Get your DNP or PhD degree from one of the nation’s top programs at the UIC College of Nursing.
#1 TOP PUBLIC DNP PROGRAM IN ILLINOIS Ready for the next step? Make it your best step.
Karie E. Stewart, MS ’17, CNM, FACNM Certified Nurse-Midwife at UI Health Founder of Melanated Midwives Co-PI on $7M Melanated Group Midwifery Care Study
Vice President of ACNM Illinois State Affiliate Current UIC Nursing PhD student
#11
RANK AMONG 84 U.S. NURSING SCHOOLS FOR NIH FUNDING
10
NUMBER OF UIC NURSING FACULTY INDUCTED INTO THE SIGMA INTERNATIONAL NURSE RESEARCHER HALL OF FAME
Barbara McFarlin is a storyteller
The latest tale is the best yet for the 2024 UIC Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award winner.
Painless proposition
Introducing the nurse anesthesia program: Q&A with the program director and all the details on Christine Schwartz’s lead gift.
Full of remote possibilities
The No. 3-ranked online RN to BSN program has quietly become the biggest at the college.
The road
traveled Catch a ride on the mobile health unit that’s bringing health care to rural parts of the state.
(above) Alumni and friends hold up UIC Nursing window clings at a reception in Bangkok on Sept. 2. (below, l-r) UIC Nursing PhD student
THANAKRIT
JEAMJITVIBOOL, Dean Eileen Collins, associate dean Rohan Jeremiah, and CHERDSAK
DUANGCHAN, PhD ’23, at the reception.
On a two-week tour to Thailand and South Korea with associate dean for global health ROHAN JEREMIAH, PhD, MPH, we brought a suitcase filled with UIC College of Nursing items to hand out to our alumni and gracious hosts.
The gregarious group of around 20 alumni who gathered at The Peninsula Bangkok hotel for a reception on Sept. 2 could not have been more thrilled with the UIC College of Nursing window clings we gave them. It tickled me to think of the cars that would now be maneuvering through Bangkok traffic representing our college, half a world away from Illinois.
The pride in being UIC Nursing alumni was a theme that resonated across the entire trip, as was the high esteem in which we are held in the region. We currently have four alumni who are deans or directors of schools of nursing in the two countries, and many more on faculty or in leadership positions. It was wonderful to hear them reflect exuberantly on the training and experiences they had at UIC, a message they’re spreading to their colleagues and students.
As we think about our position as a leader in nursing education—not just abroad, but at home, as well—we remain committed to meeting the health care needs in our community.
I’m excited to announce in this issue the launch of our nurse anesthesia program, which is in direct response to a strong need for more anesthesia providers. I want to particularly thank the leadership of alumna CHRISTINE SCHWARTZ, BSN ’70, whose landmark $10 million gift is the largest the college has ever received, and more importantly, ensures that this program will provide our students with the tools they need to learn this specialty.
The following pages are filled with stories of our accomplishments over the last year and new ventures that we’re embarking on—dozens of reasons every friend and alumnus of UIC Nursing can feel very proud.
Eileen Collins, PhD, RN, FAAN, ATSF Professor and Dean UIC College of Nursing
How do you stand out from some 350 graduates wearing the same standardissue regalia?
For many 2024 graduates, the answer was using their mortarboard as a blank canvas. They personalized their caps with expressions of excitement, humor and optimism for the future. The May 2 commencement ceremony at UIC’s Credit Union 1 Arena also featured keynote speaker SUSAN Y. SWART, EdD, MSN ’05, RN, CAE, executive director of ANA-IL, the Illinois Nurses Foundation and the Illinois Society for Advanced Practice Nursing.
Oh receives UIC’s top alumni honor
EUI GEUM OH, PhD ’99, was awarded the UIC Alumni Association’s Alumni Achievement Award, the highest honor bestowed by the organization. Oh is the immediate past dean of the College of Nursing at Seoul’s Yonsei University, the No. 1 ranked nursing program in Korea.
Nurse-midwifery program director
PAMELA PEARSON, DNP ’18, CNM, FACNM, was appointed to the Illinois Board of Nursing in January for a two-year term.
During her doctoral studies at UIC Nursing, Oh focused on improving the quality of life for patients with respiratory illnesses. Oh says she benefited from mentorship from renowned nurse scholars like JANET LARSON, PhD ’85, professor emerita CAROL FERRANS, PhD ’85, MS ’82, and dean emerita MI JA KIM. She continues to focus on mentorship in her career.
“They instilled in me the importance of leadership in research and administration and demonstrated how nurse researchers can significantly impact the health care industry,” says Oh.
After graduating in 1999, Oh moved to Korea, where she has transformed nursing science and education for two decades. She published more than 160 journal papers, secured more than $3 million in research grants from the Korean government and earned recognition as the Best Nurse Scientist from the Korean Academy of Nursing Science. Oh also founded the Korean Center of JBI, bolstering evidence-based research and professional training for health care professionals.
“My passion project for the nursing profession is to advocate for entrepreneurial endeavors and to leverage cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence and big data, to advance health care,” Oh says. “Nurses play a crucial role in integrating these innovations to improve patient outcomes and to streamline health care delivery, and new ideas and technologies enhance patient care and elevate the nursing profession.”
2024 U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT RANKINGS
13th
Bachelor of Science in Nursing
3rd
Online RN to BSN
19th
Master of Science in Nursing
14th Doctor of Nursing Practice
6th
Adult/Gero NP - Primary Care DNP program
16th
Nurse-Midwifery DNP program
(l-r) Assistant professors
DAWN SARGINSON PhD, RN, CNE, PAMELA SMITH, DNP ’22, BSN ’06, RNC-OB, and AMY JOHNSON, PhD ’18, RN, and were selected as Nurse Educator Fellows by the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
(l-r) UIC Chancellor Marie Lynn Miranda presents the university’s Alumni Achievement Award to Eui Geum Oh.
FAAN-ing the Flames
UIC College of Nursing associate dean for academic affairs LIZ AQUINO, PhD ’13, RN, and assistant professor HONGJIN LI, PhD, RN, were inducted into the American Academy of Nursing as part of the 2024 class of new fellows.
Aquino has been a registered nurse for more than 15 years with clinical experience in surgical-trauma intensive care nursing. She serves as a voice for nurses on local and national boards, including as past president of the Illinois chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses and former president of the American Nurses Association-Illinois. She founded Nurses Running for Elected Office, a program within ANA-Illinois, which provides training and resources for RNs who want to seek office.
Li completed her postdoc at UIC Nursing in 2021 before becoming an assistant professor. She is the principal investigator on an NIH-funded study examining the use of acupuncture to manage breast cancer symptoms in patients in Federally Qualified Health Center oncology clinics. She also is co-investigator on a CDC-funded grant focused on reducing disparities in survival and quality of life due to race, ethnicity and other social determinants of health among breast cancer survivors in Chicago.
Seven UIC Nursing alumni join Aquino and Li in the 2024 class of fellows: ANEY ABRAHAM, DNP ’18, RN, NE-BC; ALISON HERNANDEZ (deferred from 2023), PhD ’18, RN; JULIE HOFF, PhD ’99, MSN ’93, RN, CENP; CYNTHIA M. LAFOND, PhD ’13, RN, CCRN-K; JENNY O’ROURKE, PhD ’12, MSN ’01, APRN, CHSE; BEENA S. PETERS, DNP ’17, MSN ’94, RN, FACHE, FABC; KEESHA L. POWELL-ROACH, PhD ’18, RN.
Welcome, freshmen
In fall 2025, UIC Nursing will welcome its first class of freshmen straight from high school.
For decades, undergraduate students transferred into the nursing program after completing at least 57 credit hours in another UIC college or at another four-year or two-year college.
The advantages of freshman-level entry are numerous. Students admitted as freshmen will immediately be assigned a College of Nursing advisor who can guide them on required and recommended courses as well as answer other college-specific questions. Also, students who plan to attend UIC all four years anyway will apply only once, as freshmen. Then, assuming they stay in good academic standing, they will seamlessly soon as the second semester competitive with other nursing colleges that already offer freshmen
At the Midwest Nursing Research Society’s 48th annual Research Conference, associate professor ANNE FINK, PhD ’11, MS ’08, RN, CNE, FAHA, received the Distinguished Service Award; associate professor JUDITH SCHLAEGER, PhD, MS ’88, BSN ’80, CNM, LAc, FACNM, FAAN, received the Distinguished Researcher Award from the Symptom Science RIIG; and associate professor KRISTA JONES, DNP ’11, MS ’07, RN, PHNA-BC, FAAN, received the Mid-Career Investigator Award from the Nursing Education RIIG.
professor REBECCA SINGER, DNP ’18, RN, was selected to receive the University of Colorado College of Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award.
Clinical associate professor CATHERINE YONKAITIS, DNP ’17, RN, NCSN, PHNA-BC, was inducted into the National Academy of School Nursing.
Associate professor KATIE VANDERZWAN, DNP ’17, MS ’06, APRN-BC, CHSE, is a 2024 recipient of UIC’s Teaching Recognition Program.
Associate
Schwartz Lab hosts Caribbean nurses
A group of nursing professionals from the Caribbean spent five days in UIC Nursing’s M. Christine Schwartz Experiential Learning & Simulation Lab in July, participating in a workshop focused on five of the 10 Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best Practice®.
The nursing faculty hailed from Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize and St. Kitts and Nevis, all members of the Caribbean Nurses Organization.
Spotlight on the arts
More than 25 UIC Nursing faculty, staff, students and alumni showcased their artistic side at an inaugural Arts Celebration in April on the Chicago campus. The showcase included photography, sculpture, paintings, ceramics, textiles, performance and writing. The show was organized and curated by GERALDINE GORMAN, PhD, RN, the Kathleen M. Irwin Endowed Clinical Chair in Outstanding Nursing Practice, and master’s degree students ANJALI PINTO, ANTOINETTE ROSA and AUDREY ELLIS.
Assistant professor MITCH KORDZIKOWSKI, DNP ’21, MS ’17, was named to the Illinois Nurses Foundation’s list of 40 under 40 Emerging Nurse Leaders. DNP students IRINA EVANS and CRISTINA PABON and alumnus KRZYSZTOF GARBARZ, BSN ’10, were also selected.
The seed for this workshop was planted in 2023, when more than 50 nurse leaders from CARICOM, an organization of 15 Caribbean nations, came to UIC for a two-day workshop on expanding the roles of Caribbean nurses in Primary Health Care. Those visitors toured UIC Nursing’s state-of-the-art Schwartz Lab, which sparked the idea for an event at UIC focused on simulation training.
KATIE VANDERZWAN, DNP ’17, MS ’06, APRN-BC, CHSE, who led the weeklong workshop as director of the Schwartz Lab, says UIC Nursing was uniquely positioned to host this workshop thanks to the college’s role as a WHO Collaborating Centre and the “expert work of our Global Health Leadership Office in fostering our international reputation.”
Associate professor MARY DAWN KOENIG, PhD, RN, FACNM, and alumna SHERRI MENDELSON, PhD, MS ’84, BSN ’77, were inducted as fellows of the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses. Koenig was also named director of the UIC College of Nursing PhD Program and received the Excellence in Teaching Award from the American College of Nurse Midwives.
Associate dean for global health ROHAN JEREMIAH, PhD, MPH, was selected as one of the University of Illinois System’s 2024-25 President’s Executive Leadership Program (PELP) Fellows.
(top left) A classroom corridor was lined with art. (top right) Associate professor Rebecca Singer displays her photography. (bottom) Geraldine Gorman, left, with Anjali Pinto.
BIGGEST YEAR YET
Student enrollment at the UIC College of Nursing across all campuses and programs increased by 10% in fall 2024 compared to fall 2023, making it the largest group of students educated at UIC Nursing in college history.
“This growth is a testament to our strategic recruitment efforts and our commitment to expanding access to nursing education across the state,” says SEAN BOETTCHER, UIC Nursing director of enrollment strategy.
TOTAL 1,810
TRADITIONAL BSN
Addressing racism through virtual reality
Could virtual reality be used to address racism in nursing?
That’s the goal of a new project at UIC Nursing: to create virtual-reality simulations that will deliver diversity, equity and inclusion training to nursing students and faculty.
The $20,000 in funding was provided by the American Nurses Association’s National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing. It was one of 10 projects selected from more than 130 submissions.
Clinical assistant professor PAIGE RICCA, DNP ’17, RN, and ROSALBA HERNANDEZ, PhD, associate dean for equity and inclusion, are leading the project. Schwartz Lab director KATIE VANDERZWAN, DNP ’17, MS ’06, APRN-BC, CHSE, will serve as simulation consultant.
“Unlike other formats, virtual reality simulations offer an experiential and fully
immersive, first-person vantage point for evidence-based diversity, equity and inclusion training,” Ricca says. “We hope the experiences will provide unique insights into the challenges and perspectives faced by students and faculty of color in academic nursing and that those lessons will translate to the nursing care of racial and ethnic minority groups.”
The college has previously used virtual reality for clinical training and medical procedure simulation, as well as to deliver mindfulness programs to students, but this is the first time it will be used for DEI training, says Hernandez.
There is a clear need for addressing racism in nursing, according to the American Nurses Association. Nearly half of nurses agree there is “a lot” of racism in nursing, according to a national survey of more than 5,600 nurses conducted by the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing.
Harriet H. Werley Endowed Chair for Nursing Research
DOORENBOS, PhD, RN, FAAN, was selected to receive the UIC Distinguished Researcher Award, and assistant professor NATASHA CROOKS, PhD, RN, was selected to receive the UIC Rising Star Award, both in the category of clinical sciences.
Nursing Collegiate Professor JANNA STEPHENS, PhD, RN, was selected to serve in the Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research Ambassador program.
Associate dean for equity and inclusion ROSALBA HERNANDEZ, PhD, was elected as a fellow of the American Heart Association.
Naming rites
At an April 30 investiture ceremony—a time-honored academic tradition—friends, family and colleagues attended as three faculty were formally seated in their endowed positions.
JANNA STEPHENS, PhD, RN (above left) was invested as Nursing Collegiate Professor; KAREN FLYNN, PhD (center) was invested as the Terrance & Karyn Holm Professor; SHANNON HALLOWAY, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, was invested as the Heung Soo & Mi Ja Kim Faculty Scholar.
UIC vice chancellor for health affairs
Robert Barish thanked donors
KARYN HOLM, PhD, FAAN, FAHA (inset left), former UIC Nursing associate dean for practice, and MI JA KIM, PhD, RN, FRCN, FAAN, UIC dean emerita. “Your gifts profess your belief in both the legacy of excellence here at UIC Nursing and the promise of further accomplishments,” he said.
No hesitation
Just 16 hours after the City of Chicago confirmed a case of measles at a Pilsen shelter for migrants, UIC’s Outbreak Response Team was on the scene. Co-led by UIC Nursing associate professor REBECCA SINGER, DNP ’18, RN, the team vaccinated some 325 people in two days. Also on hand were colleagues from Rush, Cook County Health, and the Chicago and Illinois departments of public health. DNP student AUBREY MEUNIER, MS ’22, RN, served as vaccine lead.
Associate professor
SARAH ABBOUD, PhD, RN, was selected as an outstanding Emerging Scholar in UIC’s 2024 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Faculty Award competition.
Associate professor ANNE FINK, PhD ’11, MS ’08, RN, CNE, FAHA, was named head of the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing Science.
Associate dean for faculty practice and partnerships
CAROLYN DICKENS, PhD ’17, ACNP, FAANP, was accepted into the second class of the University of Illinois Faculty Entrepreneurial Leadership Program (FELP).
Psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner student SUZANNE PHIPPS has been awarded the prestigious 2024-25 Minority Fellowship from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
PHOTO BY MSN
STUDENT ANJALI
PINTO
(l-r) MSN students JESSICA KANN, CLARISSA FRAYN, public health student Thea Santiago, MSN student NIMISHA DIXIT and DNP student AUBREY MEUNIER, MS ’22, RN.
International relations
Dean EILEEN COLLINS, PhD, RN, FAAN, ATSF, and associate dean for global health ROHAN JEREMIAH, PhD, MPH, took a two-week trip to Thailand and South Korea to visit colleges and schools of nursing with strong ties to UIC Nursing. It culminated in an international nursing conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in September.
UIC Nursing served as co-host of the conference, Global Health Recalibration: Strengthening Outcomes, Education, Clinical Practice,
and Research, which was organized by the Faculty of Nursing, Chiang Mai University. Clinical associate professor REBECCA SINGER, DNP ’18, RN, and associate professor CYNTHIA FRITSCHI, PhD ’08, APRN, CDE, also traveled to Thailand to present at the conference, and Fritschi received an award for best presentation.
It was Collins’ first visit to the region since becoming UIC Nursing dean in 2021. The trip took Collins and Jeremiah to
institutions in Seoul, Bangkok, and Chiang Mai, including four colleges of nursing led by UIC Nursing alums.
“It was gratifying to see the high esteem in which UIC Nursing is held in all three places,” Collins says. “We’re playing a huge role in contributing to the nursing faculty pipeline there.”
Jeremiah adds that it’s rewarding to see PhD students who had been mentored in Chicago now serving on the
Associate dean for equity and inclusion
ROSALBA
HERNANDEZ, PhD, was selected for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing 2025 Diversity Leadership Cohort.
(left) Jeremiah and Collins, center, meet with Thammasat University Faculty of Nursing administrators and faculty on Sept. 2. (top right) Alumni pose for a selfie with Collins at a reception in Bangkok on Sept. 2. (bottom right, l-r) HYECHONG (JULIE) HONG, PhD ’17, BSN ’97, Collins, Jeremiah, and A-RI MIN, PhD ’16, visit on Aug. 28 at the Red Cross College of Nursing, Chung-Ang University, where Hong and Min are on faculty. Hong is Collins’ former PhD student.
faculty of Thai and South Korean institutions. They also met with potential future PhD students and discussed opportunities for collaboration.
“Our alumni have gone on to become deans and professors at various institutions in the region, and they’ve spread the word about the wonderful experience they had at our college and in Chicago,” Jeremiah says.
These recipients received the following 2024 college awards: PhD student PHISET KHUEANTHONG, Julie and Mark Zerwic Diversity Award; assistant professor GINA JULIANO, DNP ’16, CPNP-PC, PMHNP-BC, IBCLC, Judith Lloyd Storfjell Distinguished Award for Scholarly Practice; professor JUDITH M. SCHLAEGER, PhD, MS ’88, BSN ’80, CNM, LAc, FACNM, FAAN, Distinguished Researcher Award; associate professor emerita M. CECILIA WENDLER, PhD, RN, NE-BC, Distinguished Mentor of Faculty Award.
Find all our news online, including longer versions of many of these stories.
Dunn joins Hall of Fame
In July, professor SUSAN DUNN, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, was inducted into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (Sigma).
She was one of 30 world-renowned nurse researchers selected for the honor in 2024.
Hall of Fame inductees are nurse researchers who have achieved significant and sustained national or international recognition and whose research has improved the profession of nursing and the people it serves.
Dunn’s program of research focuses on hopelessness in patients with ischemic heart disease. She developed and tested the State and Trait Hopelessness Scale, currently used by researchers and clinicians throughout the world. Her NIH-funded study called Heart Up! examines the effectiveness of a motivational intervention and aims to decrease hopelessness through increased physical activity.
The Hall of Fame induction took place during the organization’s 35th International Nursing Research Congress in Singapore on July 27. Dunn is the 10th current or emeritus faculty member from the UIC College of Nursing to be inducted.
Making a splash
Graduates from all three BSN-granting campuses—(l-r) Springfield, Chicago and Urbana—carried on the decades-old tradition of jumping into a pool to symbolize diving into the nursing profession. Local media in all three cities covered the quirky tradition.
Removing barriers to reproductive health
UIC Nursing is one of three organizations in Illinois to receive funding from the Illinois Department of Public Health intended to increase access to safe abortions from skilled providers.
The grant established a program called the Reproductive Advocacy and Diversity in Advanced Nursing Training (RADIANT) Learning Collaborative, which trains and mentors certified nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners across the state to provide safe abortion care. Those advanced practice nurses will in turn be able to serve as preceptors for Doctor of Nursing Practice students.
The effort follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that eliminated the constitutional right to abortion in the United States and allowed states to restrict access to abortion.
Assistant professor KYLEA LIESE, PhD, CNM, the primary investigator
on the grant, says that certified nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners are in an ideal position to provide safe abortion care, but currently, there is a lack of standardized education on abortion care in both the classroom and clinical training.
“Abortion needs to be part of primary care,” Liese says. “Pregnant individuals should be able to see their preferred and familiar primary care provider for a first-trimester abortion. It’s more comfortable for them and it reduces costs and delays. Training nurse practitioners is about removing barriers to accessing routine reproductive health care, which includes abortions.”
The RADIANT program will establish access to 90 new providers for medication abortions, 15 new providers for procedural abortions, and a self-sustaining network of mentors and preceptors for DNP students intending to integrate abortion care into their future practice.
Q&A WITH UIC NURSING
Call the blogger
When UIC Nursing alum KATIE MORIARTY, PhD ’07, MS ’93, CNM, CAFCI, FACNM, was asked to blog about the BBC TV show “Call the Midwife” from a modern-day midwife’s perspective, she jumped at the chance.
The show chronicles the experiences of nurses, midwives and nuns in London’s East End in the 1950s and 1960s. Moriarty, who is a faculty member at Frontier Nursing University, wanted to share her expertise from years of practicing in a variety of settings—hospitals, birth centers and home births.
For the last 12 seasons, she’s been sharing her insights on midwifery education, changing obstetric practices, and much more on the Modern Midwives Blog.
How did you get started blogging about the show?
It was actually Detroit Public Television (DPTV) that initially started out wanting a blog. I had worked at Detroit Medical Center at the Hutzel Women’s Hospital, which was the third largest practice in the U.S. I really wanted to blog as I had experiences with assisting women in labor and birth in varied settings and locations, including community settings. The blog was put out on a local level of DPTV but then the national PBS read our posts and loved them and picked it up.
How accurately do you think the show portrays midwifery (for the time period)?
The show is very accurate. This season, I stopped the show and zoomed in to see what textbooks midwifery students were using to study. I wanted to see if they used the same text [that I used during my undergraduate education in Canada] and the correct edition
for that time [1969]. It was! That is how accurate they are.
Can you share any highlights from your time in the UIC Nursing master’s program?
I wanted to be a clinical nurse specialist at that time and was focusing on high-risk OB. It was my professor SABINA DAMBRAUSKAS [MS ’76, BSN ’68] who wrote on one of my papers: “You should consider becoming a midwife. You have the heart of a midwife.”
That statement had an impact on me. I talked with my family and decided to complete the master’s degree requirements for both programs (perinatal nursing and nurse midwifery), and proudly became a certified nurse-midwife. You see how important the words of your professors can be!
Where did you practice after becoming a nurse-midwife?
I moved away from Chicago and worked in Detroit and then in Tucson. Then one of my prior professors, BETTY SCHLATTER
[PhD ’90, director of the nurse-midwifery program at UIC from 1989 to 1995] contacted me and asked if I would be open to relocating to Illinois and joining their practice at Illinois Masonic Medical Center, and I did.
Why did you choose to return for your PhD? What was your focus in that program?
One time, at a midwifery staff meeting, I noticed our cesarean section rate had gone up from about 10% to about 15%.
I found that alarming and thought, “What happened?”
For some, it may have just been a conversation, but for me, I started to explore.
My dissertation explored psychophysiological responses to an acupressure treatment used as a prebirth treatment. DORIE SCHWERTZ was my advisor. I got my certification from the Acupuncture Foundation of Canada Institute, now called Acupuncture Canada. I was the first
midwife to ever attend their certification program!
Has anyone from the show ever contacted you to consult or to react to your blogs?
On the 10th anniversary of the show, the four “modern-day midwives” [who write the blog] were interviewed [by PBS] and also a couple of the actors. It was an honor to get to meet them.
It is a fabulous show that really has relevance. It’s hard to believe it is in its 13th season. I love being a midwife. I feel lucky to have had a career where I’ve had positions as a clinician, administrator, and now as an educator, where I get to “midwife” students into their role.
READ the Modern Midwives Blog.
In 1994, Moriarty gained experience working at the Birth and Women’s Health Center in Tucson, Arizona, after receiving her master’s degree from UIC Nursing and becoming a certified nurse-midwife.
“I have to say that every step of the way, UIC has given me the skills for the wonderful opportunities I’ve had in my career.”
BARBARA MCFARLIN STORYTELLER.
is a
PHOTO BY DIANE M. SMUTNY, DMS PHOTOGRAPHY
UIC Nursing professor emerita and three-time alumna Barbara McFarlin is the UIC College of Nursing’s 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient. This is the 46th year the college has conferred this award.
After leading a global life and a shapeshifting career, it’s no surprise BARBARA MCFARLIN, PhD ’05, MS ’84, BSN ’74, CNM, RDMS, FACNM, FAAN, is a raconteur. “Feel free to stop me,” she says. “I can be a bit of a talker.”
But who would stop her when she has so many rich stories to tell? They include tales of a childhood spent partly in Holland, a U.S. Navy tour during the tail end of the Vietnam War, being the first nurse-midwife in central Illinois, and game-changing research on premature births.
“I have to say that every step of the way, UIC has given me the skills for the wonderful opportunities I’ve had in my career,” McFarlin says. “I’ve had a wonderful career.”
Her latest story may be her best yet. McFarlin, who served on the UIC Nursing faculty for 17 years and was head of what is now the Department of Human Development Nursing Science, recently published a paper that could be the key to accurately predicting preterm birth— something that has eluded doctors and scientists until now.
TRANSCONTINENTAL BEGINNINGS
McFarlin was born in Harvard, Illinois, but she spent almost 10 years of her childhood in the Netherlands when her father relocated the family there for work. That experience gave her a taste of life in Europe.
McFarlin’s family moved back to the U.S.— to Chicago—and she enrolled at UIC to
study nursing. After graduation, she signed up to be a nurse in the U.S. Navy because she wanted to live in Europe again. She spent three and a half years working at a U.S. Naval hospital in Naples, Italy, in the mid-1970s.
There, she worked with doctors and midwives, who took care of pregnant women throughout the Mediterranean region. (“One time, one of the doctors and I did a breech delivery on the runway in Naples,” she recalls. “We had all kinds of adventures.”) These experiences inspired her to become a nurse-midwife.
“As a nurse-midwife, you provide the full span of women’s health care— contraception, prenatal care, gynecology, menopause—we take care of women from being teenagers to late in life,” she says.
After the Navy, she enrolled at UIC Nursing again, this time for her master’s to become a certified nurse-midwife.
PREVENTING
PREMATURE BIRTHS
Over the course of McFarlin’s 35 years as a nurse-midwife—working for practices in Champaign, Illinois, as well as Detroit and West Virginia—she delivered more than 4,000 babies. They weren’t all happy endings, though. Some women delivered prematurely, and their babies didn’t survive.
“As a midwife, I had the privilege of seeing them during their pregnancy and after,” McFarlin says. “I saw the effect [of those losses] on them.”
She decided to return to UIC Nursing for a PhD to conduct research. At the time, there was no reliable indicator for preterm delivery other than previous premature pregnancies.
McFarlin, who is also a sonographer, felt certain that changes in cervical tissue during pregnancy held the key to early identification of risk. She collaborated with Bill O’Brien, a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor who was head of UIUC’s famed Bioacoustics Research Lab. O’Brien had developed qualitative ultrasound software that could be added to any ultrasound machine to investigate tissue structure. McFarlin became the first to use the software to study pregnancy in her 2005 dissertation research.
“You have to seek out people that have skills that you don’t have,” McFarlin says. “I’m interested in technology to solve problems that I can’t solve myself.”
The results of her more than 20-year collaboration with O’Brien culminated in a January 2024 paper published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology Maternal Fetal Medicine, which established that their method of predicting preterm birth by measuring microstructural changes in a woman’s cervix using quantitative ultrasound works as early as 23 weeks into pregnancy (see p. 35).
The next step, McFarlin says, is convincing ultrasound companies to include the technology on their machines. It hasn’t been an easy sell, but McFarlin is used to pushing through obstacles.
“When one of my grants was reviewed about 20 years ago, one of the reviewers said, ‘How does she think she can do this?’” she recalls. “I proved them wrong. I have a little competition in me, and now people are listening. I would like to carry it on.”
Know someone who should be the next Distinguished Alumni Award winner? Nominate them here.
PAINLESS PROPOSITION
To combat a shortage of anesthesia providers in health care, UIC Nursing is preparing to launch a nurse anesthesia program. This intense DNP program will train nurses to provide the full range of anesthesia services, a need fueled by increasing surgical demand across the U.S. and a particularly dire need in rural areas. The program is buoyed by a record-setting $10 million gift from alumna CHRISTINE SCHWARTZ, BSN ’70. While awaiting final accreditation, program director SUSAN KRAWCZYK, DNP, CRNA, is already on duty and taking questions.
Q& A WITH SUSAN KRAWCZYK
Q: CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE NEED FOR NURSE ANESTHETISTS?
A: The shortage of anesthesia providers in the U.S. has been a problem for more than two decades. This has led to a restriction on operating room numbers and hours and an increase in surgery wait times, even at large hospitals. Surgery demand is growing, thanks to an increase in elective and ambulatory services, and the growing elderly population is expected to continue to fuel this demand.
In rural areas, some health care services have been terminated because they can’t attract or afford anesthesia providers in the area. If a patient needs surgery—whether it’s due to a trauma, an emergency cesarean section, a GI procedure, anything—and there is no anesthetist available, they must wait longer or travel farther for care.
CRNAs [certified registered nurse anesthetists] are perfectly positioned to fill this unmet need, keeping surgery services and procedural services open and accessible. In Illinois, where advanced practice nurses have full-practice authority, certified nurse anesthetists do not need to practice under the supervision of a physician, and often times in rural Illinois, they are the only anesthesia provider.
Q: WHAT WILL UIC’S NURSE ANESTHESIA PROGRAM LOOK LIKE?
A: We’re planning to enroll 20 students per class. It’s a three-year program that includes a 20-month clinical residency. We are
going to be an integrated program, meaning students will be taking coursework while they’re in clinical residency. We want to capitalize on the learning experiences in the classroom by having the students go into the clinical setting and provide supervised anesthesia care to the same patient populations and surgical cases [as they’re seeing in the classroom].
Q: HOW IS IT GOING TO STAND OUT FROM OTHER PROGRAMS?
A: Students need 2,000 hours of clinical training. This means, traditionally, they are in a clinical setting five days a week, plus taking classes, which is a heavy lift. It’s very taxing. We’ll provide second-year students some relief. They won’t be in clinical 100% of the time, giving them more time to focus on their DNP project, which is a clinical project that demonstrates their understanding of evidence-based practice. After their project is well established in their second year, they are advanced to fuller clinical weeks during their final year.
Q: WHY IS THIS A DNP PROGRAM AND NOT A MASTER’S DEGREE?
A:
The American Association of Nurse
Anesthetists mandates a doctoral degree to enter the CRNA profession, which is absolutely appropriate. As health care continues to evolve and become more complex, the education of advanced practice providers needs to keep up. Accreditation agencies for nursing programs have called for doctoral degrees for all advanced practice nurses by 2025.
BY
ANATOMY OF THE PROGRAM
YEAR 1: Foundational science and research courses. Introduction of the DNP project.
YEAR 2: Coursework on principles of anesthesia practice, preoperative assessment, positioning a patient, and more. Clinical residency begins, alongside development of the DNP project.
YEAR 3: Clinical residency continues and the DNP project is implemented, with a report to key stakeholders. Students will graduate with 2,000 hours of clinical practice.
Q:
WHAT’S YOUR BACKGROUND AND WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO HELP LAUNCH THIS PROGRAM?
A:
I have been a Chicagoland nurse for my entire career. After 10 years of ICU nursing, I became a nurse anesthetist in 2003 when I got my master’s degree from DePaul University and a diploma in nurse anesthesia from Evanston Northwestern Healthcare School of Anesthesia [now NorthShore]. I taught courses here and there—anesthesia and orthopedic procedures, pharmacology—until 2012, when I went back for my DNP. After teaching for another 10 years, I stepped away from my position at NorthShore. Then this opportunity came up.
I’m excited to be part of the launch of this program. UIC has an outstanding DNP program, and I feel so confident in all the support here at UIC.
MARY ANN ZERVAKIS BRENT [DNP, CRNA, assistant director of advanced practice providers/anesthesiology at UI Health] is the assistant program director, and we have a healthy partnership with UI Hospital. There are just so many people here with so much knowledge.
Q: WHAT IS THE SCOPE OF A NURSE ANESTHETIST’S PRACTICE?
A: When we come out of training, depending on how a facility wants to use us, we can do the same thing as an anesthesiologist. We provide the same types of anesthesia: general, sedation, regional and peripheral nerve blocks. We insert invasive lines for intravenous access
and monitoring, including arterial and central lines. We provide palliative care for patients who need pain relief procedures. We perform pre-op, intra-op and post-op care, as well as respond to emergent scenarios.
In terms of settings, a hospital is the most common. We also work in ambulatory surgery centers, doctors’ offices, dental offices, gynecological clinics and plastic surgery offices.
PHOTO
JORDYN HARRISON
“
UIC Nursing’s nurse anesthesia program is a win-win for UI Health. It will position us as a leader in nursing and anesthesia education, while also positively impacting patient care and hospital operations.”
– MARY ANN ZERVAKIS BRENT
Q:
HOW IS CHRISTINE SCHWARTZ’S $10 MILLION GIFT AIDING THE PROGRAM?
A:
The gift from Christine is phenomenal. Her gift is allowing us to completely renovate the second floor of the Chicago campus and install the technology to meet the needs of the learner. We’re going to have two “working” [simulated] operating rooms, as well as pre-op and post-op rooms, a skills lab and classrooms. We can manage the clinical setting in a controlled environment with all the realism of an operating room. The operating rooms will have surgical tables, working anesthesia machines, and full anesthesia carts like those at the hospital. We’ll have multiple high-fidelity manikins—child and adult versions—with palpable pulses, heart tones and lung sounds. The manikins are designed to simulate a healthy patient in heart failure, with a collapsed lung, and a difficult airway—an anesthesia provider’s worst case. Simulated cases give us the luxury to stop in the middle of a crisis, and say, ‘What’s going on? How can we do better?’ Then we can continue with the simulation.
Q:
IT SEEMS LIKE TECHNOLOGY IS KEY FOR THIS PROGRAM. WHAT ELSE IS SCHWARTZ’S GIFT PROVIDING?
A:
We’re planning to have a digitized anatomic table, which will allow us to view cross-sections of the body. We’re keenly interested in what’s happening with the airway. Since we don’t use cadavers, this will be a great way to supplement education in anatomy and physiology as well as pathophysiology.
We’ll also have ultrasound machines. More and more, providers are reaching for ultrasound whenever something is puzzling with lungs, heart tones or vasculature. They use it for identifying anatomy for peripheral nerve blocks. We’re going to have the ability to have more ultrasound machines in the teaching environment so that a student feels confident reaching for that as a modality for assessment.
Q: SPACES THAT IMPROVE STUDENT LIFE HAVE BEEN INTEGRAL TO ALL OF SCHWARTZ’S PAST GIFTS. HOW IS SHE INCORPORATING THEM INTO THESE PLANS?
A: Student networking, collaboration and stress-reduction are important to Christine. She is providing space for the student nurse anesthetists to meet, discuss and share stories in a relaxed environment. Nearly floor-to-ceiling windows will provide students with plenty of sunlight during the year.
Q: IN MANY OF OUR DNP PROGRAMS, STUDENTS WORK WHILE COMPLETING THEIR DEGREE. IS THAT THE CASE IN THIS PROGRAM?
A: It’s our recommendation that they don’t work. With the intensity and demand of the coursework and clinical residency, there is no room for working on the side. This is a full-time, three-year program, and the return on investment is very good. At UI Hospital, the starting salary for nurse anesthetists is around $240,000 per year.
Q: WHERE WILL STUDENTS DO THEIR CLINICAL PLACEMENTS?
A: We have a built-in relationship with UI Health. Most of the clinical residency will be at UIH, but students will also rotate to the University of Chicago, as well as suburban sites. It’s important for students to know different systems and have different experiences.
Q: WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT THE PROFESSION?
A: As a nurse anesthetist, you get to focus on and provide care for one person at a time. They’re often so scared, so frightened. You explain to them what’s going to happen; you learn to read them quickly, who wants to hear more and who wants to hear less. You start the anesthetic, and deliver them into recovery. There’s immense gratification to seeing a person who wakes up after an anesthetic, and says, ‘When are we starting?’ There’s no better reward.
Susan Krawczyk, second from right, teaches nurse practitioner students to place an endotracheal tube for intubation.
PHOTO BY JON REYES
CHRISTINE SCHWARTZ’S
GIFT IS ‘TRANSFORMATIVE’
Schwartz’s $10 million donation, the largest gift in the College of Nursing’s history, is seeding the launch of the nurse anesthesia program.
During UIC Chancellor Marie Lynn Miranda’s speech at her investiture ceremony in April, where she was officially installed as the 10th chancellor of the university, she spoke directly to Christine Schwartz, BSN ’70, who was in the audience.
“Thank you, Chris,” Miranda said. “Thank you for your continued dedication to and confidence in UIC and our College of Nursing, and for allowing us to provide life-improving and life-saving surgical procedures to underserved communities across Illinois.”
Calling the gift “transformative,” Miranda added that the new program could provide relief to one-third of Illinois counties, many of which are rural and underserved, that have no registered anesthesia providers. Among Illinois’ 102 counties, 31 lack anesthesia providers. Schwartz’s gift will allow UIC Nursing to help bridge this gap, bringing critical anesthesia professionals to the communities that need them most.
The need for more anesthesia providers began in the early 2000s, brought on by an aging population and an increase
in elective and outpatient surgeries. The Association of American Medical Colleges predicts a shortage of 12,500 anesthesiologists by 2033, a demand that can be filled by certified registered nurse anesthetists, who can perform the same services as anesthesiologists.
“One person taking action makes a difference, and I am proud to be the lead donor on major nursing projects in hopes others will join,” says Schwartz. “We are making nursing students’ dreams come true, allowing for recruitment of stellar faculty, building pride and creating momentum, all to keep the College of Nursing among the top in the nation.”
The program directly feeds a tenet of UIC’s mission: to serve Illinois as the principal educator of health science professionals and as a major health care provider to underserved communities.
“UIC’s long-standing mission calls on us to provide the broadest access to the highest levels of educational, research and clinical excellence,” says Miranda. “Chris Schwartz’s generous gift is accelerating this mission. Her support is allowing us to launch a
state-of-the-art program that will position the College of Nursing squarely at the forefront of training, discovery and innovation.”
The gift will fund the build-out of simulation labs and student space on the college’s second floor that will train future nurse anesthetists. In these labs, students can interact in safe, simulated clinical environments and learn without causing harm.
Schwartz’s lifetime gifts to UIC Nursing, now totaling nearly $18 million, also created the Schwartz Experiential Learning & Simulation Lab and allowed leaders to renovate the lobby and conference rooms in the Chicago campus building. Upon the project’s completion, UIC will recognize Schwartz by naming the second floor in her honor.
“Chris Schwartz has changed the game for the College of Nursing so many times, and seeding our nurse anesthesia program is no exception,”
says Dean EILEEN COLLINS “This project adds to her towering legacy of compassion for students, tremendous generosity, and dedication to uplifting nurses as leaders.”
In each project, Schwartz has demonstrated her tireless advocacy for students and strong belief in the benefit of dedicated spaces for them.
“Students carry a lot of stress and need to engage, relax and prepare in a calming environment. We are always thinking of them and their well-being, and I want that reflected in the projects we tackle,” says Schwartz.
Schwartz also hopes her gift will inspire others to make a difference in the lives of nursing students and Illinois communities.
“Nurses lead, that’s what we do,” says Schwartz. “The nurse anesthesia program is a dream; it’s the win-win we look for. I hope others will join in supporting it.”
(l-r) Susan Krawczyk meets with Christine Schwartz to discuss the launch of the new program.
Full of REMOTE Possibilities
We’ve got this hidden jewel at UIC. It consistently ranks in the top 5 in the nation.”
KATE TREDWAY
UIC NURSING’S HIGHLY LAUDED ONLINE RN TO BSN COMPLETION PROGRAM, RANKED NO. 3 AMONG ONLINE PROGRAMS BY U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT FOR 2024, HAS SEEN EXPONENTIAL GROWTH IN RECENT YEARS.
They tend to be older than the typical bachelor’s degree student. They’re already working as nurses. Often while juggling full-time jobs, kids, mortgages, car payments and other responsibilities, a growing number of students are flocking to UIC Nursing to get their bachelor’s degrees through the college’s RN to BSN program.
In the last few years, the program’s size has increased significantly. It is now the largest in the college with around 500 students. Because it is entirely online and no clinical placements are required, the program’s capacity far exceeds that of a traditional brick-and-mortar BSN program.
However, those factors also make the program, which is jointly administered by UIC Extended Campus, less visible to the UIC Nursing community.
“We’ve got this hidden jewel at UIC,” says KATE TREDWAY, MS ’97, RN, MBA, one of two co-directors of the program. “It consistently ranks in the top 5 in the nation. It is one of our largest—and still fastest-growing—degrees. It’s perfectly designed for its audience of professional nurses. It does online education right.”
There are 706 RN to BSN programs available nationwide,
including more than 630 programs that are offered at least partially online, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). In this packed marketplace, what sets UIC Nursing’s RN to BSN program apart is access to UIC Nursing’s faculty experts, online courses tailor-made by professional instructional designers, ample student support from advisors and instructors, and an emphasis on practical application that ensures authenticity for working professionals.
“We wrap our arms around students,” says the program’s other co-director GLORIA E. BARRERA, RN, PEL-CSN. “Having that support is key for a successful online program.”
ROSA MALAVE, BSN ’16, who is now enrolled in UIC’s DNP program, says she felt “really supported” in the RN to BSN program, even before she started, by advisors who helped her navigate credits and tuition. Malave worked full-time as an emergency room nurse and then as an interventional radiology nurse during the program.
“I’m an older student, and I was nervous about the online portion,” says Malave, now 43. “I didn’t grow up doing online courses. At UIC, there were always exemplars and instructors available to help. They emphasized that nurses
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
U.S. News & World Report 2024 ranking for online undergraduate programs
LENGTH OF PROGRAM: TIME TO COMPLETION:
(10 nursing courses + any gen ed courses needed for a bachelor’s degree)
(if taking one course at a time)
$350 5 start dates each year COST PER CREDIT: 490 students 33% CHICAGO 21% COOK COUNTY (NOT CHICAGO) 37% ILLINOIS (NOT COOK COUNTY) 9% OUTSIDE OF ILLINOIS
No. 3: 0 6 1 30 credits 24 months 8 weeks 100%
COURSE LENGTH: asynchronous
summers off community colleges with dual admissions partnerships new scholarship specifically for RN to BSN students (see p. 31)
ONLINE EDUCATION DONE RIGHT
UIC’S RN TO BSN PROGRAM IS DELIBERATELY CRAFTED TO MEET THE NEEDS OF WORKING STUDENTS.
2
Uniformity:
1
Asynchronous:
Students work on their own schedule. No live videoconferencing. Courses are prerecorded for students to view on demand.
All courses “look” alike in format and structure. All are eight weeks. The entire course is available on its
4
3
Deliverables:
It is not “go at your own pace.” There are at least three assignments due each week.
Authenticity:
The assignments, assessments and content matter to working professionals.
All courses are assessed continually for ADA accessibility. 5 6
Quality Matters approved:
All courses pass online certification from the independent audit company with high scores.
need to elevate the profession to improve quality care. I felt very strongly about that.”
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
UIC Nursing’s RN to BSN program started in-person on the Quad Cities campus in 1980 with only a handful of students. As distance technology expanded, so did the program. By 2008, the program was offered fully online, and UIC Nursing began partnering with what is now called UIC Extended Campus to provide the infrastructure for an online degree.
Since 2020, the program has grown from about 200 students to its fall 2024 enrollment of 490.
College and program leaders made several changes to help grow the program. These include allowing students to fulfill prerequisites after admission to the program and reducing the tuition rate to $350 per credit.
“UIC’s degree is a great value,” Barrera says. “It’s high-quality and a relatively low price.”
They also forged six dual admissions partnerships with community colleges across the state of Illinois. These customized agreements allow students to enroll in a community college program to earn their associate degree in nursing while simultaneously enrolling in courses from UIC Nursing’s RN to BSN program, ensuring a seamless transition to a bachelor’s degree. Current partnerships are with Malcolm X College, College of Lake County, Waubonsee Community College, Lewis
Earning a BSN also enhances professional recognition and job security, making individuals more competitive in the job market.”
– GLORIA E. BARRERA
and Clark Community College, Blackhawk College and Carl Sandburg College.
WHY IT MATTERS
Nurses with higher levels of education significantly improve patient outcomes, according to AACN. Having higher rates of BSN-prepared nurses in hospitals is associated with greater odds of surviving cardiac arrest, lower odds of inpatient mortality, lower odds of death in patients with Alzheimer’s and related dementias, and a decrease in the length of hospital stays.
“Having that BSN, having the education, helps practicing nurses adapt to changes in health care delivery,” Barrera says. “Ultimately, earning a BSN also enhances professional recognition and job security, making individuals more competitive in the job market.”
Many hospitals, and some states, require nurses to obtain a bachelor’s degree within a certain number of years of working. Nurses in New York, for instance, must earn a bachelor’s degree within 10 years of licensure, a law intended to address the increasing complexity of the American health care system.
WHY IT WORKS
The program was created with the help of professional instructional designers, and it features best practices, such as uniformity in course design, having “deliverables” due each week, and being entirely asynchronous—no live videoconferencing.
“The students are working professionals,” Tredway says. “They can’t get on to watch a live lecture at 2 in the afternoon. They’re working, or they’re sleeping.”
As other programs scramble to meet new AACN Essentials, a shift that requires “competency-based” rather than “concept-based” education, UIC Nursing’s RN to BSN program is already aligned with the new standards. Coursework has a strong focus on projects and assignments that working students can apply to practice; students enhance their clinical, theoretical and evidence-based knowledge, which in turn helps improve patient outcomes.
“Nursing is far more than taking care of a sick individual in a hospital bed,” Tredway says. “It’s taking care of populations. It’s the entire spectrum of health from perfectly well to death. All along that continuum, there is something that nurses are doing within their scope of practice. There’s not another health care profession that can say that.”
Annette Knorr
STATUS: Current student
AGE: 37
HOME: New Milford, Illinois
WORK: Nurse at a private gastroenterology practice
WHY A BSN?
I decided to go back to get my BSN because I like to keep learning. More doors will open for me with my BSN, and I am thinking about continuing to get my MSN.
MY EXPERIENCE:
I am a mother to a 1-year-old boy, and I have a fiancé. I also work full time, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. There are times it is difficult getting everything done on time, but my fiancé is right there, rooting me on, asking what he can do to help so I can get the assignments done. There are many nights I have to do homework as soon as I get home, and work on assignments on the weekends instead of being able to spend as much time with my family as I’d like. But I know in the end, this is all worth it. My son will know I worked hard and persevered.
Phylicia Dudley
STATUS: Graduated May ’24
AGE: 37
HOME: Chicago
WORK: Chicago Public Schools nurse
WHY A BSN?
A BSN degree certainly opens up more professional opportunities. In particular, I want to be more involved in planning nursing care for my students. I also want to be more involved in the educational side of nursing within the school setting. The stepping stone to that was acquiring my BSN degree.
MY EXPERIENCE:
I’m a mother to three little kids, so it took a lot of organization and discipline. I set aside time to spend with my kids. When I’m at work, I want to make sure I’m giving it my all, plus making time for self-care. I’m borrowing magical hours from somewhere. It’s about making a schedule, setting boundaries and sticking to it.
I transferred from Malcolm X College via the dual admissions program. It was really important to me not to go into debt, and I was able to get scholarships and financial aid to graduate with no debt from either school.
Rosa Malave
STATUS: Graduated May ’16; now a DNP student in the UIC Nursing Family Nurse Practitioner program
AGE: 43
HOME: Chicago
WORK: Clinical care coordinator at PCC Wellness
WHY A BSN?
My mom is a nurse, too. She never got her bachelor’s, but I knew it was important for me to get one because a lot of employers require it now. It was my plan all along to get one, and the reason I went to a community college first was because of affordability and being able to pay for school and work at the same time.
MY EXPERIENCE:
I had a really great experience, and I don’t know if I would have considered continuing on to get my DNP if I hadn’t. My parents didn’t go to college. My mom got her ADN but that was it. Nobody went to a university, so they didn’t know how to navigate that. The support I got in the RN to BSN program was encouraging and helped me to realize that I could actually do more, so I really value it.
WORK, STUDY, SLEEP, REPEAT
The road less traveled
A UI HEALTH MOBILE UNIT, RUN BY THE COLLEGE OF NURSING, WILL BRING CARE TO RURAL PARTS OF ILLINOIS.
SUMMER PARK can do a lot as a board-certified family nurse practitioner. She can test for sexually transmitted infections and screen for high blood pressure. She can do pap smears, provide birth control options, and test for elevated blood sugar. She can examine, diagnose and treat patients from birth to death.
But there’s one thing she can’t do.
“Driving a 38-foot RV is not in my scope of practice,” jokes the UIC Nursing clinical assistant professor. “It’s like a school bus.”
That 38-foot RV is a mobile health unit—a tricked-out clinic on wheels—which Park, DNP, FNP-BC, will be riding (but not driving) as the lead practitioner and operations manager. The mobile health unit’s mission is to bring much-needed health care services to teens and young adults in rural parts of Illinois, starting with Peoria County, where Park lives.
PHOTO BY JOSH CLARK
Clinical assistant professor Summer Park stands in front of the mobile health unit.
“If you’re talking about people who are unhoused, or people who just have no access to health care, having a mobile health unit to go to them is essentially like street medicine, but instead of popping up a tent, we can actually bring a bus with all the amenities of a brick-and-mortar clinic,” Park says.
The project is fueled with a $3.1 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration, awarded to clinical associate professor KELLY ROSENBERGER, DNP ’12, CNM, WHNP-BC, FAANP. Rosenberger, a UIC Nursing-Rockford faculty member and certified nurse-midwife, says the grant is focused on her twin passions: reproductive health and rural health.
The overarching project is called ENRICH, Enhancing Nursing Education and Retention by Initiation of Care Delivered by Mobile Health Units. ENRICH also includes the creation of a Rural Nursing Certificate Program for UIC Nursing graduate students and a Healthy Teens mobile app, which provides comprehensive, evidence-based information on anatomy, communication, STIs, birth control and pregnancy.
“We’re trying to improve health equity by improving access to services for people in rural and underserved areas,” Rosenberger says. “We’re going to them to reach them because what we’re seeing is that only about 48% of people in rural areas seek out health care, compared to about 85% across the U.S. That’s a big difference.”
GAME-CHANGER
Step into one of the two fully functioning patient rooms on the mobile health unit, close the partition, and it’s like being in any clinic exam
IPAD REGISTRATION
When the mobile health unit rolls up to a site, patients fill out intake information on iPads.
1
INTAKE AREA
Providers can complete intake at a bench and table inside.
KEEPING COOL
A medical-grade freezer and fridge are on board to keep vaccines and medications at ideal temperatures.
3
TWO PATIENT EXAM ROOMS
Both exam rooms feature adjustable beds, wall-mounted instruments, a stool, a small counter or desk, a sink, and a privacy partition.
THREE WAYS ENRICH SUPPORTS
DNP STUDENTS
1. ENRICH enabled the creation of a Rural Nursing Certificate Program, a three-course, online program available to UIC DNP students to prepare them to work in rural communities.
2. Students in the certificate program receive a $5,000 stipend per course to cover educational expenses.
3. DNP students can gain clinical hours for a community health rotation on the mobile health unit.
room—albeit slightly tighter quarters. There’s a functioning sink, an adjustable exam table, and tools to check vitals mounted to the walls.
“If I were working at a traditional clinic, this is what my exam room would look like,” Park says.
Students in UIC’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program will be able to gain clinical hours on the mobile unit. With six campuses throughout Illinois, this aligns with UIC Nursing’s goal of providing high-quality nursing education across the state.
The mobile health unit took its maiden voyage on Aug. 26 to the main offices of Jolt Harm Reduction, a Peoria-based organization that provides naloxone distribution, overdose prevention, and other harm-reduction services. The central Peoria location and Jolt’s recovery center in Peoria’s North Valley receive foot traffic from some of the most high-risk individuals in the Peoria community, says Chris Schaffner, executive director of Jolt.
STAY IN PLACE
Rolling stools and drawers can be strapped down or tied to a wall while the unit is in motion.
“A lot of these folks are unsheltered or unstably housed,” says Schaffner. “They struggle with chaotic substance use. They’re engaged in sex work as a means of survival or out of desperation. They live with co-morbidities. We want to be able to put care in proximity to where those folks travel.”
Park says partnering with familiar community organizations like Jolt will be crucial to making inroads in the community, as some patients may have a distrust of medical institutions.
One of the most immediate problems Park and her team will be able to tackle is sexually transmitted diseases in Peoria county, where rates are some of the highest in the state.
“STIs are everywhere,” Park says. “They’re in rural communities just like in urban communities.”
Chlamydia and gonorrhea rates in Peoria County are well above the national average. Chlamydia infections among 15- to 19-year-olds are more
5
WAITING AREA
A retractable awning creates a shady waiting area outside.
EASY ACCESS
As advertised on the unit, interested patients in the Peoria area can fill out an inquiry form on the ENRICH website or call the number on the bus.
6 RAPID TESTING
Female patients can swab themselves vaginally for STI tests or provide a urine sample for a pregnancy test in the unit’s bathroom. Gonorrhea, chlamydia and trichomoniasis testing takes about 30 minutes. Syphilis and HIV tests take 15 minutes.
7 CLEAN HANDS
Hand washing is only a step away, literally. Four sinks are on board.
than twice the rates for both Illinois and the U.S. Syphilis cases are climbing rapidly, with 112 new cases in 2023, a 46% increase from the year before and a 75% increase from 2020.
“I think [the mobile health unit] could be a real game-changer,” says Schaffner. “We’re seeing those [STIs] falling along racial lines. [These patients are in] medically underserved communities and impoverished zip codes, which tend to be more segregated. They have less access to resources and education and treatment. We can fill those gaps by having [the mobile health unit] post up in those locations.”
One of the mobile health unit’s biggest benefits is the rapid, point-of-care testing available for female patients.
Park says the unit can conduct gonorrhea, chlamydia and trichomoniasis testing in 30 minutes. Syphilis and HIV tests take only 15 minutes. This means that a medical assistant
can run testing while Park or her DNP student takes vitals and a health history in one of the on-unit exam rooms.
Because patients will find out the results while still at their appointment, Park can then send a prescription to a pharmacy immediately, or possibly even treat them with medication contained in a medical fridge and freezer on the unit, if the medication is available.
Ultimately, as the mobile health unit begins to gain recognition in Peoria, the hope is that it can begin traveling to even smaller, more rural communities. Transportation is a significant barrier for patients, and often they don’t want to lose a day of work to travel to seek medical care.
“Rural communities lack access,” Park says. “They just can’t access the health care system, so this allows us to bring confidential and culturally sensitive care to them.”
REQUEST
A VISIT
The UI Health mobile unit is eager to schedule visits to schools, businesses, organizations, clinics and community centers in and around Peoria County. Contact us to learn more.
Refocus
A DEVASTATING LOSS GAVE MASTER’S STUDENT AND PHOTOGRAPHER ANJALI PINTO AN UNEXPECTED SUPERPOWER.
“Heartbroken seems too soft an expression. Heart shattered. Heart tortured. Heart obliterated. Mangled. Decimated. Bulldozed.” – Dec. 20, 2017
Those were Anjali Pinto’s words in an Instagram post after her husband, Jacob Johnson, died suddenly from a ruptured aortic dissection at the age of 30. Now, eight years after his death, Pinto says the unimaginable grief has given her an ability to empathize with patients and advocate for them, which she calls her “superpower.”
“I see patients experiencing trauma and grief, and they’re scared out of their minds,” she says. “They don’t know what to expect. I can be there with them through that and help them adjust. I can try to deliver the news in a way that allows them to have some autonomy through the process.”
Before the death of her husband, Pinto was a photojournalist who freelanced for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. She also worked as a photographer for a large restaurant group in Chicago.
She had been married for just 16 months when she discovered Johnson unresponsive in their bathroom on New Year’s Eve 2016. Johnson had no known health problems. The only sign that something might be wrong occurred a few days earlier when he experienced pressure in his neck and spots in his vision. After calling 911, medics tried to revive Johnson for about 30 minutes. He was pronounced dead when he arrived at the emergency room.
One moment he was alive with a bright future; the next, he was gone. Pinto documented her loss with photos on Instagram, processing her grief in a public way and drawing more than 42,000 followers.
Pinto’s brief conversation with the ER doctor now informs her conversations and interactions with patients. She recalls him saying, “I didn’t work on this patient,” when she was looking for an explanation for Johnson’s unexpected death.
“The doctor was so cold and unhelpful and unsympathetic and just unaware of the impact that short conversation was going to have on my life,” she says. “I was up close to how poorly things can be handled when you happen to meet the wrong person at the wrong time.”
After Johnson died, Pinto sought a career change and began considering the health
sciences. Taking prerequisite science courses during the COVID-19 pandemic, she zeroed in on nursing as a career with flexibility, where she could pursue specialties or advanced degrees.
“I wanted to find a place to land where my personal and professional skills could be utilized to help people during vulnerable moments of their lives,” she says.
She cites the incident with the ER doctor as one that’s given her particular empathy when a health issue is likely to dramatically alter a patient’s expectations for their future.
Since finding the graduate-entry master’s program at UIC Nursing, Pinto has flung herself fully into it. Besides her rigorous, full-time course load, she has an externship in labor and delivery at the University of Chicago Medicine and took a job with the Outbreak Response Team, co-led by associate professor REBECCA SINGER, DNP ’18, RN. The team goes into long-term care facilities, migrant shelters and other facilities with vulnerable populations to offer vaccinations and testing. She was on-site during the team’s response to a measles outbreak in a Chicago shelter for migrants last spring.
That experience led to a project—now supported by a Schweitzer Fellowship— to create a holistic support program for migrant women, particularly new mothers, in Chicago shelters. This will include providing a “Mom Go Pack” of essential postpartum supplies, education on safe sleep practices, and building a peer-mentor network for migrants.
Pinto is now a mom herself with a 4-yearold daughter named Ndidi. After seeing pregnant women in migrant shelters, she recognized how “overwhelming” it would be to bring a baby into a foreign environment.
“I try to advocate for people who may have different lived experiences than the nurses and doctors that provide for them,” she says. “I try to act as a bridge. I push back when I hear opinions or generalizations about people that I think are unfair. I’m not afraid to stand up for people.”
PHOTO BY ANJALI PINTO
INSTAGRAM STORIES
Clockwise, from top left: Pinto’s daughter Ndidi plays by the UIC logo outside the College of Nursing building; “Mom Go Packs” for new mothers in Chicago’s migrant shelters; Pinto holding her husband’s hand in the emergency room after he died; Pinto with her daughter; Pinto in front of the UIC Nursing building; Pinto and her husband, Jacob Johnson; Pinto with classmates on a clinical rotation; Clinical associate professor Rebecca Singer, co-leader of the Outbreak Response Team, during a measles outbreak. Photos submitted by Pinto.
SCHOLARSHIPS SKYROCKET
SCHOLARSHIP DOLLARS
SCHOLARSHIPS AWARDED
‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ for students
THE BEDFORD FALLS FOUNDATION GIFT INCLUDES FUNDING FOR SCHOLARSHIPS TO CREATE A COHORT OF MORE THAN 50 CONWAY SCHOLARS.
Student success is the focus of a $2.1 million gift to the UIC College of Nursing from the Bedford Falls Foundation, a private foundation started by The Carlyle Group co-founder and co-chairman William “Bill” E. Conway Jr. and his late wife, Joanne.
The gift fuels three funds at UIC Nursing: a scholarship program for BSN students, a summer prep program for incoming prelicensure students, and a student emergency fund.
The scholarship program creates a cohort of Conway Scholars every year for the next four years. Each of the 53 to 65 BSN students will receive an average scholarship of $6,500.
INVESTING IN FUTURE NURSES
The Bedford Falls Foundation is named for the fictional town in the 1946 film “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It primarily focuses its philanthropy on nursing education and has made gifts to roughly 20 nursing schools, mostly in the mid-Atlantic states. UIC Nursing is the first recipient in the Midwest.
UIC Chancellor Marie Lynn Miranda was instrumental in making the connection between the Bedford Falls Foundation and UIC Nursing.
Many
of the inaugural cohort of Conway Scholars gathered on the
ONE GIFT: THREE FUNDS
Establishes the Joanne and William Conway Nursing Scholarship program
Sustains the Bill and Brittany Conway PREPARE program
Creates the Joanne Barkett Conway Student Emergency Fund
“When I learned about Bedford Falls Foundation’s commitment to supporting nursing education and advancing social mobility, I saw tremendous alignment between the foundation and UIC,” Miranda says. “Our mission at UIC is to provide the broadest access to the highest levels of educational, research and clinical excellence—and this gift will help us do just that.”
Familial ties prompted the foundation to seek a partnership in Chicago. Conway Jr. got his MBA in finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. His son, Bill Conway III, is an alderman in Chicago, and his daughter-in-law, Brittany, is a two-time alumna of the University of Illinois.
“Nurses are essential to America’s health, and schools like the UIC College of Nursing are positioned to prepare more well-qualified nurses to meet the nation’s health care needs,” says the elder Conway. “By reducing the financial burden for students at the UIC College of Nursing, we hope those students can focus on their academics and find success in the program and their careers as nurses.”
$1.5 MILLION IN
NEW SCHOLARSHIPS
The new scholarship program—the Joanne and William Conway Nursing Scholarship—will support BSN students with demonstrated financial need. The scholarships are intended to allow Conway Scholars to work fewer hours at jobs, take out fewer loans, focus more on their studies, and graduate with little or no debt.
UIC Nursing is committed to educating and graduating a diversity of students— including those who are economically disadvantaged—so that the pool of working nurses is representative of the population at large.
UIC was ranked by U.S. News & World Report in its 2024 national college rankings among the top 20 “Performers on Social Mobility,” measured by the number of graduates who received Pell Grants. Most Pell Grants are awarded to students whose adjusted gross family incomes are under $50,000.
The Bedford Falls gift will also sustain a UIC Nursing pilot program called the Prelicensure Readiness Education Program for Aspiring Registered nursEs. Formerly known as simply PREPARE, it is now the Bill and Brittany Conway PREPARE Program (see p. 32).
Lastly, the gift will allow UIC Nursing to establish a student emergency fund called the Joanne Barkett Conway Student Emergency Fund. Students who experience a financial emergency that is beyond their control and would jeopardize their education will be able to apply for assistance from the fund. These needs can include such things as sudden changes to housing or transportation that could cause a student to drop out.
“I know from my own educational experiences at the University of Illinois what a transformative environment it can be,” says Brittany Conway, who received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2011 and her law degree from the UIC School of Law in 2014. “I’m pleased that this gift will be able to help nursing students succeed in their academic pursuits and graduate, going on to fill much-needed roles in the nursing workforce.”
“When I was accepted into the nursing program at UIC, my husband and I decided that I would focus solely on my studies and not work. However, at the beginning of this year, my husband, who is the sole provider for our family, lost his job. I was overwhelmed with fear and uncertainty, believing I would not be able to afford the costs of the program each semester. … [When I heard that I would be receiving a Conway Scholarship], I could hardly believe it. It felt like a dream but now I know it is true: someone believed in me. For me, this scholarship is not just financial support; it is a renewed hope for a brighter future and confidence that my goals are within reach.”
— EVELYN ALVARADO, BSN STUDENT, CONWAY SCHOLAR
Conway Scholars received $6,500 to $7,500, depending on whether they received other scholarships.
A dream denied leads to scholarship
As a high school senior at Lindblom Technical High School, located in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood, Eugenia Cobbinah was an exceptional student. She was smart. She was vibrant. She was career-oriented. She wanted to be a nurse and planned to attend the UIC College of Nursing after she graduated.
“She was incredibly diligent and would show up early nearly every morning,” recalls Rich Lufrano, who was her teacher in honors literature. “She would always come 30 minutes early, at 7:30 in the morning, to say, ‘Hey, can you go over this essay with me, or this assignment we had? I want to make sure I get a good grade on it.’ If you have teenagers, you know how hard it is to get them up early for school. Eugenia was special.”
After Eugenia Cobbinah’s death in 1996, her former teacher Rich Lufrano organized a scholarship fund in her name. He was inspired by nurses’ work during the COVID-19 pandemic to revitalize the fund with many small gifts from friends and family. His goal is to bring the fund, now at around $42,000, to $100,000.
You can make a gift online to support the Eugenia M. Cobbinah Memorial Scholarship Fund.
The National Honor Society student also tutored underclassman during her lunch periods and participated in a Saturday college outreach program run by UIC’s Urban Health Program. She worked part-time as a cashier at Jewel and helped take care of her father before he died of cancer her senior year, according to a Chicago Reader article about Cobbinah.
“Eugenia was amazing,” Lufrano says. “She was just one of those kids who lifted up everyone around her. It was impossible to be in a bad mood around her. She wouldn’t stand for it. She was so earnest about her desire to succeed.”
But Cobbinah never got a chance to see her plans come to fruition. On June 2, 1996, just a few days before her high school graduation, Cobbinah was killed in a drive-by shooting, gunned down on the sidewalk as she was walking to the store on a Sunday evening, according to police reports.
“People were in shock,” Lufrano recalls. “There was a state of disbelief. [It left us asking,] ‘How could this happen, and how could this happen to her, someone so bright and with such a bright future?’”
It’s been 28 years since Cobbinah’s death. Since then, Lufrano stopped teaching at what is now called Lindblom Math & Science Academy and moved to Portland, Oregon. But when the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of health care workers, he was reminded of Cobbinah’s aspirations to be a nurse. He thought about the number of people she would have helped in her life and career had she lived.
“I started reading all these articles reminding me, and the rest of America, about how health care workers, and nurses in particular, are so important, and play such a vital role,” he says. “It just sparked something. It reminded me of what Eugenia could have been and would have been.
“As a first-generation college student and a refugee, my educational journey has been filled with challenges, and rebuilding my life in a new country has not been easy. My father, the primary income earner for our family, has faced difficulties in supporting us, especially with my mother’s inability to work due to illness. This scholarship not only alleviates the financial burden that threatens my dreams but also enables me to focus on my studies at UIC without the constant worry of financial strain.”
She would have been out there on the front lines, helping people during the pandemic.”
Lufrano wanted to revitalize an endowed scholarship fund that he started to honor Eugenia in 1996.
In 2022, he re-told Cobbinah’s story on Facebook and Instagram, appealing to his personal network, and raised $7,500. In 2023, he tried again and raised a little over $10,000. His goal is to bring the fund’s principal to $100,000, which would yield a substantial annual scholarship of several thousand dollars in perpetuity in her name.
He wants the scholarship amount to make a difference in the life of a student—a student like Cobbinah.
“It’s really for a student who has a need, who doesn’t come from a household with money, who wants to devote themselves to nursing as a profession,” he says. “That’s the goal, to send someone to the UIC College of Nursing in her memory, because she never got the chance to achieve her dream.”
Donor creates first scholarship for RN to BSN students
In Luella Schraffenberger’s accomplished, 50-year career as a registered nurse, her one regret was that she never got her bachelor’s degree.
Her daughter, Lou Ann, has now endowed a scholarship in her mother’s name for UIC College of Nursing students in the online RN to BSN program: the UIC Luella K. Schraffenberger, RN, Memorial Scholarship.
“If that [program] had been around when Mom was around, she would’ve been the first to sign up,” Lou Ann Schraffenberger says of her mother, who died in 2003. “I wanted Mom’s legacy to be remembered, and she was such a believer in education. The idea of a scholarship in the RN to BSN program with her name attached was perfect.”
UIC Nursing’s online RN to BSN program is now the largest at the college, with nearly 500 students actively enrolled (see p. 18).
The scholarship is the first at UIC Nursing to specifically prioritize students in the RN to BSN program, which—now fully online— allows nurses to earn a bachelor’s degree while they continue to work.
“[To get a bachelor’s degree] Mom would’ve had to quit work and go back to school,” Lou Ann Schraffenberger says. “Dad died when I was in high school, so it was just me and Mom, trying to make it.”
Luella Schraffenberger, who went to a nursing diploma program, spent 43 years working at South Shore Hospital, a community hospital in southeast Chicago,
holding leadership positions such as operating room supervisor, assistant director of nurses and director of nurses.
The elder Schraffenberger mentored nurses to be supervisors. To prepare them for leadership positions, she wanted them to understand “the total picture of health care,” her daughter says. She believed a bachelor’s degree was an important step in that progression.
“If a nurse was a diploma school or associate degree graduate, Mom encouraged them to earn a bachelor’s degree,” Lou Ann Schraffenberger says. “She thought—and told anyone who stood long enough to listen—that nurses ran the hospital. If some other people don’t show up for work, you might not notice, but if the nurses didn’t show up, you’d notice.”
Lou Ann Schraffenberger says her mother’s passion for higher education extended to her daughter. When Lou Ann wanted to get her associate degree in medical records administration, her mother wouldn’t let her, insisting she enroll in a bachelor’s program. Lou Ann got her bachelor’s degree from UIC (then known as the University of Illinois at the Medical Center).
Schraffenberger was proud of her daughter’s degree, and she was loyal to UIC for another reason, too. In 1978, she had cancer treatment for metastatic melanoma at the University of Illinois Hospital. She lived another 25 years.
“She loved UIC,” Lou Ann Schraffenberger says. “First, it got me a degree. Second, it saved her life.”
“I have been a nurse for nearly 16 years, and I am finally on my journey to a BSN. Over the years, I had given every excuse as to why I couldn’t go back to school for my bachelor’s degree: my kids are too small; my work schedule won’t allow it; I can’t afford it; I don’t have time. In all reality, I think it was mostly fear holding me back. One of the most personal and important reasons I’ve returned to school is to prove to myself and my children that it’s never too late to pursue education. I want them to understand that learning is a lifelong process, and that it’s possible to return to school at any age or stage in life to achieve your goals. [This scholarship] brings me closer to achieving my goals, both personally and professionally.”
– MAEGAN R. OJEDA, RN TO BSN STUDENT, SCHRAFFENBERGER SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT
INSPIRED BY THESE STORIES?
Visit our website to learn how you can make an impact at UIC Nursing.
Be prepared
FACULTY BELIEVE A NEW SUMMER BRIDGE PROGRAM WILL INCREASE STUDENT SUCCESS IN CHALLENGING FIRST-SEMESTER COURSES, IMPROVE RETENTION RATES THROUGHOUT THE PROGRAM, AND BOOST PASS RATES OF THE NCLEX LICENSING EXAM.
By the time classes started in fall 2024, new prelicensure UIC Nursing students were already old pros.
All students in the BSN and MSN for non-RNs programs spent six weeks over the summer enrolled in a pilot program to prepare them for the rigors of nursing school.
The program was originally funded with a $148,000 grant from the Illinois Board of Higher Education and has been sustained with a gift from the Bedford Falls Foundation, naming it the Bill and Brittany Conway PREPARE Program, which stands for Prelicensure Readiness Education Program for Aspiring Registered nursEs (see p. 28).
Thanks to the grants, PREPARE was offered free of charge to all students starting a prelicensure program in 2024 and will continue to be available for free.
“We know students come to us with different educational backgrounds,” says associate dean for academic affairs
LIZ AQUINO, PhD ’13, RN. “We really want to make sure we’re setting them up for success. Through this program, we’re able to try to level the playing field by using assessments and creating a comprehensive preparation of the curriculum. [The goal is] to really help them have that strong foundation before they even start the nursing program.”
In addition to Aquino, the program was developed by AMY JOHNSON, PhD ’18, RN, director of the BSN program, and ROBIN JOHNSON, DNP ’17, MSN ’13, CPNP-PC, director of the MSN program.
PREPARE centers around two virtual nursing educational products from ATI (Assessment Technologies Institute): Launch, a prep program; and TEAS, an assessment program.
Students learn writing and study skills, get acquainted with UIC College of Nursing resources, and receive an introduction to basic nursing concepts. In 2024, the largely online program included one in-person day on campus so they could begin to form connections with classmates.
(l-r) Faculty members Liz Aquino, Robin Johnson and Amy Johnson developed the program. BELOW: Students came to campus for an in-person day over the summer as part of the PREPARE program.
“We know from the literature that there are key factors, such as having a foundation in anatomy and physiology and other science-intensive courses, that really make a difference in a student’s ability to do well in the program,” says Amy Johnson. “They’re the predictors. ATI’s valid and evidence-based program covers a lot of that science, as well as math and verbal skills.”
Because students enter the traditional BSN program as juniors, they can satisfy the requirements for prerequisite courses— such as anatomy and physiology—at various institutions. The same is true for the master’s program for non-RNs, who already have a bachelor’s degree in a different subject and are now seeking a nursing degree, says Robin Johnson.
“They’re meeting our expected qualifications to get admitted and are still having challenges that first semester,” she says. “What we’ve been seeing is that those who don’t come in with that strong base continue to struggle throughout the program. This will help them become safe and effective nurses.”
Another benefit of the new program is that faculty will have a better understanding of a student’s strengths and weaknesses before the semester begins, so they can try to customize a path for each student.
“We’re creating individualized success plans, based on the data we’re collecting, so that we’ll really know where students will stand, and can help support them in that first semester,” Aquino says.
Celebrate small steps
SHANNON HALLOWAY IS FOCUSED ON CHANGING “LIFESTYLE HEALTH BEHAVIORS,” ACTIVITIES PEOPLE CAN DO THROUGHOUT THEIR DAILY LIVES TO IMPACT COGNITION BEFORE SIGNS OF IMPAIRMENT OCCUR.
I knew I wanted to work with older adults starting in high school. In both volunteer and paid positions, I worked as a caregiver and nursing assistant for older adults in hospitals, retirement facilities and home settings. I continued to work in various settings as a nurse technician as I completed my BSN degree.
After graduation, I moved into critical care as a registered nurse. I noticed how traumatizing the cognitive changes were, not only for patients but also for their family members. Treatment of this is important, of course, but I also wanted to know more about prevention.
what people want to and can engage in, rather than lab- or gym-based interventions, which are often out of reach for older adults.
For the past four years, I’ve been conducting an NIH-funded trial called MindMoves, which is a combination of lifestyle physical activity and cognitive training. We enrolled 253 women over the age of 65 with cardiovascular disease in the study.
The Move portion of the trial focuses on small changes to physical activity over long periods of time—increasing steps and “Active Zone” minutes using the FitBit app. It’s super approachable, customizable and individualized to the participants’ progress. That makes is easer to adopt and maintain, even for people who have mobility issues, chronic health conditions, or other life situations that impact their participation.
I focus on promoting lifestyle health behaviors to prevent cognitive impairment, prevent dementia, and optimize brain health over time in older adults. I like to focus on at-risk populations, such as women with cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease is a leading risk factor for dementia and other cognitive issues. Women are more at risk than men for underdetection and undertreatment of cognitive impairment.
What makes me a little different is that I focus on realistic lifestyle health behaviors—
Mind includes cognitive training, which are structured cognitive exercises or brain games that have been shown to improve cognition. We provided these through an app called BrainHQ on an iPad, which we lent to participants for the duration of the trial.
We’re hypothesizing that there’s something special about doing two of these activities together. We call it synergistic, meaning that the effects of both interventions together are amplified.
What was really inspiring about this trial is that, although we received our funding in April 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, our study ran continuously and did not have any delays.
When other community programs were pausing or shutting down, leaving older adults feeling socially isolated, we continued offering virtual group meetings through our physical activity program. Our participants had an average of more than four chronic health conditions, putting them at higher risk for poor outcomes related to COVID-19. Through this program, they could still socialize in a safe environment with other women, who—although it was a diverse group—all had the commonality of having cardiovascular disease and experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic.
I know how busy nurses are, and I know how tough it is to change behaviors in patients, particularly in older adults who have a lot of chronic health problems and other limitations. I want to empower nurses, who can empower their patients, to see that even a small behavior change is good.
We can celebrate those small changes while still working toward the clinical guidelines that are messaged more frequently for patients. Any step in the right direction, even super small changes—such as reading, puzzles, social activities or a heart-healthy diet—can move the dial for brain health, cardiovascular health, and overall fitness and wellness.
Shannon Halloway PhD, RN, FAAN, FAHA
Associate professor and Heung Soo & Mi Ja Kim Endowed Faculty Scholar
Returning results
RESEARCHERS OFTEN LEARN A LOT FROM THE PARTICIPANTS THEY STUDY, BUT ARE THEY SHARING THAT INFORMATION WITH THEIR RESEARCH SUBJECTS?
Returning test results to participants in clinical trials is not a routine research practice, but according to a new study by assistant professor DENISE KENT, PhD, APRN, it should be.
Kent was the lead author on a paper published in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, which found that returning results to research participants can boost enrollment and engagement in studies and create secondary health benefits.
“It goes without saying, but in order to conduct human research, we need human volunteers,” says Kent. “If we ask people to participate in research and we learn something about their health, we need to share it with them. It’s common sense that
if we treat people right during the research process, they’ll come back and want to participate in more research.”
Kent and other researchers interviewed participants in the RECOVER initiative, a national study of people diagnosed with long COVID, about their desire to receive the results of medical tests performed during that study.
They found that two-thirds of participants valued receiving the results of procedures such as blood work and genetic screening, and that many used that data for followup conversations with their primary care providers.
Kent adds that making the return of research results standard practice could help bolster enrollment and engagement in clinical studies and trials among commonly underrepresented groups, including Black and Latino populations.
Capturing COVID stories
PROJECT WILL BUILD AN ARCHIVE OF EAST ST. LOUIS RESIDENTS’ EXPERIENCES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.
East St. Louis, Illinois, an underresourced community directly across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic—particularly among the elderly population.
KAREN FLYNN, the Terrance and Karyn Holm Endowed Professor of Nursing, received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to collect oral histories from senior citizens and first responders about their experiences during the pandemic.
Flynn, who is also the director of UIC Nursing’s Midwest Nursing History Research Center, is focusing on “elder stalwarts,” because they are “the backbone of Black communities,” she says.
She adds: “Given that a significant number of elderly people died from COVID-19 in East St. Louis, there is a particular urgency to conducting these histories.” First responders will include clergy, nurses, teachers and funeral directors, “who were tirelessly supporting and caring for their communities,” she says.
Community collection events will allow her to involve children and teens, “whose young lives were upended by the pandemic but whose voices are often missing in academic and public-facing scholarships,” she says.
Flynn’s proposal is one of 18 projects that were awarded Cultural and Community Resilience grants, part of the American Tapestry initiative, intended to support community-based efforts to preserve cultural heritage in the wake of climate change and COVID-19.
Study participant Karen Burton, left, discusses test results with Denise Kent, assistant professor of nursing and medicine.
PHOTO BY JENNY
Predicting premature birth
A NEW ULTRASOUND METHOD CAN PREDICT WHETHER A PREGNANT PERSON IS AT RISK OF DELIVERING A BABY PREMATURELY, WHICH OCCURS IN UPWARD OF 10% OF PREGNANCIES IN THE U.S.
Clinicians could know as early as 23 weeks into a pregnancy whether a person is at risk of preterm birth using quantitative ultrasound, which measures microstructural changes in a woman’s cervix.
That’s according to the research published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology Maternal Fetal Medicine by lead author and UIC Nursing professor emerita BARBARA MCFARLIN, PhD ’05, MS ’84, BSN ’74, CNM, RDMS, FACNM, FAAN.
HIGHLIGHTING TRAUMA
Trauma-informed health care—the consideration of how one or more traumatic events affect someone’s physical and mental health— is increasingly recognized as a critical part of health care delivery.
UIC College of Nursing assistant professor ELLEN GOLDSTEIN, PhD, was co-guest editor on a special section on trauma-informed
The current method for assessing a woman’s risk of preterm birth is based solely on whether she has previously given birth prematurely. This means there has been no way to assess risk in a first pregnancy.
“Today, clinicians wait for signs and symptoms of a preterm birth,” such as a ruptured membrane, McFarlin says. “Our technique would be helpful in making decisions based on the tissue and not just on symptoms.”
health care in The Permanente Journal. The section featured 13 articles focusing on how early-life experiences correlate with health outcomes and how to incorporate that research into all aspects of health care.
“A lot of this work stems from a movement that’s been happening over the last couple decades, to first acknowledge that there is trauma, which has been the elephant in the
The new method is the result of more than 20 years of collaboration between McFarlin and Bill O’Brien, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
The new approach differs from a traditional ultrasound where a picture is produced from the data received. In quantitative ultrasound, a traditional ultrasound is performed but the radio frequency data itself is read and analyzed to determine tissue characteristics.
In a study of 429 women who gave birth without induction at the University of Illinois Hospital, the new method was effective at predicting the risk of preterm births during first pregnancies. And for women who were having a subsequent pregnancy, combining the data from quantitative ultrasound with the woman’s delivery history was more effective at assessing risk than just using her history.
While not all premature babies have health complications, it is well documented in numerous research studies that the earlier a baby is born, the greater the risk for that baby to have short-term and even long-term complications.
room,” Goldstein says. “If we’re not acknowledging it when we’re working with health issues, whether men tal health or physical health, then we’re missing a poten tially major contributing factor to someone’s current state of health and a cornerstone for prevention and treatment.”
The Permanente Journal is a peer-reviewed, openaccess journal available for free online.
Facing fears of hypoglycemia
FOR SOME INDIVIDUALS WITH TYPE 1 DIABETES, FEAR OF HYPOGLYCEMIA—OR LOW BLOOD SUGAR—CAN LEAD TO SLEEPLESSNESS, ANXIETY, INCREASED GLUCOSE VARIABILITY AND DIFFICULTY MANAGING THEIR DISEASE.
“It’s appropriate to feel some worry, but in focus groups we heard from people living with type 1 diabetes who had consistently and repeatedly identified how fear of hypoglycemia was a barrier and a stressor in their ability to care for their diabetes—an ever-present anxiety,” says UIC Nursing professor PAMELA MARTYN-NEMETH, PhD, RN, FAHA, FPCNA, FAAN.
To address this, Martyn-Nemeth and her team undertook a pilot study of 50 young adults aged 18 to 35 with fear of hypoglycemia to test an eight-week cognitive behavioral therapy intervention called FREE [Fear Reduction Efficacy Evaluation].
Enlisting men
COULD MALE CAREGIVERS BE A KEY TO IMPROVING BLACK GIRLS’ SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH?
The statistics are stark: Nationally, one in four Black girls between the ages of 14 and 19 will acquire a sexually transmitted infection. In Chicago, STI rates among Black girls and women are higher than for other racial groups, with 13- to 29-year-old Black females making up 56% of new HIV diagnoses.
to a paper published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research in June. They also had a significant improvement in self-management behavior and glucose control, based on time-in-range standards. Martyn-Nemeth was the lead author on the paper, which received the journal’s Editor’s Choice Award in October.
Those individuals in the FREE group received eight weekly, one-hour individual sessions using cognitive behavior therapy, a type of counseling aimed to modify
Assistant professor NATASHA CROOKS, PhD, RN, wants to help improve Black girls’ sexual and reproductive health by empowering an often-overlooked resource: girls’ male caregivers. These could be their dads, brothers, uncles, cousins or other caring men in a girl’s life.
With the help of a $4 million, five-year grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, Crooks is testing a workshop curriculum she developed for girls and their male caregivers designed to help them understand and more comfortably discuss female reproductive and sexual health.
“There’s literally no other programming that engages male caregivers,” for girls’ sexual and reproductive health, Crooks says. “It’s dads and boys, and moms and girls. But that’s doing a disservice. What about the dads who really want to be involved? It shouldn’t be this awkward, uncomfortable conversation.”
The curriculum, called IMAGE, focuses on improving communication and creating
relaxation training and exposure
information as a “biofeedback cue,” a check on their decision-making.
“We did focus groups with participants after the study,” Martyn-Nemeth says. “That was very eye-opening because whether they received [the intervention] in-person or remotely, they indicated how essential and important this was for them. [They shared] how they began to think about diabetes in a different way and that they never considered how their emotions could play into it.”
more comfort when talking about the potentially fraught topics of sex, bodies and relationships. It grew out of Crooks’ dissertation research, during which she interviewed Black girls. She says "many specifically [told] me they wanted to hear the male perspective on how they could better protect themselves.”
Crooks and her colleagues are partnering with six community-based organizations that serve predominantly Black areas on the South and West sides of Chicago. To further test the effectiveness of IMAGE, they hope to recruit 300 girls and their male caregivers who will be randomly assigned to participate in IMAGE or a different health program.
The researchers will compare outcomes for girls in the two groups. They’ll look at risk factors for STIs, such as condom use and the number of sexual partners a girl has, as well as incidences of STIs six months and 12 months after the program. They aim to use what they learn to improve IMAGE, which they hope will continue to be offered by the community partners.
ROCKFORD
Chancellor Miranda meets ‘Chancellor’ and ‘Miranda’
On a cloudy afternoon in May at Twin Brook Dairy Farm in Union, Illinois—about 64 miles northwest of Chicago—UIC Chancellor Marie Lynn Miranda met her namesakes.
“Chancellor” and “Miranda,” identical twin Jersey calves born on April 13, were named in honor of the university’s recently invested chancellor to symbolize and celebrate UIC Nursing’s dedication to rural health.
“It was wonderful to have a personal interaction with the faculty, staff, partners and places that enable our College of Nursing to commit to rural health education and practice,” says Miranda. “And how could I not be honored to have such cute namesakes?”
The McHenry County dairy farm in Union, population 551, is one of several farms that hosts field trips for students in UIC’s rural nursing certificate program, developed at the college’s Rockford campus. Such visits give students a first-hand appreciation of the unique health and wellness challenges that farming families face every day. Twin Brook owners Jim and Jill Sewell treated Miranda and other UIC visitors to a full farm tour after introducing the calves.
Among other guests at the farm were UIC Nursing Dean EILEEN COLLINS, PhD, RN, FAAN, ATSF, and LAURA MONAHAN, DNP ’16, MS ’12, RN, OSF, MBA, director of the UIC College of Nursing-Rockford Campus, who spearheaded the naming and the visit.
“We’re not just honoring our esteemed new leader with this gesture; we’re calling attention to the diversity of populations UIC Nursing both educates and serves,” says Monahan. “It’s a visible, symbolic moment to celebrate UIC’s impact in Illinois beyond the city where it’s based.”
Approximately 1.5 million people live in rural counties across Illinois, where they face longer wait times or must travel farther to see health care providers. In Illinois, rural counties face a shortage of mental health providers, and there are half the number of physicians per 100,000 residents compared to urban counties— a two-pronged crisis for which nurse practitioners can provide relief.
Chancellor Marie Lynn Miranda was delighted when “Chancellor” and “Miranda” greeted her just as they would anyone, blissfully unaware that they were meeting the leader of the second largest university in Illinois.
SPRINGFIELD
How do we love thee?
Let us count the ways that Memorial Health’s latest gift of $5 million is supporting our Springfield campus, embedded at the University of Illinois Springfield.
Partnerships like this one benefit not only Memorial Health, UIS and UIC Nursing, but the entire central Illinois region. The steps we are taking now will ensure Memorial and other health care organizations can continue caring for local residents in the decades to come. We’re pleased to have both UIS and UIC Nursing as partners in this important work to improve the health of the communities we serve.”
– ED CURTIS, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF MEMORIAL HEALTH
SCHOLARSHIPS
Nearly 40 students, including BSN senior Elizabeth Olivan-Martinez (right), are receiving scholarships of $15,000 each from Memorial Health this year, a sizable amount that nearly covers the cost of tuition and fees for in-state students.
STUDENT WELLNESS
Memorial supports Wellness Wednesdays, which includes a popular weekly yoga class, as well as other events, such as a back-to-school picnic.
ACADEMIC SUPPORT
Memorial covers expenses for students to receive weekly peer tutoring and free ATI software, which has replaced textbooks and saves them around $3,000 per year.
RECRUITMENT
Billboards and recruitment events, such as Nurse for a Day, paid for by Memorial, have made a huge difference in enrollment, which went up by nearly 25% this year in Springfield.
EQUIPMENT
Memorial also funds cutting-edge equipment like two life-size, interactive Anatomage Tables, which helps prenursing students at UIS with anatomy and physiology.
URBANA
An easy decision
A SURPRISE BENEFICIARY TO HER FRIEND’S ESTATE, CHRIS WHIPPO KNEW JUST WHAT TO DO.
When JEAN STOUT died in December 2022, Chris Whippo, BSN ’73, MS ’88, was surprised to find out she was designated to manage her friend’s more than half-million dollar estate.
Stout, a former medical office administrator, had left no instructions, but Whippo says it was “a really easy” decision to make a significant gift to the UIC College of Nursing with the money.
“Jean had a history of giving to the College of Nursing,” Whippo says.
The gift of $500,000 supports three areas that were important to Stout. It established a Jean C. Stout Endowed Faculty Scholar, awarded earlier this year to Urbana campus director KRISTA JONES, DNP ’11, MS ’07, RN, PHNA-BC, FAAN (see sidebar). It also contributed to the Dean’s Catalyst Fund, which gives the dean flexibility to recruit and retain faculty, and it allowed the college to
purchase additional simulation lab equipment for its campus in Urbana, where Stout lived.
UIC NURSING AT THE CENTER
Whippo and Stout’s friendship began at a UIC Nursing event in Champaign-Urbana about 25 years ago. Whippo remembers wondering what had brought Stout there. After all, Stout was not an alumna or a nurse.
“She told me, ‘I’ve always valued what nurses do. I don’t think enough credit is given to them. I decided I was going to give donations to nurses, and I picked out the [UIC] College of Nursing,’” recalls Whippo, who worked as an admissions counselor and advisor on the UIC Nursing-Urbana campus for 13 years.
Indeed, during her life, Stout made annual charitable gift annuities to establish the Jean C. Stout Nursing Scholarship,
In September, in her role as chair of the Council of Public Health Nursing Organizations, Jones joined other nursing leaders in Washington to discuss the health effects of increasingly severe and frequent heat waves.
which supports UIC Nursing students in the PhD program.
“She was kind of a forward thinker in that she knew we’re going to need nurses, so let’s get nurses educated [with advanced degrees] so that they can train more nurses,” Whippo says. “She was right on target.”
Over the years, Stout and Whippo became better friends, connecting over their shared support and visits to Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign.
Whippo says Stout “knew the difference a nurse can make.” In addition to her work in a medical office, Stout was also a hospice volunteer and had been hospitalized for illnesses of her own, all places where she encountered nurses.
“The College of Nursing is really at the center of it all,” Whippo says. “It’s kind of amazing, right? To meet at a college event and then have all of this unfold.”
JONES NAMED INAUGURAL STOUT SCHOLAR UIC Nursing-Urbana campus director KRISTA JONES, DNP ’11, MSN ’07, RN, PHNABC, FAAN, was named the inaugural Jean C. Stout Endowed Faculty Scholar.
“Dr. Jones has an impressive record of research and scholarly contributions,” says UIC Nursing Dean EILEEN COLLINS. “She is the primary or co-investigator of 24 population health grants, with funding totaling almost $5 million. Most notable is her work to create academicpractice partnerships to improve the health of populations.”
For the last 10 years, Jones has led a team of nurses and academic librarians to increase the use of evidence-based practice among nurses and other public health professionals. The project, called Nursing Experts: Translating the Evidence, has received five cycles of grant funding from the National Libraries of Medicine.
Funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has allowed her to conduct statewide service projects that have enhanced mental health counseling and sexual health services for teens. Jones has also influenced the international health care workforce through collaborations with the Pan American Health Organization.
Chris Whippo and Jean Stout
QUAD CITIES
Merriment in Moline
The UIC Nursing-Quad Cities campus celebrated its 2023 and 2024 graduating classes at a celebration on April 24 at Stoney Creek Hotel and Conference Center in Moline, Illinois.
Quad Cities campus coordinator
MARA CLARKE, DNP ’18, MS ’04, NP-C, welcomed attendees, and Dean EILEEN COLLINS, PhD, RN, FAAN, ATSF, also addressed the room. RN to BSN program co-director KATE TREDWAY, MS ’97, presented the Distinguished Alumnus Award to LINDA OLDS STEINER, MS ’06, BSN ’97.
Donor JOHN KUSTES, left, and recently retired Quad Cities campus director KATHLEEN SPARBEL, PhD, MS ’96, FNP-BC, share a moment at the event. Kustes established the Lynn E. Kustes Nursing Scholarship for Quad Cities students as a tribute to his late wife, LYNN KUSTES, BSN ’82.
coordinator
Honors and blessings
Interim Peoria campus director
SARA MCPHERSON emceed an Honors Dinner and Blessing of the Hands Ceremony on April 16 in East Peoria.
Dean Eileen Collins and Rockford campus director
LAURA MONAHAN, DNP ’16, MS ’12, RN, OSF, MBA, were also on hand to celebrate graduates MEG (TOMLINS) TROGLIO, DNP ’24, and TIFFANY THOMPSON, DNP ’24.
CLARK HONORED FOR VOLUNTEER
WORK
Peoria Alumni Committee member DEB CLARK, MS ’84, received the Golden Sandwich Award from Peoria food pantry Sophia’s Kitchen for her volunteer work over the last 10 years, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to written remarks praising her work: “Her get-towork, no-drama attitude is a balm in the chaos that is sometimes Sophia’s Kitchen. We know we can count on her in any crisis to have a level head and great advice.”
Also in attendance were Kathleen Kapheem Kelly and Kevin Kelly, children of NORMA KELLY, for whom the Norma R. Kelly Peoria Nursing Scholarship Fund is named. JEN CUNNINGHAM, DNP ’23, performed the Blessing of the Hands ceremony.
Half a century
This year marks 50 years since UIC Nursing welcomed the first class of students to its Peoria campus. In the fall of 1973, as the campus launch approached, “a deluge of more than 80 student applications emphasized the desperate need for the program,” according to historical records. From those applications, six students were admitted under the direction of Felissa Lashley (formerly Cohen), PhD, FAAN, and began the medical-surgical nursing graduate sequence in March 1974. In the early years, faculty members from Chicago traveled to Peoria to teach. Students also learned from video tapes and PLATO, the University of Illinois-created computer-based learning system. A collaboration with the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria also allowed for an interdisciplinary approach, with each college offering guest lectures to the other.
(l-r) Scholarship recipient BRITTANY CASHDOLLAR; Meg (Tomlins) Troglio, DNP ’24; Tiffany Thompson, DNP ’24; and scholarship recipients NIKITA THOMAS; PEYTON RODRIGUEZ; and ANGELA O’BRYANT
(l-r) Peoria campus alumni committee members SCOTTI NIEUKIRK, UIC Nursing-Peoria staff member; Sara McPherson; JOAN RUPPMAN, MS ’83; Meg (Tomlins) Troglio, DNP ’24; and Deb Clark, MS ’84.
845 S Damen Ave, MC 802 Chicago, IL 60612
Christine Schwartz makes history.
In 2024, alumna Christine Schwartz, BSN ’70, pledged $10 million to seed the launch of a nurse anesthesia program. It is the largest gift in the history of the UIC College of Nursing.
The gift will ensure that DNP students enrolled in this program will have access to high-fidelity, simulated operating rooms and additional spaces that are critical to their success. on page 17
