william f. connell school of nursing
year in review 2012
Dear Connell School community, I am pleased to report highlights of the Connell School of Nursing’s outstanding 2011–12 academic year. Many of our alumni, faculty, staff, and students were recognized with well-earned honors and awards in nursing education, research, and clinical care. Meanwhile, across New England and around the world, members of Boston College’s nursing school community took on leadership roles “from the bedside to the boardroom,” following the clarion call of the 2010 Future of Nursing report. In early summer 2012, building on our partnership with Switzerland’s University of Applied Sciences, the Connell School hosted Global Health Care: Meeting Challenges and Making Connections. For the first time, nursing and pre-med students from the U.S. and Switzerland, and faculty from these countries and Ireland, spent four weeks on the Boston College campus comparing health care systems and practices around the world. These are just some of the accomplishments of our gifted and dynamic community that make me proud to lead the nursing school in its 65th year, and grateful for your loyalty and commitment. Sincerely,
Susan Gennaro Dean www.bc.edu/cson2012
connell school of nursing | year in review 2012
Faculty vanessa battista, a clinical instructor in the pediatric
The National League for Nursing named doctoral candidate brian french, m.s. ’09, one of its five 2011–12 Jonas Scholars.
palliative care program, received the 2011 Pediatric Palliative Care Award from the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium.
Boston College presented Donald J. White Teaching Excellence Awards to doctoral student amanda lulloff , m.s. ’16, and sabra sullivan, m.s. ’13.
The American Journal of Nursing cited Community and Public Health Nursing: Evidence for Practice, co-edited by Associate Professor rosanna demarco , as one of the notable community and public health books of 2011.
kate maher, m.s. ’12, worked with the Concord-
m. katherine hutchinson joined the Connell School as associate dean for graduate programs and associate professor. Associate Professor susan kelly-weeder was elected to the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties board of directors. The Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council named Assistant Professor natalie mcclain to the Committee on Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States. Fellows of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners awarded Associate Professor joyce pulcini the Giving Circle Humanitarian Award. Nursing Science Quarterly honored the work of Professor and Nurse Theorist sr. callista roy with an entire issue dedicated to the Roy Adaptation Model. Associate Professor judith shindul-rothschild contributed a chapter on collective bargaining to Policy & Politics in Nursing and Health Care, a 2011 American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year. The American Psychiatric Nurses Association awarded Associate Dean barbara wolfe a Recognition of Service Certificate at the association’s 10th annual Clinical Psychopharmacology Institute. Assistant Professor lichuan ye received an Educational Projects Award from the American Sleep Medicine Foundation.
Students Ten students, alumni, and faculty from the Connell School’s Keys to Inclusive Leadership in Nursing program conducted a presentation on international student health care experiences at the biennial convention of Sigma Theta Tau International, the nursing honor society.
sandra dickson ’13 received the 2012 Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship, given annually to a Boston College junior who reflects King’s philosophy in his or her own life and work.
Carlisle High School athletic department to develop and implement an interim head injury management policy, a more comprehensive version of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association’s concussion and head trauma policy, at the school. Doctoral student anna paskausky, m.s. ’13, who participated in the Womensphere Emerging Leaders Global Summit, also wrote an opinion article exploring the role student nursing organizations play in developing political, policy, and professional skills, for nurse.com.
jennifer patey, m.s. ’13, is a 2012–13 Albert Schweitzer Fellow. Doctoral student eileen searle ’06, m.s. ’13, enacted the role of a Malawian Ministry of Health official in the Harvard University Aid for Health simulation at Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. Searle was one of 24 Boston-area graduate students who assumed the roles of government, U.N., and international non-governmental representatives in the event, which simulated a multi-party aid package negotiation in Malawi. Doctoral student allison walker, m.s. ’13, attended the Summer Genetics Institute of the National Institute of Nursing Research in Bethesda, Maryland.
Alumni moreen o. donahue ’68, senior vice president and chief nursing officer of the Western Connecticut Health Network in Danbury, and mairead hickey ’72, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, were inducted into the American Academy of Nursing. The New England Regional Black Nurses Association awarded kelly depina ’01, a staff nurse with the Intermediate Care Program at Children’s Hospital Boston, and tricia gordon ’06, m.s. ’13, a staff nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, each an Award for Excellence in Nursing Practice. jane tuitt ’97, clinical director of the Dorchester High School Health Center and a women’s health nurse practitioner at Codman Square Health Center, accepted the association’s Excellence in Education and Training Award.
connell school of nursing | year in review 2012
The Massachusetts Association of Registered Nurses honored the memory of helen fagan ’58 with its Excellence in Nursing Education Award. Fagan, longtime director of the St. Elizabeth’s Hospital School of Nursing, died in 2011. The association awarded its Mary A. Manning Nurse Mentoring Award to cecilia mcvey ’72, associate director for Nursing/Patient Services at the VA Boston Health Care System. The Massachusetts chapter of the March of Dimes presented heidi fantasia, m.s. ’97, ph.d. ’09, an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, with its Nurse of the Year Award in women’s health.
cathy rodgers ward, m.s. ’82, received NurseWeek Magazine’s 2011 National Nurse of the Year Award in the management category. Ward is director of nursing at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and assistant clinical professor at the UCLA School of Nursing.
lisa wolf, ph.d. ’11, was named an Academy of Emergency Nursing fellow. Wolf is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Nursing.
Events karen h. morin, president of Sigma Theta Tau International, the nursing honor society, gave the Connell School’s fall 2011 Pinnacle lecture, “Lessons Learned: Leadership in a Global World.” American Nurses Association President karen daley, m.s. ’04, ph.d. ’10, delivered the spring 2012 Pinnacle lecture, “Leading the Charge: A Nursing Agenda in the Age of Health Care Reform.” At CSON’s 2012 reunion, mairead hickey ’72, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, accepted the fourth annual Dean Rita P. Kelleher Award. terry fulmer, m.s. ’77, ph.d. ’83, dean of Northeastern University’s Bouvé College of Health Sciences, received the Alumni Association’s McInnes Professional Excellence Award. Boston College hosted the 2011 Pediatric Palliative Care Regional Conference. The Connell School of Nursing cosponsored the New England Regional Black Nurses Association’s 40th anniversary celebration.
Research The National Institute of Nursing Research named Connell School of Nursing Dean susan gennaro to its National Advisory Council for Nursing Research, the institute’s principal advisory board. Associate Professor rosanna demarco received the Clinical Nurse Specialist Researcher of the Year Award from the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists. DeMarco was named affiliate research fellow at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. Doctoral candidate rachel difazio, m.s. ’96, won the 2012 Eastern Nursing Research Society Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science Dissertation Award. Associate Professor katherine gregory received a Nurse of the Year Award from the Massachusetts March of Dimes in the nurse research category. The Massachusetts Association of Registered Nurses presented Gregory with its Excellence in Nursing Research Award. Assistant Professor allyssa harris’s research was published in the Journal of the The National Black Nurses Association and The Huffington Post. Nurse scientists from the Connell School of Nursing and Brigham and Women’s Hospital gathered for the second annual Haley Nursing Forum.
International projects and programs Boston College expanded its study abroad program in Ecuador to offer a clinical training component through which students may fulfill the Connell School’s community nursing requirement. The Institute for the Liberal Arts awarded a grant to Associate Professor rosanna demarco and Graduate School of Social Work Professor thanh tran to launch an interdisciplinary HIV prevention project in Vietnam. The professors led a group of six students to the Hopeful Voice clinic in Ho Chi Minh City. Associate Professor rosanna demarco; monica onyango, ph.d. ’10, clinical assistant professor at Boston University School of Public Health; and doctoral student eileen searle ’06, M.S. ’13, helped plan the inaugural Global Nursing Caucus Seminar at Boston University. sandra dickson ’13 and denice calub ’14 attended the event.
connell school of nursing | year in review 2012
By the numbers students 406 undergraduates 96 percent female 20 percent ahana 92 incoming freshmen 300 graduate students 36 doctoral students and candidates
degrees, programs, certificates b.s. m.s. m.s./ph.d. m.s./m.b.a. (joint degree program with the Carroll School of Management)
m.s./m.a. in Pastoral Ministry (joint degree program with the School of Theology and Ministry)
32 states and u.s. territories
Three routes of entry to master’s degree
3 countries
programs in advanced nursing practice
faculty 51 full time 71 part time 96 percent female
Two post-master’s certificates
clinical specialties Adult health Community health Family health
alumni
Forensic nursing
10,145 alumni
Gerontology
48 states and u.s. territories
Nurse anesthesia
7 countries
Palliative care, including pediatric palliative care Pediatric health Psychiatric mental health Women’s health
dean susan gennaro 617–552–1710 susan.gennaro@bc.edu cushing hall 140 commonwealth avenue chestnut hill, ma 02467 www.bc.edu/cson