william f. connell school of nursing william f. connell school of nursing YEAR IN REVIEW 2015–16
Dear Connell School community, I am pleased and proud to write to you at the end of our first year in Maloney Hall. We have settled in to an expansive new facility that gives us the space and equipment we need to educate our students and prepare twenty-first-century nurse leaders. These newfound resources have helped us expand opportunities for students and faculty who—as this overview of the last year makes clear—are actively engaged in furthering nursing research and practice. Four distinguished nurse researchers joined our faculty in 2015–16, bringing expertise and clinical experience in areas such as women’s and children’s health, post-trauma care, and weight management. An impressive number of Connell School faculty, students, and alumni received awards and grants that recognize outstanding research and practice, and members of our community presented at several prominent nursing conferences on topics including malaria prevention, nursing ethics, and veterans’ health care. Our students and faculty continue to embody the Connell School’s mission of fostering global exchange and understanding, taking part in global health programs in Chile, Switzerland, and Ecuador and service trips to Haiti, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. We have also begun the process of establishing a doctor of nursing practice program here at Boston College. As we look forward to another fruitful year, we will all continue to work to build what the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation calls a “culture of health,” in which all people have access to the resources and education they need to lead healthy lives. I am proud of what we have accomplished and excited about what lies ahead. Sincerely,
Susan Gennaro Dean www.bc.edu/cson2016
FA C U LT Y The Connell School of Nursing welcomed new faculty members Carol Marchetti, Alison Marshall, Jinhee Park, and Yaguang Zheng, who come with diverse clinical skills, teaching talents, and research interests that range from disease prevention to weight loss to the care of preterm infants. The American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children honored Professor Ann Wolbert Burgess with its 2015 Outstanding Professional Award, given each year to a society member who has made outstanding contributions to addressing child maltreatment. The Wounded Warrior Project awarded Burgess and Visiting Scholar Sue Sheehy ’69, Ph.D. ’10, funding for the Collegiate Athlete Warrior Initiative, a program that pairs veterans with Boston College student-athletes for workouts that are developed and overseen by a former Olympic trainer and workshops that emphasize nutrition, stress management, and wellness. Assistant Professor Joyce Edmonds received a Boston College Ignite Award—which provides pilot funding to spur initial research—to collect preliminary data on the link between individual labor-and-delivery nurses and mode-ofdelivery outcomes. Assistant Professor Holly Fontenot received the Women’s Health Research Award from the Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health for her project “Patterns of HPV Vaccination in a Sample of Urban Young Females.” She presented her findings at the organization’s October 2015 conference in Salt Lake City. Professor Dorothy Jones received a grant from Stand Up to Cancer. Along with colleagues from the Connell School, the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and Massachusetts General Hospital, she will develop three web-based certification for nursing education modules to prepare nurses to manage patient challenges when administering emerging immunotherapies to treat cancer.
Assistant Professor Jinhee Park received the Eastern Nursing Research Society’s inaugural Nursing Research Authorship Award for her paper “Factors Associated with Feeding Progression in Extremely Preterm Infants.” Park and Michael Naughton, the Ferris Professor and chairperson of the Physics Department, received one of the University’s Reach Across Departments awards for their project, “Development and Validation of the Infant Sucking Measurement System.” The Massachusetts chapter of the March of Dimes named Associate Professor Melissa Sutherland its 2015 Nurse of the Year in the category of Community and Public Health, recognizing her research on interpersonal violence and its influence on the health of adolescent girls and young women. The American Nurses Association invited Associate Professor Patricia Tabloski to serve on the Advisory Committee for its Palliative and Hospice Nursing Professional Issues Panel. Carroll Professor Judith A. Vessey, a leading expert on youth bullying and a senior scientist at Boston Children’s Hospital, is developing a screening tool called CABS—the Child-Adolescent Bullying Screen—a concise list of questions intended to help nurses and doctors detect adolescent bullying. The University of Indiana’s School of Nursing recognized Assistant Dean of Continuing Education Jean Weyman as a distinguished alumna at an award ceremony in April 2016. Assistant Professor Yaguang Zheng and colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh presented study findings at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology/Lifestyle 2016 Scientific Sessions in March 2016. The researchers found that people who regularly weigh themselves become more confident about managing their eating habits.
ALUMNI The American Academy of Nursing inducted four Connell School alumni into its ranks in October 2015: • Jeffrey Adams, Ph.D. ’08, nurse scientist, Massachusetts General Hospital • Ruth Palan Lopez ’82, Ph.D. ’04, professor of nursing and director of the Doctor of Nursing Practice Program, Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions • Victoria Niederhauser, M.S. ’86, dean and professor, University of Tennessee College of Nursing • Jacqueline Somerville ’80, Ph.D. ’09, senior vice president of Patient Care Services and chief nursing officer, Brigham and Women’s Hospital The Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses gave Heidi Collins Fantasia, M.S. ’97, Ph.D. ’09, the 2015 Award of Excellence in Research at its summer 2015 national conference. The PBS website Next Avenue named Jennie Chin Hansen ’70, Hon. ’08, to its first-ever “Influencers in Aging” list. Hansen served as president of AARP during the national health care debate and CEO of the American Geriatrics Society. In December 2015, the Boston Globe featured Deirdre Houtmeyers ’83, Woods College M.S. ’00, president and CEO of St. Mary’s Center in Dorchester, in a story about how the center helps impoverished women and children who have experienced trauma. Sara Looby, Ph.D. ’08, was one of six people Massachusetts General Hospital recognized with its 2016 Claflin Distinguished Scholars Award. Looby is an assistant professor of medicine at the hospital and a nurse scientist at its Munn Center for Nursing Research. MedStar Health awarded Marguerite Minshall ’13 a 2016 SuperStar Award.
MedStar Georgetown University Hospital named Colleen Nuzzolese ’11 its 2015 Associate of the Year. Barbara Wolfe, Ph.D. ’95, who served as the Connell School’s associate dean for research for 12 years, was named dean of the University of Rhode Island’s College of Nursing and a member of the URI Academic Health Collaborative Executive Oversight Committee.
STUDENTS The Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare named doctoral students Kim Pomerleau Angelini ’11; Erin Flaherty ’10, M.S. ’12; Pam Linzer ’95; and Aimee Milliken as Jonas Nurse Leader Scholars for their research on veterans’ health care needs. Renee Bichette ’17, a member of Boston College’s fencing team, placed seventh in the NCAA fencing championship. Ph.D. students Meredith Kells ’05, M.S. ’07, and Aimee Milliken represented the Connell School at the Eastern Nursing Research Society’s doctoral student research poster exhibit and competition. Kells’s poster was titled “Nasogastric Tube Feeding for Individuals Diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa: Effective Intervention or Short-term Fix?” and Milliken’s was titled “It Just Took the Pressure Off: Experiences of Caregivers in the Veteran-directed Homeand Community-based Services Program (VD-HCBS).” Carolina Lopes, M.S. ’16, is one of 10 students selected by Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health (NPWH) for its Student Reporter Program. In October 2015, Lopes— a homecare nurse case manager—attended NPWH’s annual conference. Adult Oncology Nurse Practitioner and Ph.D. student Debra Manning Lundquist ’85 received a scholarship from the Oncology Nursing Society. Ph.D. student Aimee Milliken was one of four finalists in the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities’ student paper award competition. She presented her paper, “Nurse Ethical Sensitivity: An Integrated Review,” at the society’s annual meeting in October 2015.
Chiamaka Okorie ’17 was awarded Boston College’s 2016 Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Scholarship, which is presented annually to a junior who has demonstrated superior academic achievement, extracurricular leadership, community service, and involvement with the AfricanAmerican community and African-American issues. Okorie also received the University’s Amanda V. Houston Traveling Fellowship to travel to Ghana, where she gathered evidence for an independent research project, “Perceived Susceptibility to Malaria: An Evaluation of Bed Net Usage of Ghanaian Mothers and Children under Five.” In October 2015, she presented this research at the fifth annual International Conference on Child Rights and Sight at Yale University. The Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center awarded Ph.D. student Kathryn Post, M.S. ’07, the Peggy Lou Chaffin Fellowship for Advanced Practice Nursing in Oncology.
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS For the first time since its 2010 launch, the Connell School’s Comparative Global Health Care course was held in Chile. In January 2016, Pontificia Universidad Católica hosted American, Swiss, and Chilean students in Santiago for the course. The course is alternately held in Boston and Lausanne, Switzerland, and 15 students went to Switzerland in May–June 2016. Eight undergraduates and two graduate students traveled to the Dominican Republic this year to provide community health care education. Clinical Instructor Rosemary Byrne taught Global Health Perspectives, a month-long program in Quito, Ecuador, in May 2016. Two of the eight Boston College students in the University-wide program, offered through the Office of International Programs, were from the nursing program. Three students went on an annual Order of Malta pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, with members of the order, physicians, nurses, and clergy. In January 2016, Clinical Assistant Professor Donna Cullinan traveled to Léogâne, Haiti, with 18 undergraduate and
graduate students to administer care to patients in mobile clinics and orphanages. In March 2016, eight undergraduates, three graduate students, and three faculty members went to Nicaragua on the 10th anniversary of the program.
EVENTS In recognition of her accomplishments as a nursing leader, Cecilia McVey ’72 received the seventh Dean Rita P. Kelleher Award at the Connell School’s annual reunion in June 2015. The event also marked CSON’s opening in its new location in Maloney Hall. Margaret Grey, Yale School of Nursing’s Annie W. Goodrich Professor, delivered the fall 2015 Pinnacle Lecture. Grey, a pediatric nurse practitioner and diabetes expert, discussed the hurdles that families face when self-managing chronic conditions and the resources available to them. In March 2016, CSON’s Keys to Inclusive Leadership in Nursing program held an alumni panel and networking night. Terry Bustos ’13, Cindy Cao ’14, Jennifer Etienne ’12, Sang Mi Jeon ’15, Andrea Lopez ’14, and Malika Weekes ’13 discussed their career paths and met with students one-on-one. Perinatal Clinical Nurse Specialist Kathleen Rice Simpson, editor-in-chief of MCN: The American Journal of Maternal/ Child Nursing, delivered the spring 2016 Pinnacle Lecture. Simpson spoke about her research on nurse staffing and nursing care missed during labor and birth.
PHILANTHROPIC GIFTS The Coca-Cola Company and Foundation awarded $100,000 to the Connell School’s Keys to Inclusive Leadership in Nursing program, which prepares nurse leaders to work in a multicultural society. The grant supports oneyear stipends and costs associated with presenting at and attending professional conferences, meetings and workshops, and course reviews for nursing licensure exams for 55 nursing students.
RESEARCH GRANTS Associate Professors Marie Boltz and Jane Flanagan were awarded a grant for their project “Post-Acute Outcomes in Nursing Home Residents with Dementia” by the Donaghue Foundation, which supports research that improves quality of care in nursing homes. Associate Professor Jane Flanagan received a research grant from the American Holistic Nurses Association for her project “Bringing Yoga Home: Exploring the Use of a Web-based Yoga Intervention for Breast Cancer Survivors.”
Assistant Professor Jinhee Park received a Boston College Research Incentive Grant for “Assessment of Psychometric Properties of the Child Oral and Motor Proficiency Scale.” Associate Professor Melissa Sutherland received a Fulbright Scholar Award to fund her teaching and research at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in spring 2017. Associate Professor Lichuan Ye was awarded funding from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality—a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services—for her two-year project “A Sleep Promotion Tool Kit for Hospitalized Patients.”
BY THE NUMBERS 2015–16 Students
Faculty
411 undergraduates
53 full time
94 percent female
78 part time
36 percent AHANA*
91 percent female
97 incoming freshmen 235 master’s students
Alumni
23 Ph.D. students and candidates
9,904 alumni
29 US states and territories
54 US states and territories
2 countries
21 countries
* Individuals of African, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American descent
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ABOUT THE CONNELL SCHOOL OF NURSING degrees, programs, and certificates
advanced practice nursing specialties
b.s.
Adult-gerontology primary care
m.s.
Family health
Three routes of entry to master’s degree programs in advanced practice nursing: traditional, accelerated, and rn to m.s.
Nurse anesthesia
m.s./m.a. in Pastoral Ministry (joint degree program
Psychiatric/mental health
with the School of Theology and Ministry)
Pediatric primary care
Women’s health
m.s./m.b.a . (joint degree program with the Carroll School of Management)
ph.d. Specialty electives in forensic nursing and palliative care
CSON 2016 20725792
m.s./ph.d.