Summer is here! As we close out another academic year it is a time to celebrate. We celebrate our learners with project presentations, awards and commencement, a wonderful time at the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing. I always say it’s one of my favorite time of the year.
It’s also a time to celebrate and energize faculty, whether you are teaching summer courses or looking towards the fall semester. It’s time to take stock of the many accomplishments of our faculty and learners at the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing.
Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletters. I hope you find each one informative and enjoy reading them as much as I have enjoyed putting them together.
Sue Collette Senior Educational Program Specialist
Appreciative Reflection of the Day
“Rather than living every day as if it’s my last, I’ve shifted to living every day as if its my first. I want to wake up and meet the day with the wonder of a newborn, to cultivate childlike qualities like curiosity and play.” Suleika Jaquad
Class speakers ready to address UMass Chan’s 51st Commencement
Medical student Jesse Sardell, MD/PhD student Julie Hugunin, and nursing PhD student Jennifer Costa, RN, APRN, PPCNP-BC, will serve as class speakers for their respective schools at UMass Chan Medical School’s 51st Commencement on Sunday, June 2.
Read about the three class speakers, who all grew up in Massachusetts and, coincidentally, are entering the field of pediatrics. https://bit.ly/3W2unYF
l to r: Max Quinn, Diane Brescia, Kim Kramer and Sierra Perez. Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing Office of Admissions dream team on commencement day. As the class of 2024 graduates, we look forward to welcoming a new cohort this Fall.
Pictured l to r: Holly Dube, Jen Costa GSN class speaker and Sam Dube. Holly Dube “Today we witnessed Jen Spencer Costa graduate with her PhD from UMass Chan Medical School. Listening to her speak brought back so many memories & reminded me of what an incredibly amazing person she is. We met Jen 6 years ago when Sammy was diagnosed…she was her NP. She was such a light during that dark time. I will never forget her kind demeanor and how she would explain the “foreign language” to us & I will forever be grateful for that ! Anyone who crosses paths with Jen will truly be fortunate…best wishes with your future endeavors.”
Sam Dube “Jen Spencer Costa you’re such an amazing person and such a light. I’m so proud of you and I can’t wait to see what you continue to do!! Thank you for everything during my treatment journey!”
Graduating UMass Chan Medical School students from underrepresented groups received Kente and multicultural stoles to wear at Commencement during the Deborah Harmon Hines, PhD, Commencement Celebration: https://direc.to/kLcv
Dr. Hines is credited with developing and nurturing the Medical School’s renowned pipeline programs.
2024 Graduation Celebration of Awards
Graduating nursing students Johnny Isenberger, RN, MSN, ACNP-BC, CCRN, and Jennifer Costa, RN, APRN, PPCNP-BC, received top awards during the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing 2024 Celebration of Awards: https://direc.to/kMEa
2024 Alumni Dinner and Awards
2024 Alumni Dinner and Awards
More than 200 alumni returned to UMass Chan Medical School on May 4 for Reunion 2024. https://bit.ly/4d1DD6l
Faculty Spotlight
Drs. Alex Menard and Dawn Carpenter presented their PowerPoint on “Mass Shooting and ICU Nurse: from Bystander to Bedside” at the American Association of Critical Care Nurses Conference in Denver in May.
Alex and Dawn were also featured authors for Springer Publishing
Mary Antonelli, PhD, RN, Amanda Ford, MSN, and Diane Regan MSN, NEA-BC with Congressman James McGovern’s legislative aide Bella Edo.
Mary Antonelli, PhD, RN along with professional colleagues from Massachusetts participated in the American Organization of Nurse Leaders sponsored Advocacy Day in Washington DC on June 3rd & 4th . They advocated for legislation addressing work place violence, nursing faculty hiring and retention, and patient safe staffing. Two hundred and thirty nurses attended the day from across the United States to meet with their Senators and Representatives.
Andrea Delaney and Ricardo Poza presented a session on May 21st called ChatGPTin NursingandMedicalEducation:What’sAlltheBuzzAbout?as part of the Office of Faculty Development’s Advance Faculty Development series. The presentation explored ChatGPT and its potential for use in nursing and medical education, including case-based learning, virtual patient interactions, and personalized tutoring and feedback. The session was well-attended and included participants from all three schools. There was enough interest in the topic that Andrea and Ricardo will be meeting with Emily Green, Associate Vice Provost of Professional Development, in June to discuss additional programming on the topic of generative AI. Andrea and Ricardo have also been invited to participate in a UMass Chan Interprofessional Working Group for Development and Implementation of VR and AI for Engaged Learning.
Sierra Perez, Assistant Director of Student Recruitment, Equity & Success was leading the way in representing the UMass Chan Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing for our new admission cycle at the Organization of Nurse Leaders annual regional conference in Rhode Island, June 13 and 14th; over 330 nursing leaders attended from across VT, RI, MA and CT. Many members stopped by the booth to hear about our programs and the school.
Drs. Amanda Corine and Rita Amoah, both Assistant Professors in the GEP program, graduated from the Junior Faculty Development Program Thursday May 16.
Amanda Cornine, PhD, RN “Outcomes of post-exam reviews in a pre-licensure nursing program” Mentor: Jill Zitzewitz, PhD
Rita Amoah, PhD, RN “The ubiety in nursing practice scale: Initial development and primary psychometric validation” Mentor: Chengwu Yang, MD, PhD, MS
Dr. Terri Aronowitz, Associate Dean of Research & Innovation was presented the Clifford B. Reifler Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Journal of American College Health (JACH), the flagship journal of the American College Health Association (ACHA) at the ACHA 2024 annual meeting in Atlanta.
Dr. Aronowitz also received a secondary appointment as Professor in the Department of Population & Quantitative Health Sciences.
Drs. Dani Hebert, Alex Menard, Amanda Cornine, Jill Terrien presented posted at the Health Education Academy for Leadership and Learning (HEALL) 1st annual Education Day June 13.
Education Day is a place to present and discuss the novel educational work that is taking place at UMass Chan that can enhance our school's reputation, but also foster collaboration within our educational community.
Dr. Maureen Wassef, Associate Professor presented “CompetencyBased Education...If we just ignore it, will it go away?” at the HEALL Education Grand Rounds May 14.
Watch Here: Watch Zoom Passcode: $0&M^q4kin
Congratulations Drs. Dani Hebert and Amanda Cornine on becoming AY 2024 HEALL Fellows.
Drs. Jill Terrien, Dawn Carpenter, Johnny Isenberger and Pat White, Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing faculty attended the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) 2024 National Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. This conferences provides expert faculty presentations of current, practical, clinically oriented and evidence-based practice information that considers the roles of all NPs, addresses a diversity of topics and presenters and reflects the diversity of the NP community and of the patients they serve.
Dr. Shari Harding, Associate Professor co-presented with Dr. Petreca from Boston College on Benzodiazepines:Understandinguse,misuse,andsocietalimpactfor the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health Annual Forensic Conference in early June. They have already received positive feedback from the DMH forensic leadership team that our information has helped clinicians in managing individuals' clinical and legal concerns related to benzodiazepine use and misuse.
Dr. Priscilla Gazarian, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs along with co-authors Amy Bulger, RN, MPH, GERO-BC, Amanda Reich, PhD, MPH, Lisa Wichmann, RN, MS, ACM, NC-BC, Dr. Tamryn Gray, PhD, RN, Simone P. Rinaldi, MSN, ANP-BC, ACHPN, Seiko Izumi, PhD, RN, FPCN and Rachelle Bernacki, MD, MS received the highest score from reviewers and received the IRGNI Top Scoring Abstract Award from the Interdisciplinary Research Group on Nursing Issues (IRGNI) for their abstract “Nurse-led Serious Illness Conversations Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights from Nurses and Equity Perspectives”.
This award recognizes an outstanding paper in health services research relevant to nursing practice, workforce, and education and will be given out at the preconference during the 2024 Annual Research Meeting June 29 in Baltimore, MD.
We are happy to see Dr. Danielle Hebert and Dr. Shari Harding were in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) News Watch weekly digest. The AANC News Watch goes out to all their members.
In the March/April 2024 JournalofProfessionalNursing, Dr. Danielle Hebert and Dr. Shari Harding from the school of nursing at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, explore Transitioning from a Doctor of Nursing Practice Clinical Role to Academic Scholar. As the number of DNP-prepared faculty increases, support for the successful transition to academia, including scholarly productivity, is essential to retention, especially as nurse faculty shortages persist. The authors call for more resources and mentoring to help DNP-prepared nurses thrive in a teaching role, including support for developing and disseminating scholarship and meeting the requirements of promotion.
Dean Joan Vitello spoke at a conference in South Korea at 3:45 am the morning of May 10 and had to set her alarm for 3 am to get ready. She spoke about our Masters Program and also about our Interprofessional activities in the DNP program.
Drs. Donna Perry and Sybil Crawford, PhD faculty along with Jill Mackin, Jesse Averka, & David Smelson had their article “The feasibility of wildlife immersion experiences for Veterans with PTSD” in Frontiers in Veterinary Science. Read full article here: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/ articles/10.3389/fvets.2024.1290668/full
Student Spotlight
DNP 3 Psych Mental Health student, Joe Tulip, will be presenting at the International Society of Psychiatric Nursing (ISPN) Northeast Regional meeting on September 11 on his DNP project on Psychological First Aid training with healthcare workers in the Dominican Republic with a population focus on people in bateyes (migrant sugarcane worker camps).
Rachel Murumba and Rachel Odillia, 2024 DNP Graduates presented their poster “American Diabetes Association Guideline Adherence and Evaluation of Social Determinants of Health at a Nurse-Practitioner Owned Primary Care Practice” at the AANP conference in Nashville TN.
DNP Year 1 student Cynthia Pierre (Delmas) have opened New England Regional Healthcare and Wellness with her husband on Harvard Street in Worcester. Read the whole story in the Telegram and Gazette: https://bit.ly/3L7VtZi
Cynthia is also featured in Worcester Magazine as one of the power of 10: Worcester-area students, grads active as community volunteers. Read here: https:// bit.ly/3xOxECH
Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing students presented their posters at the Eastern Nursing Research Society (ENRS) 36th Annual Scientific Sessions at the Boston Park Plaza April 4-5.
The newly elected UMass Chan Medical School student representative on the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees, Elizabeth Osa-Agbontaen, RN, lists community and unity as her biggest priorities. Her goal for her new role is to encourage students’ academic and personal growth. She’s also working to establish partnerships with Worcester-area colleges, enabling undergraduate students to shadow UMass Chan students. Learn about Osa-Agbontaen’s path to nursing. https://bit.ly/3Y1LqwK
Year 2 student.
They all attended the American Nurses Association (ANA) 2024 Hill Day in Washington DC at the end of June. Hill day is a unique opportunity to meet with legislators, other ANA members from across the country and ANA staff.
This is a great opportunity for legislators to hear from nurses to truly understand the day-to-day struggles and triumphs of being a nurse. There is nothing more impactful than sharing stories face to face with Members of Congress and their staff.
Caitlin Healy, MSN, RN, PhD student had an article published. Healy, C. (2024). Selfappropriation in nurse engagement: Facilitating the development of expert nurses using Benner and Lonergan. NursingPhilosophy,25:312480. Read the whole article here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nup.12480
First picture left to right: Elizabeth DelSignore, PhD Student; Elizabeth OsaAgbontaen, DNP year 1 student; Anita Tran, DNP 2 Student; Basirat Quadry, DNP Year 2 student; Connor Saleeba, DNP
Israh Abdeljaber DNP Year 2, Joshan Niroula DNP recent graduate and Ariane Michelson (medical student) at the teddy bear clinic, where they helped children learn about making vaccines hurt less in a fun and engaging way by "vaccinating" their stuffed animals. They represented the Epworth Free Medical Program's Vaccine Clinic in Worcester MA, which is completely student run health clinic in the Worcester area. It was a rewarding opportunity to give back to the community and support children's well-being.
Elizabeth Terhune, PhD Student attended the Dysphagia Research Society annual meeting held in Puerto Rico (in March, but we forgot to send it in, I think, for you for last newsletter). One of two nursing researchers and only APRN representing at this major multidisciplinary conference with researchers from across the globe. Participated in the trainee advisory council mentorship program.
Beth was also named one of the AANP's 2024 scholarship award recipients.
Eugenia Trammell Goldsby, RN, is graduated this June from the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing’s Post Master’s Doctor of Nursing
Practice program, aiming to apply her knowledge on the floor as a nurse manager in the transplant unit at UMass Memorial Medical Center. Learn about her first leadership position and the program she piloted at UMass Memorial to put Black nurses on the path to leadership roles. https://bit.ly/4cDUw7l
A picture from the last day of our Nursing Science Immersion class for the PhD program, taught by Teri with our guest co-instructor, Dr. Ijeoma Julie Eche-Ugwu, from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing learners took part in a skills day, where they learned a variety of skills including incision and drainage of abscesses.
Edith Kabuga is graduating in August for the Psych Mental Health NP Program, she received the Advocacy and Innovation award May 30.
Edith couldn’t make the award ceremony but wanted us to know she received her award certificate. She said “I am very humbled to have been selected and am feeling even more encouraged, determined and inspired in this work I love to do. Thank you and thanks to the entire faculty and the university as a whole for the work that is being done, especially educating us and making us better out there in the field.”
Alumni Spotlight
Kasia Dodman, class of 2014 owns and operates EA Medical Aesthetics, a medical day spa in Worcester specializing in facials, fillers and lasers.
Read her story in the Worcester Business Journal: https:// bit.ly/3RRdvCX
Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing Alumni Dr. Christine Tuohy (Family Nurse Practitioner) and Dr. Kathryn Liziewski (Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner) along with Dr. Pat White, Associate Professor and Dr. Wendy Wright, Adult/Family Nurse Practitioner had their article “Evaluating adherence to American Diabetes Association standards of care in diabetes and impacts of social determinants of health on patients at two nurse practitioner–owned clinics” in the Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Read the whole article here: https://oce-ovid-com.umassmed.idm.oclc.org/article/01741002-20240700000008/HTML.
Dr. Shawna Steadman palliative care nurse practitioner at UMass Memorial Medical Center and assistant professor at Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing was invited to present her DNP project at the Annual Assembly AAHPM in Phoenix AZ, and it also won an award!
At her presentation, Dr. Erik Fromme (Ariadne Labs) was there and loved her project. Shawna was invited to speak with the rest of the Ariadne Labs group. The webinar from the Serious Illness Care Community at Ariadne Labs will be held May 21. Shawna and her team took a unique approach to implementing the Serious Illness Care Program - they didn't use Guide training! Instead, they focused on EHR nudges and other implementation strategies to effectively modify provider behavior and spark serious illness conversations. Their innovative approach is compelling especially for health systems that lack time and resources to conduct training, but seek to implement SICP and increase serious illness conversations.
Sue Collette, Senior Educational Program Specialist completed the HR mentoring program and displaying her poster at the cohort 6 Celebration Event.
This program helps mentees who aspire to grow in their career, they are matched with a UMass Chan employee who demonstrates the skills and expertise to mentor others. The 6-month professional and personal development journey includes one -on-one mentoring, guest speakers, and monthly networking opportunities.
Sierra Perez, Assistant Director of Student Recruitment, Equity & Success presented with Alex Cole, Ed.D at NEGAP, the New England Association for Graduate Enrollment Management on finding career niches! Finding the right career in higher education is challenging, but there IS a right place for your skills and talents. Through self advocacy, mentorship/networking, and exploring new needs in your institutionyou can find what makes you shine in Graduate Enrollment Management.
We would say Sierra has really found her niche in the Admissions Department at the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing. She has been busy tabling at conferences across Massachusetts to talk about our programs. I’ve seen her all over campus giving lots of school tours to prospective and newly admitted students, because of that enrollment is up. She also uses her wonderful skills and talents to help promote the school and our programs through social media and our website.
As part of the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing Grant, The New England Nursing Clinical Faculty and Preceptor Academy offered a training for nurses interested in being effective preceptors.
Participates came together at the New England Botanical Garden at Tower Hill to learned how to reinforce skills for precepting nursing students, to implement strategies for intentional teaching in clinical settings, recognize and address challenging clinical situations/scenarios with learners, and to model wellness and work/life balance strategies for their learners.
Recipe of the Month
35 Summer Pasta Recipes That Make the Most of Your Farmers Market Haul: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/35-summer-pasta-recipesmost-120000070.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
The Juiciest Hamburgers Ever
Ingredients
• 1 pound ground beef
• ½ cup beer
• ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon onion salt
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
Directions
• Shape the ground beef into three patties. Place the patties in a shallow dish.
• Combine the beer, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion salt, and pepper. Pour the marinade over the burgers. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Flip the burgers over and marinate for an additional 15 minutes.
• Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat, and lightly oil the grate.
• Place the patties on the hot grill and cook for 2 minutes before flipping them over. Cook the burgers to the desired degree of doneness, about 5 minutes per side for well done. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 160 degrees F.
Tell us something new and exciting!
• Event promotions
• Kudos and recognition
• Scholarship presentations and publications
• Recipe of the month
• Alumni updates
• Student announcements
For the Sept/Oct 2024 newsletter have your submissions in by Oct 25.
Send in your submissions today to susan.collette@umassmed.edu.
