To start our academic year is an absolute favorite among all the beginnings we experience in academia. So, welcome to a new academic year which promises to be a very exciting year that will chart the strategic course for our School and for the profession for the next few years. “NEW” is the metaphor for the year – a new year, new members of our Board of Overseers, new faculty, new students, new administrative leadership, a new strategic plan, new space for our students, and we will soon be launching a new curriculum. On the national front, we are stepping into a new era of healthcare reform with nursing at the forefront. And, a new report about the Future of Nursing will soon be launched by the Institute of Medicine and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Our School has also been newly redesignated as a World Health Organization Collaborating Center for another four years, thanks to the dedication of our Assistant Dean for Global Health Affairs, Dr. Marjorie Muecke, and Associate Director, Geri Grosso, and all those who have been engaged globally.
Staff Appointments
Among the exciting news for the upcoming year is the appointment of Dr. Julie Sochalski as the Director for the Division of Nursing at the Bureau of Health Professions for the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the appointment of Dr. Eileen Sullivan-Marx as a Health and Aging Policy Fellow for 2010-2011. And, we are named the 2010 Best School for Men in Nursing by the American Association of Men in Nursing. We welcome such an award as we look to a more diverse workforce.
This has also been a very busy summer! The Associate Dean for Research, Dr. Yvonne Paterson; the Family and Community Health Division Chair, Dr. Patricia D’Antonio; and the Biobehavioral and Health Sciences Interim Division Chair, Dr. Jennifer Pinto-Martin, all assumed their new roles on July 1. Please join me in welcoming and supporting them in these important positions. New faculty will also be joining our ranks (pending the requisite Personnel Committee and Provost Staff Conference confirmations) so please also welcome Dr. J. Margo Brooks Carthon, in the Family and Community Health Division; and Dr. Margaret Cooney Souders and Dr. Kelly Wiltse Nicely, in the Biobehavioral and Health Sciences Division.
Board of Overseers
In June, the University’s Board of Trustees approved four new members for our Board of Overseers. Please join us in welcoming: Dan Hilferty, President of Health Markets for Philadelphia-based health insurer Independence Blue Cross; Gail Kass, President and CEO of NewCourtland, a leading non-profit provider of community services, housing, nursing homes, and education and workforce development; Wendy Hurst Levine, MD, Founder and President of Englewood Ob/Gyn and member of Penn’s Parents Council and Campaign Major Gifts Committee; and Ralph Reynolds, W’84, Founder of Point Clear Partners and member of Penn’s Campaign Major Gifts Committee. These new members will bring new dimensions to enrich our Board as we implement our strategic goals within the national healthcare reform agenda.
Office of Academic Affairs
Of course, our Office of Academic Affairs (OAA) was also occupied this summer bringing in a new cadre of students. Please join us in welcoming 91 traditional BSN students; 77 Accelerated students; more than 150 MSN students; and 15 doctoral students at the School’s annual Back-to-School Picnic on Tuesday, September 7, at 1:00 pm, in the Carol Ware Gates Lobby. Our students will also enjoy the newly remodeled space on the second floor resulting from the Phase III renovation which took place this summer. This enhanced space includes a new student lounge, classroom breakout rooms, upgrades to existing classrooms and public spaces, expansion and renovation of the restrooms, and relocation and upgrades to the student computer lab.
Summer Mentorship Program
The Office of Academic Affairs was also busy with the Summer Mentorship program that included ten high school students from the surrounding communities. As an expression of their thanks for this rewarding and unique experience that gave them a taste for the opportunities in nursing, these students completed a mural in another of our stairwells. Be sure to check it out. And, we are pleased to receive the endorsement of the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education on being compliant with the Criteria for Evaluation of Nurse Practitioner programs. We extend our gratitude to Dr. Kathy McCauley and her team for all these successful initiatives.
Many dedicated members of our faculty and staff, under the co-leadership of Dr. Charlene Compher and and Dr. Barbra Mann Wall, were hard at work this summer on the Undergraduate Curriculum Implementation plan. This group is identifying and preparing for every contingency as we tackle this exciting effort of starting a new program in 2011 while maintaining the excellent quality of the current program. Although we acknowledge the challenges that will be inherent in such a change for our faculty, students, and staff, we are confident that this curriculum will be at the forefront in preparing future clinicians and leaders.
Past and Upcoming Retreats
This summer was a time for many retreats; DAG, Board of Overseers, Center Directors as well as many meetings of the Faculty Retreat Planning Committee who has an exciting schedule of activities for our upcoming Retreat on October 20 and 21. We are honored to be having as part of our Retreat such noted national speakers as Dr. Harvey Fineberg, President of the Institute of Medicine; Cy Wakeman, strategic leadership speaker; Dr. Robert Brook, Vice President of the RAND Corporation; Professor William Novelli, Distinguished Professor of Practice at Georgetown University; and Mr. Dean Kehler, Vice-Chair of our Board of Overseers and President and CEO of Trimaran Capital Partners. In addition, there will be many exciting dialogues and activities with a focus on risk taking within the context of the changing face of America, the changing face of social and learning relationships, and the changing face of science. And, of course, the strategic goals that you developed in the spring will frame our dialogues.
2010 – 2015 Strategic Plan
Dialogues for the 2010-2015 strategic plan led this summer to discussions, analysis, and synthesis of the School’s strategic goals for the next five years. The result is one compiled document within a framework of five themes: advancing nursing science and influencing health policy; entrepreneurship and innovation in scholarship and education; local, national, and international partnerships; excellence in pedagogical and learning delivery systems; and organizational excellence and conservation of resources.
The process of developing this strategic planning document was driven by all the goals that the School’s various units and departments developed. Then it was reviewed and revised by the Dean’s Advisory Group, Dean’s Coordinating Council, the Board of Overseers Executive Committee, and the Faculty Retreat Planning Committee. What was particularly noteworthy and reassuring was how congruent the goals and priorities were across departments. This document will be made available to the entire School early in the fall.
Taskforce to Develop Data Systems
Of course, planning for the future will necessitate our having ready access to accurate data. To that end, we have appointed two important taskforce groups who will work this year to assist us in this effort. The first is the Taskforce to Develop Data Systems, under the leadership of Dr. Deborah Bruner. The primary function of this group is to explore and make recommendations on the development of a legacy central storage system for commonly used data in the School.
Benchmarking Taskforce
The second group, under the joint leadership of Dr. Eileen Sullivan-Marx and Donna Milici, is the Benchmarking Taskforce. This group will work with partners whom have been identified from among our peer institutions for the purpose of obtaining best practices in such areas as connected learning, simulation, research support, and IT infrastructure. The taskforce will then make recommendations for how we should be utilizing our resources to stay competitive in these areas. This brings me to a third data related item. I have supported a request from the Provost to participate in a pilot faculty survey, developed by the Association of American Universities Data Exchange (AAUDE), to determine faculty opinion (faculty from the two divisions) on multiple issues. The purpose of this phase of the survey is to refine and enhance the protocols and to collect data to share with schools and with departments. As we are among the pilot schools, there is no intention to include us again when the survey goes to the whole University. Having access to the findings will be useful to us as we plan on the best use of our resources in supporting faculty efforts in education, research, and practice.
Upcoming Events
As we prepare for the fall, we look forward to several key events and activities. They include the Future of Nursing event which will take place from 3 to 6 p.m., Thursday, October 14, in the Ann L. Roy Auditorium. It will feature Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, President and CEO of RWJ; Dr. George Thibault, President and CEO of the Macy Foundation; and our own Drs. Julie Fairman and Julie Sochalski, who have been involved nationally and respectively with this initiative and with healthcare reform issues. This Pennsylvania launching of the IOM/RWJ report on the Future of Nursing will bring together nurses, physicians, other health professionals, state and local officials, insurers, and educators to learn about the Committee’s recommendations for how nursing can meet the demands of a reformed healthcare and public health system. I know you will not want to miss these important discussions.
Also in the fall, will be the annual State of the School Address, which will take place on Thursday, November 4, 2:30-4:00 pm, also in the Auditorium. Be sure to mark your calendars now and encourage your students and colleagues to attend. Also in November will be our celebration at the American Academy of Nursing’s annual meeting, where five members of our faculty will be inducted as Fellows - Drs. Maureen George, Nancy Hanrahan, Marilyn Stringer, Cindy Connolly, and Barbra Mann Wall. And, we will also celebrate another Penn Living Legend, Dean Emeriti, Norma Lang.
Finally, although a bit further away, I am absolutely thrilled to announce that our May 2011 Graduation speaker will be Dr. Donna Shalala, former US Secretary of Health and Human Services and the current President of the University of Florida. As the Chair of the Future of Nursing Initiative, as I mentioned above, I can think of few individuals more equipped to send our graduates off into the future of nursing.
Honors and Awards
Speaking of celebrations, at its annual celebration this summer, the American Nurses Association honored Dean Emeriti Claire Fagin, who was inducted into the ANA Hall of Fame, and Dean Emeriti Norma Lang, who received the ANA President’s Award. Then there were the six members of our faculty who were inducted in the STTI International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame in July for their outstanding contributions to nursing research – Drs. Linda Aiken, Ann Burgess, Lois Evans, Loretta Sweet Jemmott, Mary Naylor, and Neville Strumpf.
So, this will be a year of many NEW initiatives and opportunities. Now that you have made your plans for the School’s priorities in the next five years, I encourage you to take some time to ponder and identify your own goals for the next five years - those professional and personal goals that will bring meaning and texture to your lives in the coming months and years.
Welcome back! I look forward to another exciting and *NEW* year with each of you.
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