in Raleigh, North
Carolina.
1987
Gary Crotty (BSN ’84, MSN ’87)
finished his term as president and
past president of the Tennessee
Nurses Association.
1994
Cherie Smith-Miller (BSN) presented
“Why Are We Talking About Hearing
Loss? I Have Lives To Save!” at the
26th Annual Congress and Nursing
Symposium of the Society of
Otorhinolaryngology and Head-Neck
Nurses held in San Diego, California,
September 20-24, 2002.
1996
Susan Kyle Foster (BSN) gave birth
to Megan Kyle Foster in December
2001. Megan’s older sister, Emily
Kathryn Foster, is three years old.
1997
Ginger Baity Ervin (BSN) completed
her MSN at UNC-Charlotte and is now
working as a family nurse practitioner
in an internal medicine practice.
Yvette M. Pype Gramins (BSN)
moved back to North Carolina after
living overseas with her husband,
who is a surgeon in the US Navy, and
works at Presbyterian Hospital in
Charlotte.
BJ Lee Simpson (BSN ’93, MSN ’97)
was awarded the National Association
of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s
Health Nurse Practitioner of the
Year Award during the 2002 NPWH
conference in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The award honors her dedicated
service promoting women’s health
care and issues in rural North
Carolina.
Julie M. Schneider (BSN) has been
promoted to manager of Transplant
Services at Memorial Hermann
Hospital in Houston, Texas.
Niki Peaden Speri (BSN) and hus-band
Bill (BSBA ’97) became the
proud parents of daughter Taylor
Daune in August 2001. She also has
been promoted to operating room
manager at NC Specialty Hospital in
Durham, NC.
SPRING 2003 33
ALUMNI NOTES
We want to hear
from you!
To update your address or to
let Carolina Nursing share
your new job, new address, or
special accomplishment with
fellow alums, please use the
form on page 35.
34 CAROLINA NURSING
June
Nurse Practitioner Review Course June 3–5, 2003
History Taking and Physical Examination: June 6, 13 and 20, 2003
Sharpening Your Skills
Critical Teaching Strategies for Critical Thinking June 7, 2003
■ Nursing Exploration Week June 22 – June 27, 2003
July
1st Annual Advanced Teaching Excellence Institute: July 29 – August 1, 2003
Advanced Principles of Teaching in Nursing
August
■ 14-month Second Degree BSN Option Commencement August 10, 2003
Writing for Publication with Elizabeth Tornquist August 22, 2003
■ First Day of Classes August 26, 2003
Legal Update August 29, 2003
September
Career Opportunities in Clinical Research: Understanding September 2 – November 18, 2003
the Roles & Responsibilities of CRA and CRC
Strokes: Preventing & Managing "Brain Attacks" September 4, 2003
HIV Update 2003: Caring for the HIV Patient September 11, 2003
Teaching using Stories September 13, 2003
The Cutting Edge: Balancing Your Life September 18 – 19, 2003
Diabetes Management in the Hospital Setting September 30, 2003
■ Distinguishes School of Nursing events from Continuing Education events
For more information on Calendar of Events
School events, contact the
Office of Advancement.
E-mail: sonalum@unc.edu
Phone: (919) 966-4619
FAX: (919) 843-8241
http://nursing.unc.edu
For more information or to
register for a Continuing
Education program, contact
the School of Nursing Office
of Continuing Education.
E-mail: nursing_ce@unc.edu
Phone: (919) 966-3638
FAX: (919) 966-0870
http://nursing.unc.edu/
lifelong/index.html
SPRING 2003 35
WHAT’S NEWWithYou?
Keeping up with each other is hard to do these days. Please let Carolina Nursing share your news! Whether it’s a
new job, a new address, or a special accomplishment, we’ll be happy to get the word out for you.
Name (please include maiden name): Class Year: Degree:
❑ My address has changed. My new address is:
News:
We want to know how we can best serve you, the nearly 6,000 distinguished alumni who are an important part of the School of
Nursing family. Please take a moment to fill out and return this short survey to make your opinion count.
1. What kinds of alumni programs interest you?
Please rank each of the following on a scale of 1–5.
1 = very interesting 2 = somewhat interesting 3 = neutral 4 = not so interesting 5 = not interesting at all
Academic/Continuing Education Programs 1 2 3 4 5
Regional Programs 1 2 3 4 5
Athletic Events 1 2 3 4 5
Other: ________________________ 1 2 3 4 5
2. What types of articles do you most enjoy reading in Carolina Nursing magazine?
Please rank each of the following on a scale of 1–5.
1 = very interesting 2 = somewhat interesting 3 = neutral 4 = not so interesting 5 = not interesting at all
Stories about alumni 1 2 3 4 5
Stories about the school and faculty 1 2 3 4 5
Student features 1 2 3 4 5
Current issues in nursing 1 2 3 4 5
Other: ________________________ 1 2 3 4 5
3. Would you like to plan a reunion for your class? ❑ No ❑ Yes
4. Are you interested in participating on the Alumni Board? ❑ No ❑ Yes
5. Are you interested in helping to plan or host an alumni activity?
❑ No ❑ Yes, I’d like to help with:_________________________________________________________
6. What can your Alumni Association do to better serve you?:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Name (please include maiden name):_____________________________Class Year: ____ Degree:____________
MAKE YOUR OPINIONCount
Please send your survey and news to:
Associate Director of Alumni Affairs, School of Nursing
UNC-Chapel Hill, Carrington Hall, CB #7460
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7460
Fax: (919) 843-8241 E-mail: sonalum@unc.edu
36 CAROLINA NURSING
The School of Nursing is accepting nominations for awards to be presented each year during Alumni Day. Please nominate that
colleague or friend who has meant much to the profession and to the School of Nursing. Additional supporting material may be
attached to this nomination form if necessary. A member of the awards committee may contact you for additional information.
The ALUMNA/US OF THE YEAR AWARD is awarded to the UNC School of Nursing graduate who is known for distinction in
nursing through scholarly endeavors, promotion of health care or professional service.
Name of Nominee: Class:
Reasons why nominee should receive this award:
The CARRINGTON AWARD FOR EXCEPTIONAL COMMUNITY SERVICE is awarded to the UNC School of Nursing graduate who has
given remarkable service to the community, state or other beneficiary organizations and has reflected favorably on the School of
Nursing through efforts to benefit society (though not necessarily through direct nursing activity).
Name of Nominee: Class:
Reasons why nominee should receive this award:
The HONORARY ALUMNA/US AWARD is awarded to a professional who possesses distinction in the nursing profession and has
demonstrated outstanding support to the School of Nursing. This person is a non-graduate of the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Nursing.
Name of Nominee: Class:
Reasons why nominee should receive this award:
Your Name: Class:
Phone:
AlumniAward NOMINATIONS
Please send your nominations to:
Associate Director of Alumni Affairs, School of Nursing
UNC-Chapel Hill, Carrington Hall, CB #7460
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7460
Fax: (919) 843-8241 E-mail: sonalum@unc.edu
For additional info, contact Anne Webb at (919) 966-4619
F I R S T M A I D E N L A S T
F I R S T M A I D E N L A S T
F I R S T M A I D E N L A S T