bc
preview
nursing
fall/winter 2007
2 from the dean
Dean Barbara Hazard comments on leadership
and diversity in the Connell School
news
3 new director of center for nursing research
Barbara Wolfe champions interdisciplinary
collaboration
4 faculty member honored as living legend
14
Sr. Callista Roy named Living Legend by the
American Academy of Nursing
30 cson celebrates 60 years
features
14 can nurses solve our nation’s problems?
AARP President-Elect Jennie Chin Hansen ’70
30
discusses her work with older Americans
22 the art of nursing
Senior Nursing students explore their vision of
the profession
22
voices
10 faculty publications
11 interactive VOICE
28 student VOICE: jennifer cocio-thompson
32
Reflections on an advanced practice role
through the lens of palliative care
29 profile: chad abraham minnich
Transforming Connell School communications
32 alumnae/i VOICE
44 dialogue
45
Dorothy Jones and Ellen Mahoney muse on
the aging population
14
3
22
anne fahrenbach ’07
dean
Barbara Hazard, PhD, RN, FAAN
editor
Joshua J. Jensen
“We recognize unique pieces of ourselves and unique means of expression”—page 22
art director and associate editor
Chad Abraham Minnich
contributors
Jennifer Cocio-Thompson, BSN, RN
Dorothy Jones, EdD, RNC, ANP, FAAN
Ellen Mahoney, DNSc, RNCS
Kathleen Sullivan
The Boston College Nursing VOICE is published twice
a year by the Boston College William F. Connell School
of Nursing, Office of Marketing and External Relations.
We welcome letters and comments from readers at:
Office of Marketing and External Relations
William F. Connell School of Nursing
Boston College
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
or by email: nursing.alums@bc.edu
Fall 2007
1
from the dean Barbara Hazard
Diversity and Innovation
in Leadership
news new direction
Barbara Wolfe Named Director
Center for Nursing Research
The news that our own Sr. Callista
Roy has been named a Living
Legend of the American Academy
of Nursing celebrates a career that
has been about leading knowledge
development within the field of
nursing, beginning at a time when
many questioned whether nursing
had its own knowledge to develop.
The article about the “Art of
Nursing” reflects our students’
vision of what nursing is about—
the first steps in the development
of the individual as leader.
So why do we care about nursing leadership? Perhaps we care
because of the challenges of our
time. As a profession, we face a
potentially catastrophic nursing
2
Boston College Nursing VOICE
Our cover story about Jennie
Chin Hansen ’70 and her
work with AARP showcases
one nurse’s leadership, and
how a nursing perspective
can contribute to the betterment of society in a broad,
interdisciplinary way.
shortage, and an equally alarming
shortage of nurse educators to train
new nurses. We face a heathcare
system that many believe to be
broken and in need of significant
reform.
candidates will be attracted to
assume leadership in this amazing
school. Given the excellent faculty
and the plans for a new building,
the new Dean will be able to
lead the school and meet new
challenges.
I believe that nurse leaders can
and will meet these challenges.
We will face the challenge and
create a vision of nursing and
heathcare that embodies the core
set of beliefs that are the essence
of nursing.
Many of you know that I will retire
at the end of this academic year.
Although leaving BC will be sad
for me in many ways, I am excited
about the possibilities for the
school. I am confident that strong
Barbara Hazard, PhD, RN, FAAN
Dean and Professor
MTS Photography
MTS Photography
What does it mean to be a
nursing leader? This issue of
the Nursing VOICE is full of
examples that we can follow.
The Connell School of Nursing is
pleased to announce that Barbara
Wolfe, PhD, RN, CS, FAAN has
been appointed as Director of the
Center for Nursing Research. The
Center serves as an institutional
resource for faculty and students in
the Connell School, and is designed
to strengthen the research productivity of faculty in the School of
Nursing, increase interdisciplinary
research and scholarship, and communicate research findings to facilitate research utilization in nursing
practice and in educational settings.
Dr. Wolfe’s role is to provide leadership to achieve the goals of the center and the school, and to oversee
general operations of the Center.
Dr. Wolfe is a Professor in
the Psychiatric/Mental Health
Department, whose extensive
research focuses on the psychobiology of eating disorders. In particular, her work focuses on the relationship between neurotransmitter
functioning and mood, impulsivity,
and eating behavior. One of her current projects explores the regulation
of the neurotransmitter serotonin
in anorexia nervosa and its relationship to treatment response (Funded
by the National Institute of Mental
Health). Her research also explores
the influence of dieting on neurotransmitter precursor availability
and related behaviors.
Dean Barbara Hazard sees Dr.
Wolfe’s appointment as a natural
fit for the school. “In many ways,
Dr. Wolfe has already been leading
the charge to improve the level and
quality of research output here at
the Connell School. She has been
active in mentoring junior faculty,
and is a role model in terms of
her own scholarly output. Now
in this official capacity, I believe
that Barbara will lead us to the
next level in the area of nursing
research.”
Dr. Wolfe received her BSN from
Syracuse University, her MSN from
Yale University, and PhD from
Boston College. She is certified as
an Advanced Practice Registered
Nurse in Psychiatric-Mental Health
Nursing. She is an active member of the American Psychiatric
Nurses Association, serving as
President from 2003-2004. She
is also a member of the Eating
Disorders Research Society, Sigma
Theta Tau International Honor
Society of Nursing, and a Fellow in
the American Academy of Nursing.
Fall 2007
3
sr. callista roy
named living legend
by american academy
of nursing
rosanna demarco ms ’76
receives 2007 boston
college alumni award of
excellence
barbara leadholm ms ’74
named commissioner of
massachusetts department of mental health
The American Academy of
Nursing named Sr. Callista Roy,
Professor and Nurse Theorist
at the Connell School, a “Living
Legend” at their annual meeting, held November 8 - 10 in
Washington, DC.
On Thursday, September 27,
the Boston College Alumni
Association awarded Dr. Rosanna
DeMarco MS ’76, Associate
Professor at the Connell School
of Nursing, the 2007 Alumni
Awards of Excellence in the Heath
discipline.
This September, Connell School
graduate Barbara Leadholm MS ’74
began her new role as Commissioner
of the Massachusetts Department
of Mental Health (DMH). Ms.
Leadholm has a broad and thorough
understanding of the mental health
system and consumers’ diverse
needs. Her clinical knowledge and
leadership skills will enable DMH to
set an ambitious agenda focused on
providing quality services; improving access; and empowering consumers and their families.
The “Living Legend” designation is one of the highest honors in the nursing field, recognizing the most accomplished
Academy Fellows for their contribution to the field and as role
models for all nurses.
The American Academy of
Nursing represents distinguished leaders in nursing
who have been recognized for
their outstanding contributions to the profession and to
health care. The Academy was
established in 1973 under the
aegis of the American Nurses
Association.
4
Boston College Nursing VOICE
As both an advanced practice
nurse and a nursing educator,
Rosanna DeMarco has specialized
in women’s health, with particular
emphasis on African-American
women living with HIV. She has a
10-year history of funded research
in this area and has over 30 publications in national and international practice and research journals. DeMarco holds certification
as a community health nurse and
an AIDS care registered nurse.
DeMarco has been recognized
for her work by the American
Academy of Nursing, the Women
of Color AIDS Council, and the
Massachusetts Association of
Registered Nurses.
Leadholm has more than 30 years
of experience in behavioral health,
including six years at DMH in the
1990s. From 1993-96, she served
as Metro South Area Director and
was responsible for strategic planning, operations and administration. Ms. Leadholm also served as
Assistant Commissioner for Policy
and Planning (1990-93).
Most recently, Ms. Leadholm has
been a Vice President at Magellan
Health Services. During her 10
from so many talented, serviceminded students. But we believe
that the Finnegan Award should be
more than a plaque on a wall, or a
line on a resume. It’s something to
take to heart, and perhaps a source
of inspiration for more achievements.”
years with the company, she has
worked in public sector business development and overseen
operations for a number of large
health plans and their contracts
for behavioral health services. Ms.
Leadholm developed the “carvein” product that integrates health
plans and public sector programs
to serve people in need.
kristin jacques ’07 receives
the finnegan award
Boston College has presented the
2007 Rev. Edward H. Finnegan,
S.J. Award to Kristen Jacques ’07.
Winning the Rev. Edward Finnegan,
SJ, Award is the ultimate honor
for a Boston College senior, given
annually to the senior who exemplifies the University’s motto “Ever to
Excel.”
The Finnegan Award is an expression of Boston College’s values and
ideals, personified in the young
men and women we send out into
the world every year,” says Assistant
to the President Rose Mary
Donahue. “It is extremely difficult
to narrow the field of candidates to
four—one representing each undergraduate school—let alone pick one
Kristin left her home in Lewiston,
Maine to enter the William F.
Connell School of Nursing because
she wanted her life’s work to “make
a difference” in other people’s lives.
That dream will soon become a reality when she starts her new career at
Children’s Hospital in Boston, but
Kristin has already made a difference here at Boston College. In addition to her high academic achievement, Kristin has a strong service
orientation and has given much of
herself to fellow students. She has
been a mentor, a tutor, a “big sister”
and a friend, especially to those who
were struggling. She leads best by
her strong example and by sharing her many insights and ideas.
She has been a formal leader as a
class officer who was able to reestablish the Boston College chapter
of the National Student Nurses’
Association.
nursing spectrum
recognizes two members
of the connell school
community
On May 15, Dorothy Jones, RN,
EdD, FAAN, Professor of Adult
Health at the Connell School, and
Deborah Washington, RN, PhD(c),
a Connell School PhD candidate,
were honored at the 2007 Nursing
Spectrum Excellence Awards.
Chad Minnich
The Alumni Awards of Excellence
program was established in 197374 to broaden the opportunities
for alumni recognition. Each year
since then, the Boston College community has honored one alumna or
alumnus in each of the following
disciplines: Arts and Humanities,
Commerce, Education, Health,
Law, Public Service, Religion and
Science.
Lee Pellegrini
Portraitsimple
MTS Photography
news
new faculty member
mary lou siefert, dnsc, aocn
Assistant Professor - Adult Health
DNSc - Yale University
MSN - Yale University
MBA - Fordham University
BS - Emmanuel College
Dr. Mary Lou Siefert has been an
oncology nurse for almost three
decades and has held various positions caring for people with cancer and their families. She was
most recently involved with opening a new multidisciplinary clinic
and providing advanced practice
nursing care for survivors of cancer at Yale. Dr. Siefert’s research
interests and work have involved
studying the short and long term
symptom experience of people
with cancer, the family’s experiences, and the role(s) that
advanced practice nurses can
take to address and intervene
to mitigate symptoms and to
support family members. She
has examined concurrent symptoms and functional status in persons receiving chemotherapy treatments, and her latest research has
included examining the experience
of minority family caregivers of
people being treated for cancer.
Fall 2007
5
news
Jones received the Teaching
award from Nursing Spectrum.
“Teaching is a gift and a luxury,”
Jones says. “You have a captive audience to influence and
inform. It’s a position of great
responsibility. When students
become aware of their potential
as human beings, they realize
they can make a difference and
that their dreams and hopes can
be realized. That’s where my
satisfaction comes in. They walk
away feeling empowered with
the knowledge and confidence to
make a difference.”
Deborah Washington, who is also
Director of Diversity for Patient
Care Services at Massachusetts
General Hospital in Boston,
received the award for advancing
and leading the profession.
6
Boston College Nursing VOICE
The Connell School recently established a new partnership with the
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, one
of the world’s most preeminent
centers for the study and care of
cancer patients. Through generous support from Hahnemann
Hospital, Boston College will now
be able to offer unique and invaluable educational opportunity for
students to study at the premier
cancer hospital in New England as
well as to allow advanced practice
nurse (APN) experts in the Pain
and Palliative Care program at the
Farber to become part-time faculty
at Boston College.
The partnership will provide students in the Connell School of
Nursing Palliative Care Specialty
with the opportunity to fulfill
required clinical hours with the
Pain & Palliative Care team at
Dana-Farber/Brigham & Women’s
Cancer Center. The Hahnemann
Hospital’s support of the pioneering partnership ensures the
exchange of high-level experiences
with individual students through
precepted practicum time. APNs
will also bring their experience
to BC, providing broader student
impact activities such as lectures
for frail elders who are nursing
home eligible but wish to remain
at home.
Dukakis believes that for this to
occur, we will need a President
committed to universal health
coverage, and a congress that is
prepared to make tough decisions,
and noted the importance of the
upcoming presidential elections.
in El Salvador. She comments, “It is
enough money to send 3 children to
middle school for a whole year!”
jean reidy ’07 receives the
connell award
Jean Reidy ’07 was presented with
the William F. Connell Award at the
Connell School’s graduation this past
May, in honor of her leadership and
contribution to the school, as well as
to the broader community. Jean was
president of her Connell School class
for all four years, spearheading a
number of projects while in that role.
This spring, Jean was also the
recipient of the Nicholas H. Woods
Leadership Award for her contributions to the co-curricular life of the
University, her growth in leadership
roles, and her creative involvement
in campus life. Jean plans to continue her work with underserved
populations, and notably has donated the small financial sum associated with the Connell Award to a
scholarship fund for a community
MTS Photography
hahnemann hospital
provides grant for
new bc-dana-farber
partnership
and providing assistance with
curriculum development. “This
type of participation,” comments
Patricia Tabloski, Associate Dean
of Connell School of Nursing
Graduate Programs, “has the
potential to impact the entire palliative care nursing field.”
Craig Bailey
Nursing Spectrum’s Excellence
Awards recognize extraordinary
contributions nurses make to
their patients, each other, and the
profession. Nominators submitted
information about nurses’ professional roles, their contributions to
the nursing profession in general,
and specific examples that demonstrate the candidates’ excellence in
chosen categories. Finalist nominations were blinded and ranked
by regional nursing leaders on the
judging panel.
She noted that “we’re faced with a
different patient population, so if
we’re going to remain relevant in
terms of who we take care of, we
need to become culturally competent.”
Joyce Pulcini
The six regional winners were
nominated by their peers and
chosen from 30 finalists in the categories of Advancing and Leading
the Profession, Clinical Care,
Community Service, Management,
Mentoring, and Teaching.
michael dukakis advocates for health care
reform at phd colloquia
On September 10, Michael
Dukakis, former Governor of
Massachusetts, spoke about
Healthcare Reform to kickoff
this year’s PhD Colloquia. Each
year, PhD students at the Connell
School plan these series of interactive scholarly discussions that
are open to the academic community.
Dukakis crafted his message
based on his current work as a
political science faculty member
at both Northeastern University
and UCLA. He noted that “for this
nation to be the only advanced,
industrialized nation not to guarantee health coverage to every
resident is outrageous. The countries we like to compare ourselves
to and compete with do so on
average at half the cost per capita
as we do, with better health outcomes, as best measured by life
expectancy and infant mortality.”
genesis scholarship
awarded to mary ann
breen
Mary Ann Breen is a master’s
student studying gerontological nursing and palliative care.
Genesis’ decision was based on
Mary Ann’s “dedication to geriatrics” marked by her “giftedness
with elderly populations.”
Mary Ann, who has worked as
both a staff nurse and community health nurse in the Boston
area since 1995, is currently
employed as a clinical nurse at
Cambridge Family Health North,
a division of the Cambridge
Health Alliance in Cambridge,
MA. Mary Ann had also recently
worked for The Elder Service
Plan, a comprehensive program coordinated through the
Program of All-Inclusive Care
for the Elderly (PACE) designed
As an Advanced Practice Nurse,
Mary Ann plans not only to teach
undergraduates in the areas of
geriatrics and community health,
but to remain an active advocate
in the community – designing
community programs that provide outreach and education for
older adults concerning health
care issues. In this way, Mary Ann
hopes to “positively contribute to
the nursing care for older adults.”
dorothy jones honored
at the 20th annual
celebration of nursing
excellence at new york
university
Dorothy Jones, RN, EdD, FAAN,
Professor of Adult Health at the
Connell School, has been selected
to receive the Rose and George
Doval Education Award from the
College of Nursing at New York
University (NYU).
This award recognizes a nurse
educator who has significantly
influenced nursing education by
creating innovative and humanistic approaches to teaching, has
influenced the present and future
practice of nursing through education, is recognized by students and
alumni for excellence and compassion as a teacher, and instills
in students a passion for the discipline of nursing and a desire
to continue learning. This year’s
Celebration of Nursing Excellence
took place on November 1.
Fall 2007
7
adele pike chosen as
practice change fellow
The Practice Change Fellows
program has selected Adele Pike,
Clinical Assistant Professor
of Community Health at the
Connell School, to participate in
their prestigious program aimed
at building leadership capacity
among nurses, physicians, and
social workers who have operational responsibility for geriatric
care. Through participation in
this two-year program, Pike will
receive $90,000 and the support
of local and national Mentors to
further develop her leadership
skills and to complete a project
aimed at implementing a new
geriatric service line or aging program.
Following a highly competitive
national selection process, Pike
was one of ten individuals chosen
for the 2007 class, for her project
titled “New Trends, New Ideas and
Better Practices in Geriatric Home
Care,” to be undertaken in affiliation with VNA Boston.
The Practice Change Fellows program is supported by the Atlantic
8
Boston College Nursing VOICE
Johnson & Johnson
Philanthropies and is under the
direction of Eric A. Coleman, MD,
from the University of Colorado
at Denver and Health Sciences
Center, and the co-direction of
Nancy Whitelaw, PhD, from
the National Council on Aging
(NCOA). The Practice Change
Fellows program intends to create
a network of specialists dedicated
to influencing health care delivery
and improving the health of older
adults.
Chad Minnich
MTS Photograpy
news
boston college hosts
collaborative nursing
ethics conference
simulation laboratory
manager featured by
johnson & johnson
Dr. Rosanna DeMarco MS ’76,
Associate Professor, has received
research funding from the
Norbert Hardner Foundation to
continue her prevention intervention work with women of color
living with HIV/AIDS entitled
Culturally Relevant Prevention
Education For Older HIV
Seropositive African American
Women: A Peer-Led Approach In
Inner City Boston.
On March 30, Boston College
hosted an ethics conference
entitled Professional Responsibility,
Interdisciplinary Collaboration and
Leadership in Clinical Ethics. The
one-day conference was designed
to provide health care and allied
professionals with the tools to
recognize the ethical content
of care-giving situations and
increase understanding of available strategies and resources to
assist both in the decision-making process and the resolution of
problems.
Having received the Nurse of
the Year Award in 1985 from
Massachusetts Department of
Health and Human Services,
Maureen Connolley, RN, APRN,
BC is the latest exceptional nurse
to be working at Boston College,
where her role is Simulation Lab
Coordinator. However, Maureen
also has a distinction uniquely
her own—this March she was
selected by the Johnson & Johnson
Campaign for Nursing to represent nurse educators in commercial and print media.
This study will build on this partnership to establish an HIV/AIDS
prevention program that has been
demonstrated by current research
to affect greater healthcare adherence, decreased perceived stigma,
and increased self-advocacy in
intimate relationships. Unlike
other studies, however, the project
will focus on a culturally relevant
education prevention program recognized as critical to HIV positive
prevention in African American
women.
The conference was organized by
Pamela Grace, PhD, RNCS, ANP
(pictured above), Associate Professor of Adult Health at the Connell School. Institutional sponsors and partners included the
Connell School of Nursing, The
Winston Center for Leadership
and Ethics at Boston College’s
Carroll School of Management,
Brigham and Women’s Hospital,
Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Dana Farber Cancer
Institute.
“Nursing runs in my family,”
explains Maureen in an interview
for Johnson & Johnson. “It dates
back to my great grandmother who
was a midwife in rural Ireland.
Nursing was a career possibility
for me from a young age.
rosanna demarco ms ’76
awarded research funding from norbert hardner foundation
“First out of school, I worked at
Boston Medical Center on the psychiatric floor, medical floor and
intensive care units. After my graduate program, I worked as a nurse
practitioner and, later, as a school
nurse. Two years ago, I went into
nursing education and began coteaching at Boston College Connell
School of Nursing. In addition
to co-teaching, I’m currently the
director of the Simulation Lab. I
also work in the telephone triage
department of Harvard Vanguard
Medical Associates.
“I really encourage anyone interested in nursing to talk with a nurse
and find out what their job entails.
If possible, visit a setting where
nurses practice. If you pursue nursing, you are giving yourself, your
family and the rest of your fellow
citizens an incredible gift. You will
have a rewarding career: financial
security, tremendous flexibility and
meaningful work.”
Excerpts reprinted with permission from Johnson & Johnson
Campaign for Nursing’s Future.
doctoral candidate lisa
duffy receives prestigious
nrsa grant
We are pleased to announce
that Lisa Duffy, PhD(c), is the
recipient of a Ruth L. Kirschstein
National Research Service Award
(NRSA) for her project titled
“COPE Intervention for Parents of
Children with Epilepsy.” NRSAs
are awards given by the National
Institute of Nursing Research at
the National Institutes of Health
to promising doctoral candidates
who have the potential to become
productive, independent research
investigators. Lisa’s project sponsors include Drs. Sandra Mott and
Judith Vessey.
boston college
announces search for
connell school dean
William F. Connell School of
Nursing Dean Barbara Hazard will
retire at the end of the 2007-08
academic year, announced Provost
and Dean of Faculties Cutberto
Garza, chair of the search committee to identify her successor.
Garza commented, “Barbara
Hazard’s effectiveness and that
of the Connell School faculty and
students have enabled much as
evidenced by the school’s reputation
and national standing. The School’s
impressive profile and trajectory set
a high bar for our collective task
in finding a worthy successor.”
The Dean reports to the Provost
and will be responsible for undergraduate and graduate education;
faculty hiring, mentoring and promotion; fostering an increase in
externally-funded research; contributing to excellence in teaching;
nurturing a collegial academic
community; and continuing and
enhancing the Connell School’s
stature as a vital component of
Boston College and as a worldclass school of nursing.
The search committee includes
Connell School and Boston College
faculty, administrators, students
and alumni. The Provost has also
retained an executive search firm,
Spencer Stuart, to assist in this
national search. Further information
about the search can be obtained
by contacting the search firm at:
bcnursing@spencerstuart.com.
Fall 2007
9
faculty publications
jennifer d. allen
Allen J.D., Stoddard A.M., Sorensen,
G.C. (2007). Do social network characteristics predict mammography
screening practices? Health Education
and Behavior, July 9, Epub ahead of
print.
Allen, J.D., Kennedy, M., WilsonGlover, A., & Gilligan, T.D. (2007).
African-American men’s perceptions
about prostate cancer: implications
for designing educational interventions. Social Science in Medicine, 64,
2189-2200.
Fontenot, H., Fantasia, H., & Allen,
J.D. (2007). HPV in Adolescents:
Making the Wake-Up Call. Advance
For Nurse Practitioners, 15(10), 73-76.
angela frederick amar
Amar, A.F. (2007). Behaviors that
college women label as stalking or
harassment. Journal of the American
Psychiatric Nurses Association, 13(4),
210-220.
Amar, A.F. (2007). Dating violence:
Comparing victims who are also perpetrators with victims who are not.
Journal of Forensic Nursing, 3(1), 35-41.
Amar, A.F. (2007). Sexual Assault
Column. Understanding the veil: nonstranger sexual assault of a Muslim
woman. Journal of Forensic Nursing,
3(3), 134-136.
Amar, A.F. (2007). Dating violence:
Comparing victims who are also perpetrators with victims who are not.
Journal of Forensic Nursing, 3(1), 35-41.
Amar, A.F. (in press). Violence education: critical reflection on personal
stories of victims. Journal of Forensic
Nursing.
Amar, A.F. & Burgess, A.W. (in press).
Rape and its Impact on Victims. In
Hazelwood & Burgess. Practical Rape
Investigation (4th ed.).
mary m. aruda
Aruda, M.M. (2007). Adolescent
Pregnancy: Development of a Clinical
Quality Improvement Project with
10 Boston College Nursing VOICE
interactive VOICE
Three Years of Outcome Data.
Women’s Health Care, 6(9), 25-33.
Professional Nursing.
Aruda, M.M., McCabe, M., Burke,
P., & Litty, C. (in press). Adolescent
Pregnancy Diagnosis and Outcomes:
A Six Year Clinical Sample. Journal of
Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology.
DeMarco, R., Roberts, S.J., Norris,
A.E., & McCurry, M. (in press).
Refinement of the Silencing the
Self Scale (Work) (STSS-W) For
Registered Nurses, Journal of Nursing
Scholarship.
ann wolbert burgess
mary e. duffy
Burgess, A.W. (2007). How many red
flags does it take? American Journal of
Nursing, 107(1), 28-31.
Dykes, P., Hurley, A., Cashen, M. &
Duffy, M. (in press). Development
& psychometric Evaluation of the
Impact of health Information technology (I-HIT) Scale. Health Informatics
Journal.
Burgess, A.W., Commons, M.L.,
Safarik, M.E., Looper, R.R., & Ross,
S.N. (2007). Sex Offenders of the
Elderly: Typology and Predictors of
Severity of Crime. Aggression and
Violent Behavior, 12(5), 582-597.
Burgess, A.W., Carr, K.E., Nahirny,
C., & Rabun, J.B. (in press). NonFamily Infant Abductors: 1983-2006,
American Journal of Nursing.
Hurley, A., Lancaster, D., Hayes, J.,
Wilson-Chase, C., Bane, A., Griffin,
M., Warder, V., Duffy, M., Poon,
E., & Gandhi, T. (in press). The
Medication Administration System
- Nurses Assessment of Satisfaction
(MAS-NAS) Scale. Journal of Nursing
Scholarship.
Burgess, A.W., Ramsey-Klawsnik,
H. and Gregorian, S.B. (in press).
Comparing routes of reporting in
elder sexual abuse cases. Journal of
Elder Abuse and Neglect.
Vessey, J.A., Horowitz, J.A., Duffy, M.,
& Carlson, K.L. (in press). Psychometric evaluation of the CATS: ChildAdolescent Teasing Scale. Journal of
School Health.
Morgenbesser, L.I., Burgess, A.W. &
Safarik, M.E. (in press). Motives in
a Triple Spree Homicide. Victims &
Offenders.
jane flanagan
rosanna demarco
J.D. (2007). HPV in Adolescents:
Making the Wake-Up Call. Advance
For Nurse Practitioners, 15(10), 73-76.
Fontenot, H., & Harris, A. (in press).
Latest advances in hormonal contraception. Journal of Obstetric,
Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing.
Hawkins, J., Fontenot, H., & Harris,
A. (in press). Fertility control:
Chapter 16. In C. Fogel & N.F. Woods
(Authors/ Eds.), Women’s Health
Care in Advanced Practice. New York:
Springer Publishing Co.
Hawkins, J., & Fontenot, H. (in
press). Cognitive Dissonance in
Faculty Roles: Lots of Questions,
Few Answers. Journal of the American
:FT
Academy of Nurse Practitioners.
pamela j. grace
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we’ll ask your opinion about a current issue in the nursing community, and then publish the
results of our polls as well as excerpts from your comments in the following issue.
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Fry, S.T., & Grace, P.J. (2007). Ethical
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dimensions of nursing and health
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are
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you think you or JOUFSFTUFEJOIJSJOHOVSTFTXJUIB%/1
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L. Creasia, & B. Parker
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your
employer would be
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(Eds), Conceptual foundations: The
the dnp?
interested in hiring bridge to professional practice (4th
nurses with a dnp?
Ed.), 273-299. Edinburgh: Elsevier
Mosby.
Grace, P.J. (in press). Genetics,
aging, and primary Care: Ethical
implications for clinicians. In C.Y.
Read, R.C. Green, & M.A. Smyer
(Eds). Aging, Biotechnology and
the Future. Baltimore, MD: Johns
Hopkins University Press.
Flanagan, J. (In Press). Patient and
Nurse Experiences of Theory – Based
Nursing Care in a Pre-Surgical Clinic.
Nursing Science Quarterly.
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today’s health care system?
DeMarco, R. (in press). Supporting Flanagan, J., Devereaux Melillo, K.,
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Hardt, E. (in press).
Remington, R.
Voice in Women Living with HIV/AIDS. Abdallah, L., and 4PNFPUIFSSFBTPO
8IBUEPZPVTFFBTUIFQSJNBSZBEWBOUBHF
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pitals
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want
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in
the
rehabilitation
setting.
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on
Women’s
Depression:
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Self-Silencing, Psychological Distress Rehabilitation Nursing, 32(2), 77-84.
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be permitted
to refuse assistance?
and Recovery. New York, NY: Oxford
4PNFPUIFSSFBTPO
America
Journal
of Nursing.
University Press.
Flanagan, J. & Jones,
D.
(2007).
1BSJUZXJUIPUIFSEPDUPSBMMZQSFQBSFEIFBMUIDBSFQSPGFTTJPOT
5IFPQQPSUVOJUZUPJNQSPWFUIFRVBMJUZPGQBUJFOUDBSF
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Nursing language in a time of change:
Grace, P. J., Willis, D. G., & Jurchak, M.
disciDeMarco,
R. & Minnich, C.A.#VJMEJOHBTUSPOHFSDPOOFDUJPOCFUXFFOSFTFBSDIBOEQSBDUJDF
(2007). capturing the focus of the 5IFDIBODFUPHBJOTUSPOHFSDMJOJDBMTLJMMT
5IFPQQPSUVOJUZUPJNQSPWFUIFRVBMJUZPGQBUJFOUDBSF
(2007). Good patient care: Egalitarian
Men’s #VJMEJOHBTUSPOHFSDPOOFDUJPOCFUXFFOSFTFBSDIBOEQSBDUJDF
experiences viewing an HIV/ pline. International Journal of Nursing
selected comments
inter-professional
collaboration as a
AIDS prevention education film by Terminologies and Classifications,
5IFDIBODFUPHBJOTUSPOHFSDMJOJDBMTLJMMT
moral imperative. American Society
and for women. American Journal of 18(1), 1-2.
#VJMEJOHBTUSPOHFSDPOOFDUJPOCFUXFFOSFTFBSDIBOEQSBDUJDF
“This is a great idea too long
“I think my employer would be
of Bioethics and Humanities Exchange,
Men’s Health, 1(3), 183-189.
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coming.
Patient
care
is
delivered
impressed with a DNP, but would
10(1), 8-9.
holly fontenot
at
the
level
at
which
the
nurse
is
not be willing to pay for this level
#VJMEJOHBTUSPOHFSDPOOFDUJPOCFUXFFOSFTFBSDIBOEQSBDUJDF
DeMarco, R., Roberts, S.J., Norris, Fontenot, H. (2007). Transition and
8IBUEPZPVTFFBTUIFQSJNBSZBEWBOUBHF
prepared.”
Haggerty, L.A., & Grace, P.J. (in
A.E., & McCurry, M. (in press). The adaptation to adoptive motherhood.
PGUIF%/1JOUPEBZTIFBMUIDBSFTZTUFNof expertise.”
Press). Clinical wisdom: The essendevelopment of the nurse work- Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and
“The present educational prepara“I am interested in pursuing clinitial component of ‘good’ nursplace Scale (NWS): Self-advocat- Neonatal Nursing,
36(2), 175-182.
4PNFPUIFSSFBTPO
tion of advanced practice nurses is cally-oriented higher education.
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ing care. Journal
of Professional
ing behaviors and beliefs in the
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adequate, realistic, and effective in The PhD does not offer that.”
Nursing.
professional workplace. Journal of Fontenot, H., Fantasia, H., & Allen,
5IFPQQPSUVOJUZUPJNQSPWFUIFRVBMJUZPGQBUJFOUDBSF
providing excellent patient care.”
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5IFDIBODFUPHBJOTUSPOHFSDMJOJDBMTLJMMT
Fall 2007
11
faculty publications
katherine gregory
Gregory, K. (2007). Necrotizing
Enterocolitis in Preterm Infants:
Findings From a Retrospective
Medical Record Review. Newborn &
Infants Nursing Review, 7 (3), 143-150.
Perry, D.J. & Gregory, K.E. (2007).
Global applications of the cosmic
imperative for nursing knowledge
development. In Roy, C. & Jones,
D. (Eds.), Nursing knowledge development and clinical practice, 315326. New York: Springer Publishing
Company.
alyssa harris
Fontenot, H., & Harris, A. (in press).
Latest advances in hormonal contraception. Journal of Obstetric,
Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing.
Hawkins, J., Fontenot, H., & Harris,
A. (in press). Fertility control:
Chapter 16. In C. Fogel & N.F. Woods
(Authors/ Eds.), Women’s health
care in advanced practice. New York:
Springer Publishing Company.
joellen w. hawkins
Campbell S.H. & Hawkins, J.W.
(2007). Nurturing and rewarding clinical preceptors. Journal of the American
Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 19(1),
24-29.
McCarter-Spaulding, D., & Horowitz,
J. A. (2007). How does postpartum depression affect breastfeeding?
MCN, 32(1), 10-17.
Vessey, J. A., & Horowitz, J. A. (in
press). Relationship between teasing
and bullying: A theoretical model.
Journal of Pediatric Nursing.
Vessey, J. A., Horowitz, J. A, Duffy,
M., & Carlson, K. L. (in press).
Psychometric evaluation of the CATS:
Child-Adolescent Teasing Scale.
Journal of School Health.
dorothy a. jones
Flanagan, J. and Jones, D. (2007).
Nursing language in a time of
change: capturing the focus of the
discipline. International Journal of
Nursing Terminologies and Classifications, 18(1), 1-2.
Ives
Erickson,J.,
Jones,
D.,
Ditomassi, M. Banister, G. (in
press). Establishment of an interdisciplinary institute for patient
care: Advancing clinical excellence.
JONA.
Jones, D. (2007). Celebrating nurse
theorists: Margaret Newman. Nursing
Science Quarterly, 20(4), 306.
susan kelly-weeder
care? Lessons from the Arkansas
Cash and Counseling Program. The
Gerontologist.
anne e. norris
DeMarco, R., Roberts, S.J., Norris,
A.E., & McCurry, M. (in press). The
development of the nurse workplace
Scale (NWS): Self-advocating behaviors and beliefs in the professional
workplace. Journal of Professional
Nursing.
DeMarco, R., Roberts, S.J., Norris,
A.E., & McCurry, M. (in press).
Development of the Silencing the Self
Scale (Work) (STSS-W) for nurses.
Journal of Nursing Scholarship.
Norris, A. E. (in press). Structural
equation modeling. In B.H.
Munro (Ed.) Statistical Methods for
Health Care Research (5th edition).
Philadelphia, PA: J.B. Lippincott
Company.
Norris, A.E. & Aroian, K.J. (in press).
Assessing Reliability and Validity
of the Arabic Language Version of
the Post-traumatic Diagnostic Scale
(PDS) Symptom Items. Psychiatry
Research.
Norris, A. E., Phillips, R.E., & Grady,
K. (2007). Measuring the Condom
Use Self-Efficacy of Deployed,
Enlisted Male U.S. Navel Personnel.
The Journal of Nursing Measurements,
15(1), 46-61.
Hawkins, J., & Fontenot, H. (in
press). Cognitive Dissonance in
Faculty Roles: Lots of Questions,
Few Answers. Journal of the American
Academy of Nurse Practitioners.
Kelly-Weeder, S. (in press). Binge
drinking in college-aged women.
American Academy of Nurse
Practitoners.
Hawkins, J., Fontenot, H., &
Harris, A. (in press). Fertility control: Chapter 16. In C. Fogel &
N.F. Woods (Eds.), Women’s
health care in advanced practice.
New York: Springer Publishing
Company.
Laccetti, M. (2007). Expressive
Writing in Women with Advanced
Breast Cancer. Oncology Nursing
Forum, 34(5), 1019-1024.
Pulcini, J. (2007). State Children’s
Insurance Plan: Congress can’t simply renew it, they must increase it.
American Journal of Nursing, 107(3),
29-31.
Laccetti, M. & Vessey, J. A. (2007).
When a School-Aged Child’s Parent
Has Cancer. Journal for Specialist in
Pediatric Nursing, 12(4), 297-299.
Pulcini, J., DeSisto, M., McIntyre,
L. (2007). School-based peak flow
education and monitoring. Journal of
School Nursing. 23(3), 170-6.
ellen k. mahoney
Pulcini, J. & MASNRN Oversight
Board (2007). An Intervention to
Increase the Use of Asthma Action
Plans in Schools: A MASNRN Study.
The Journal of School Nursing, 23(3),
170-176.
june andrews horowitz
Mayberry, L., Horowitz, J.A.,
Declercq, E. (in press). Depression
symptom prevalence and demographic risk factors among U.S.
women during the first 2 years postpartum. Journal of Gynecologic and
Neonatal Nursing.
12 Boston College Nursing VOICE
margaret laccetti
Shen, C., Smyer, M.A., Mahoney, K.J.,
Loughlin, D.M., Simon-Rusinowitz,
L., & Mahoney, E.K. (in press).
Does mental illness affect consumer direction of community-based
joyce pulcini
sr. callista roy
Chayput, P. & Roy, C. (2007).
Psychometric testing of the Thai version of coping and adaption processing scale—short form (TCAPS-SF).
Thai Journal of Nursing Council, 22(3),
29-39.
Roy, C. (2007). Update from the
future: Thinking of Theorist Callista
Roy. Nursing Science Quarterly, 20(2),
113-116.
Roy, C. (2007). The Roy Adaptation
Model: Historical and Philosophical Foundations. In Maria Elisa
Moreno, et al. (Eds.) Applicacion Del
Model Adaptacion en el Ciclo Vital
Humano, 2nd Edition. Chia, Columbia:
Universidad de La Sabana.
Roy, Sr. C.& Jones, D. (Editors).
(2007). Nursing knowledge development and clinical practice. New York:
Springer Publishing Company.
judith shindul-rothschild
Shindul-Rothschild, J. & Burgess,
A. (2007). (Chapter 10) Psychiatric
nursing. In Dattilip, F.M. & Sadoff,
N.L.(Eds) What Jurists and Attorneys
Need to Know About Qualifying
Mental Health Professionals, 146-156.
Mechanicsburg, PA: Pennsylvania Bar.
Shindul-Rothschild, J. (in press).
Community Mental Health. In
Harkness, G.A. (Ed.), Community
and Public Health Nursing: An
Epidemiologic Approach. Philadelphia:
WoltersKluwer Health.
mary lou siefert
McCorkle, R, Siefert, M.L., Dowd,
M, Robinson, J., Pickett, M. (2007).
Effects of advanced practice nursing
on patient and spouse depressive
symptoms, sexual function, and marital interaction after radical prostatectomy. Urologic Nursing, 21(1), 65-77.
Siefert, M.L. (2007). Fatigue, pain,
and functional status in patients
receiving outpatient chemotherapy.
Oncology Nursing Forum, 34(1), 181.
colleen simonelli
Wolfe, B.E. & Simonelli, M.C. (in
press). Eating disorders in pregnancy.
In P.J. Hillard (Ed.), The 5-Minute OB/
GYN Clinical Consult. Philadelphia,
PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
patricia a. tabloski
Tabloski, P.A. (2007). Clinical
Handbook for Gerontological Nursing.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Prentice Hall.
judith a. vessey
Vessey, J.A., Horowitz, J.A, Duffy,
M., & Carlson, K.L. (in press).
Psychometric evaluation of the
CATS: Child-Adolescent Teasing
Scale. Journal of School Health.
Vessey, J.A., Sherwood, J.J., Warner,
D., & Clark, D. (2007). Comparing
hand washing to hand sanitizers
in reducing elementary school
students’ absenteeism. Pediatric
Nursing, 33 (4), 368-372.
Vessey, J. A., Aries, S., Aubin, J.
A., DeSisto, M., Geoghegan, C.,
Lopez, G., MacKenzie, C., Mcintyre,
C. L., O’Brien, M. J., O’Neill, K. M.,
Pulcini, J., Read, M., Sheetz, A., &
Sullivan, N. (2007). Development
of the Massachusetts School Nurse
Research Network (MASNRN): A
practice-based research network
to improve the quality of school
nursing practice. Journal of School
Nursing, 23(2), 65-72.
danny g. willis
Grace, P.J., Willis, D.G., & Jurchak,
M. (2007). Good patient care:
Egalitarian interprofessional Collaboration as a moral imperative.
American Society for Bioethics and
Humanities Exchange, 10(1), 8-9.
Willis, D.G. (In press). Meanings in
adult male victims’ experiences of
hate crime and its aftermath. Issues
in Mental Health Nursing.
Willis, D.G., Grace, P., & Roy, C.
(in press). A central unifying focus
for the discipline: Facilitating
humanization, meaning, choice,
quality of life, and healing in living and dying. Advances in Nursing
Science.
barbara e. wolfe
Daley, K.A., Jimerson, D.C.,
Heatherton, T.F., Metzger, E.D., &
Wolfe, B.E. (in press), State selfesteem ratings in women with bulimia nervosa and bulimia nervosa
in remission. International Journal
of Eating Disorders.
Keel, P.K., Wolfe, B.E., Liddle, R.A.,
De Young, K.P., & Jimerson, D.C.
(2007). Clinical features and physiological response to a test meal in
purging disorder and bulimia nervosa. Archives of General Psychiatry,
64(9), 1058-1066.
Keel, P.K., Wolfe, B.E., Gravener,
J.A., & Jimerson, D.C. (2007). Comorbidity and disorder-related distress and impairment in purging
disorder. Psychological Medicine,
10, 1-8 [Epub ahead of print].
Keel, P.K., Wolfe, B.E., Gravener,
J.A., & Jimerson, D.C. (in press).
Disorder-related distress and
disability in purging disorder.
Psychological Medicine.
Morgan, J.C., Wolfe, B.E., Metzger,
E.D., Jimerson, D.C. (2007).
Obsessive-compulsive characteristics in women who have recovered
from bulimia nervosa. International
Journal of Eating Disorders, 40(4),
381-385.
Wolfe, B.E., Metzger, E.D.,
Flanagan, L., & Jimerson, D.C.
(2007). Eating disorders. In T.M.
Buttaro, J. Trybulski, P.P. Bailey, &
J. Sandberg-Cook (Eds.), Primary
care: A collaborative practice (3rd
ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby.
Wolfe, B.E. & Simonelli, M.C. (in
press). Eating disorders in pregnancy. In P.J. Hillard (Ed.), The
5-Minute OB/GYN Clinical Consult.
Philadelphia,
PA:
Lippincott
Williams & Wilkins.
Wolfe, B.E. (in press). Issues of
body weight and eating behavior in
psychiatric-mental health nursing
practice. Journal of the American
Psychiatric Nurses Association.
Fall 2007
13
alumnae spotlight
can nurses
?
SOLVE
OUR NATION’S
greatest problems
BY JOSHUA J. JENSEN
Lately, it’s hard to pick up a newspaper that doesn’t mention the
aging of the baby boomer generation. As boomers begin to retire,
many pressing social questions have arisen: Will the social security
system survive the huge influx of beneficiaries? How will massive
retirements impact the workforce? And, closer to home for nurses
and other healthcare professionals: how will the aging population
burden a heathcare system that is already characterized by staffing
shortages and economic challenges?
Among the policy makers working
to answer these questions is Jennie
Chin Hansen ’70, who will become
President of AARP in 2008. AARP
has 39 million members and is one
of the largest and most influential
voices that represent the interests
of older Americans. Hansen’s history of policy and advocacy for older
Americans made her an obvious
choice to lead AARP.
After graduating from the Boston
College School of Nursing in 1970,
Hansen pursued a community
heath career path. She explains, “It
14 Boston College Nursing VOICE
was just my propensity to think
about how to…have an impact on
larger groups. I found that there
was more ability to affect change by
thinking more broadly about populations rather than about techniques
and specific research methodologies. Affecting change ultimately
happens at the population level.”
Hansen began her career as a public health nurse in Idaho. “In community health, one cares for the
whole age continuum. So when
I was a public health nurse in
the ‘boonies,’ I was intrigued with
older people and their fierce independence. These people had no
resources, were so isolated in rural
communities, but had an absolute
tenacity and dignity to make it on
their own. They would appreciate my coming by but, heck, they
would’ve done fine without me. My
interest was piqued in the appreciation of older people who really
wanted to maintain their abilities
and their dignity to live as strongly
and as independently as possible.”
Hansen brought this appreciation
for older people with her when she
Fall 2007
15
accepted a position as a researcher for On Lok, a then-small nonprofit organization providing community-based heath services in San
Francisco. Hansen stayed at On
Lok for nearly 25 years, eventually serving as Executive Director of
the organization, building it into a
robust family of organizations, and
developing it’s program into the
prototype for PACE (Program of
All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly),
now a Medicare/Medicaid
program available to all 50
states.
“In developing On Lok,
you could say we identified the core ingredients,
and maybe the sauce has a
slight variation, a regional
variation. We identified the
ways that existing services
didn’t come together really
well and the way things
were paid for didn’t come
together well when you
were actually the person
trying to navigate through
this. What we did was take
the same ingredients but reformulated so that it really
worked for the local community. The ingredients
were still the same—flour
sugar and eggs—but we recombined
them in a way that made sense and
yet cost no more or actually cost less.
[Our approach] actually produced a
quality [of service] that people were
happier with.”
I think the visible racial component
is one that’s rather right out there
[with On Lok], so people say ‘Oh
my gosh this is a wonderful little
16 Boston College Nursing VOICE
Asian program.’ But the reality
is that it was [originally developed in] a part of San Francisco
called North Beach which was
comprised at that time of Italian
immigrants, Phillipino immigrants and Chinese immigrants.
So we actually had three initial
immigrant populations. Their
commonality was that English
was not their first language and
they each had their own cultural
mores that were very deep for
people who were older. So what
we were able to do was maintain
that; this was the early days before
talk about cultural competence as
a concept, and we had people who
spoke their language, understood
some of the value systems that
were important, understood what
foods and practices were important to them, understood their
family dynamics that came with
populations and be able to factor all these variables and create
something that had the universal,
flour and eggs to it and it was just
then baked a little differently but
with core points of accountability
all throughout.
“When we became a national program, it was these core principles
of accountability and these structures that were universal; it played out a little
differently in El Paso,
Texas which was a lot of
Mexican-Americans to
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
that had kind of classic
Midwest population to
Portland, Oregon to the
Bronx. Those core ingredients were found to be
universal needs by people
regardless of their ethnicity. We tapped into the
fact that when people get
to this stage in their life
they still want to be their
form of normal, a part
of their community, and
still do as much as they
can possibly to do. They
want to be able to be part
of the fiber of their local
neighborhood.
We facilitated those principles in
the form of the PACE program and
provided the technical pieces that
made it possible. That to me was the
beauty of having a community program become the national [model]
rather than having the policy wonks
design something and say ‘make
this work at the local level.”
Hansen set out to become a
nurse—not a policy maker—but her
approach dictates doing whatever is
necessary to achieve her goals. “I
don’t think I intentionally went into
tackling Medicare and Medicaid but
the irony is, that’s what you find out
you have to do. I didn’t go in there
thinking I was going to create federal legislation but that became the
by product of creating a system that
made sense for people.”
Wood Johnson Executive Nurse
Fellows Program. She also serves on
boards of the Effective Healthcare
Stakeholders Group of the Agency
for Heathcare Research and Quality
(AHRQ), Lumetra (California’s
Quality Improvement Organization)
and the California Regional
Health Information Organization
(CalRHIO). She is also past president of the American Society on
Aging.
Hansen first became involved with
AARP as a member of the board of
directors of the AARP Foundation,
AARP’s charitable organization dedicated to enhancing the quality of life
for all as we age. She was invited to
serve in this role by Dr. John Feather,
who had served with Hansen on the
board of the American Society on
Aging. “One of the things he was
trying to do was diversify the board in
terms of thinking” Hansen explains.
Although she initially stepped into
the policy world accidentally, her
experience reveals a depth of experience in that world. Hansen’s resume
reads like a “who’s who” of heath care
policy makers. She’s a Commissioner
of the Medicare Payment Advisory
Committee (MedPAC), board member of the National Academy of
Social Insurance, and the Robert
In 2004, Nancy Pelosi, now Speaker
of the House of Representatives, said
of Hansen, “A visionary and a fierce
advocate, Jennie has greatly influenced
how our nation has come to regard
care for the elderly. She has shown us
the richness of caring for our seniors.”
Clearly Hansen had made a name for
herself in the policy world. Still, her
most visible role was yet to come.
Seeing her work with the foundation,
the AARP leadership was impressed
by Hansen’s thoughtful approach and
encouraged her to apply for a position
on the AARP board of directors. Even
at this point, Hansen knew little about
what AARP was all about. Hansen
notes, “Up to that point, I kind of
thought of AARP as this big lobby.
[My awareness] was really limited.”
Fall 2007 17
Today, as she prepares to lead
the organization, Hansen’s understanding of how AARP organizes
it’s policy work is a bit more
nuanced. “There is a whole policy
institute within AARP, there are
also advocacy staff, but then what
people probably do not know is
that we have a cadre of 25 volunteer policy people who divide up
into health and long term care,
into consumer issues and into
economic issues. This group of
people are often former heads
of Medicaid in their states and…
really know about these domains
extremely well; they volunteer
their time to help look at the
policy issues that we have. [AARP
policy work] also generates from
the staff.”
As a board member, one of Hansen’s
roles is to synthesize all of the
information coming in, understand its relationship to the mission of AARP, and set a direction
for the organization. She notes,
“The board of directors is the final
arbitrator on the policy positions.”
Right now seems to be an ideal
moment for Hansen to take a visible leadership role with AARP,
as their current policy positions
seem to match her own approach
to policy work.
“One of the things I love and so
honor about the opportunity to be
a part of the AARP right now [is
that the organization’s positions
are] really practical and tie back to
being a nurse; lets get something
done that is right at all levels for
the individual to society, and so
being in this position is a phenomenal privilege and responsibility. How do we help a society
move positively on issues that have
huge conundrum considerations to
them? It’s kind of awesome.”
Hansen believes that asking key
questions as a society is a first step
to change. She emphasizes that “we
need to have a real public discourse
on this, as well as to reflect on our
country vis-à-vis other developed
countries. Why is it that we spend
nearly double of our country’s GDP
on healthcare and yet seemingly
get very modest returns compared
to how other countries spend their
resources? Using benchmarks of
coalitions. There are many challenges
to this work: identifying a shared
agenda, finding time to meet, differing work and communication styles
between individuals/organizations,
and identifying and procuring adequate financial resources to conduct
the work. However, I firmly believe
that to create lasting and widespread
change, working in partnership with
community coalitions is essential.”
Suzanne Camarata
undergraduate community health course
emphasizes coalition building
When Assistant Professor Jennifer
Allen arrived at Boston College last
year, she already knew what kind of
an impact she wanted to have on
her community health students.
18 Boston College Nursing VOICE
“My goal was for the students to see
first hand what can be accomplished
on a community-level when committed individuals and organizations are
brought together to form community
Allen found the opportunity to create
this learning environment in collaboration with the Voice of the Gospel
Tabernacle Church in Mattapan, a section of Boston that is home to a large
Haitian population.
“The pastor of the Voice of the Gospel
had contacted BC looking to work with
nursing students. Over the course of
the fall semester (2006), I met with
empiricism—death rates, birth
rates, and chronic disease management, things [here] are certainly
no better. We need to ask the critical questions that a society should
face. What choices do we make
with our resources, given the principles of our democracy and market economy? How do we think
about caring for our society now
and in the future?
“This is to me the exciting component of mobilizing regular people.
I think [we] need a new movement
in our society. Its not about the
politics and not only about ideologies, but whether people are going
to have decent ability to live and
thrive and have some of the common themes—a core of hopefulhim, attended church services to get
a sense of the congregation, and we
talked about how to create a good
learning experience for students, while
meeting an unmet community need.
“During the spring semester, the students provided free health screenings
(blood pressure and blood sugar)
at the church on Thursday mornings. In addition, we conducted some
educational events on Sundays. For
example, students organized a nutrition workshop on a Sunday afternoon
called Nouvo Gou (New Taste).”
The students work culminated in an
end-of-semester health fair at the
church, which attracted over 200 community members. The May 5 event
was scheduled to begin at 10:00 am,
but by 9:00 there was already a line of
people waiting to get in; clearly, this
ness and a future of security—and
whether its for our future grandchildren or for ourselves. We have
to take the issues and have ‘kitchen
table discussions.’ It has to be
at that level because at this point
the ideologues are at each other’s
throats. I think its been proven
stuff just doesn’t happen with ease,
just because of all the huge vested
interests of all different kinds. So
at some point we need to ask,
‘What’s the people’s interest?’
“We have to be intelligently
informed and have the capacity to
discuss this, whether we have an
8th grade education or whether we
have a doctorate. There are some
common themes that bind us in
terms of what a decent life for our
project was meeting a real community need. Students had spent much of
the semester preparing for this day.
Allen notes, “As we were planning for the health fair, the students and I divided the task into
themes. For instance, the students,
who were working on diabetes, collected brochures in English and
Haitian Creole, provided blood
sugar screenings at the health fair,
and prepared informative posters
on nutritional facts that every diabetic person should know. Other
themes were on health insurance,
nutrition, blood pressure, mammograms, and other health topics.
Over the semester, the students
contacted different community
leaders and organizations, such as
the Cambridge Health Alliance and
Boston Public Health Commission,
population is and our hopes for our
future. I think right now it needs
to be a populist understanding and
a movement that calls for some
ways to address the hard questions that all of us face—whether
its hard questions individually, but
really when you add all these hard
questions together it is a collective
societal set of hard questions. We
have to make sure people understand there are decisions to be
made that involve some hard looking at things that we often times
have taken for granted.”
“First is knowing that it is elected
officials who get to make decisions
about the issues of healthcare and
economic security. I think part of it
is focusing on and shining the light
to gain support and participation
from these organizations.”
All of this preparation paid off. In
all, 30 women got mammograms;
20 men got prostate screening; 50
got eye/ear exams; countless others
had blood pressure checks, blood
sugar tested and BMI assessed.
Members of the community received
information on oral health, health
insurance, and various other community resources that can motivate
them to live a healthier life.
Allen isn’t content to stop there.
“Most importantly, we are continuing
to work with the community coalition
that organized this event. We plan
to conduct another community-wide
health event or campaign this year.
Our hope is that this coalition will be
the ‘legacy’ of the project.”
Fall 2007 19
on the fact that these are the people
in our democracy elected to steward our well-being. With elections
coming up, [we need] to underscore
this with each of the candidates.
[Political candidates are] having to
talk about it regardless, but the ability to really commit to it publicly, in
terms of what they say they’re going
to do, and then staying accountable
for the decisions they end up making. Just even shining a light on it
is a very important thing.
You can’t just keep putting
it off to other people.”
flawed about that kind of thinking
that there’s no consequence for not
doing what should’ve been done correctly in the first place. Why don’t
people wash their hands when they
know that’s a main way of infection
passing in hospitals? Why are medications not looked at as a system
when some places have figured it
out; the VA hospital system has a
99% rate of accuracy where on the
other hand most hospitals have a 1
According to Hansen, even
these basic steps might
be challenging initially.
“I think it’s going to be
messy for a while. I think
there are some things that
are going to be about the
art of doing and the art of
compromise just so that we
keep moving on it because
what we have now clearly
doesn’t work. I think that’s
something that AARP has
the ability to do and we’re
just speaking about the
efficiencies of the system
let alone changing the system.
“There are a huge amount of efficiencies shown over and over again
that can be achieved by existing
systems. Why not call for accountability? Why does a care provider or a hospital benefit from the
fact that a mistake was made on
a patient? When the patient goes
back to the hospital, Medicare and
the insurance companies just pay
for it. There is something very
20 Boston College Nursing VOICE
in 5 chance of medication errors. We
know this data—it’s, kind of, staring
at the states saying, ‘Do something!’
How do you do your business better,
period?”
Hansen believes that these problems can be solved with smart solutions, not necessarily expensive
solutions, a belief that she traces
back to her time at Boston College.
“I remember taking a nutrition class
in the school of nursing. [For one
exercise] all of my classmates and I
were divided into three groups and
we were given budgets to prepare
a nutritious meal—to go shopping
and cook this—but we had three
different types of budgets. Some
of the lucky folks got a high-end
budget, some of us got a somewhat
moderate budget and some of us
got a very small amount of money.
Our charge was to meet the
Required Daily Allowances,
and we all met the test and
did it well. Needless to say,
the common denominator was having a balanced
nutritious diet for a day.
It was possible to do it on
the low-end budget [and
still] achieve the principles.
We have to be appreciative
of the fact that sometimes
we’re going to be on that
low-end side and that to
achieve the results, you
just have to do it differently than if you had all the
money to spend for a highend meal.”
“I think we have a moral
obligation to do well by
the opportunities that have
been given to us and to always realize that our ability to do what we do
is in the context of a larger society.
And I just never forget that. I am
probably always a cup half full type
person and I just feel blessed as
well as awed by the fact that I have
these opportunities. And having
these opportunities and venues, I
need to use it for the good of society. It’s really important to me.”
Fall 2007 21
in the classroom
the ART of NURSING
BY CHAD ABRAHAM MINNICH
By the time students find themselves in Professional Nursing II they are
seniors at the end of their studies here at BC. Through multiple theoretical
and practical experiences, students have each had plenty of time to think
about their personal beliefs, their thoughts, and their values within nursing.
Now, with their attention increasingly leaning toward graduation as well as
their own potential clinical careers, is the time for them to articulate their
personal nursing philosophy.
Facilitating this process is Assistant Professor Angela Amar.
Since arriving at the Connell School in the fall of 2006, Amar has
encouraged students to consider not simply the invaluable skills of
accurate patient evaluation or the stylistic formality of science writing;
Amar has also sought to focus students on their role as individuals
in addition to the role, and image, of nursing as a whole. To this end,
Amar has striven to infuse the Professional Nursing II curriculum with
thought-provoking exercises and projects—a strategy she had employed
when teaching professional development nursing classes at Georgetown.
kathryn barwikowski ’07 (left)
After my exposure in different clinical rotations and summer externships, I have found
my passion to be pediatric oncology. In
deciding how to best articulate my personal
philosophy, I chose to create a collage in the
shape of a baby to symbolize my enthusiasm
for pediatrics, which has been pivotal in shaping my values and beliefs about my nursing
practice.
I believe play to be a value in my nursing
practice. Because children learn through playing, it is essential for hospitalized children
to continue to have the opportunity to play;
nurses need to be creative to incorporate play
into their care. I included “creative,” “fun and
games,” “laugh,” and “play” to symbolize
this. I also included a picture of a dog, which
many children’s hospitals use as “pet therapy”
to improve a child’s stay at the hospital.
Childhood is a time for growing and learning
about one’s environment, so it is crucial for
pediatric nurses to involve play in their care.
22 Boston College Nursing VOICE
“We talk about nursing as an art and a science, but so much of their
work is straightforward, scientific writing,” considers Amar. “I wanted
them to get this core idea—to see how they think about various values
and practice and change.” So, in an effort to address nursing as art,
Amar devised a reflective exercise encouraging alternative means of
expression: students would create a literal piece of art representing
their own philosophy of nursing. Amar then assigned it to the class of
95 seniors, emphasizing that they could do anything—whatever they
wanted to do. “There really were no limits. And the creative part was
supposed to give us the gist of the values and beliefs that were in their
nursing philosophy.”
Amar concedes that the students probably had some initial doubts
about the project because it was so different from what they are used
to doing—there was no patient attached, there were no references.
“But I think it’s important in terms of their own development that they
think about all aspects of nursing,” Amar explains. “Even Florence
Nightengale referred to nursing as an art, and we should devote time to
the art part. I don’t think she literally meant drawing a picture; but in
our communication with patients we’re not just coming from a science
place, we’re coming from a people place and a holistic place. We also
recognize unique pieces of ourselves and unique means of expression.”
Fall 2007 23
She was right. Weeks later, students toted their
pieces of artistic expression to class. One by one they
pulled the pieces out of bags and from between the
books that had kept them protected and flat, setting
them in clusters on the table at the front of the class.
Beside the various groupings of artwork rose a stack
of papers, each articulating the students’ individual
beliefs and values of their role in the nursing
profession as expressed in their artwork. The works
were so diverse, so unique, that Amar was “amazed to
walk in and find the table covered in them all.”
anne woodbury ’07
jennifer beaudry ’07
If one was to attempt to capture the essence
of nursing in a painting, it would have to be
done as an Impressionist style because the
open composition relates to the constantly
reconfiguring role that nurses play. Nurses’
work to accommodate patient needs, situations, and locations therefore having lines that
limit the composition of the painting would
directly oppose the flexibility of the nursing
role. After the style and subject of my painting
were chosen, I decided to use this particular
flower—a recreation of Georgia O’Keefe’s Cala
Lily—to symbolize the relationship between
nurses, the patient and family, and the interdisciplinary team. Nurses play a very special
role in their intimacy, capacity, and privileged
position in relation to patients; they function
as mediators, buffers, translators, facilitators,
and culturally understanding individuals.
“As you can tell,” she says, later surveying and leafing
through the projects, “some people really put some
time and effort into thinking about the concepts
they were going to use. And they enjoyed having
a different kind of thing to do, having a different
approach and being able to show a different side of
themselves.” Amar motions to a number that she had
set aside on a chair. “And you can also see the strong
social justice piece, the Ignatian way of thinking—the
idea that you’re supposed to go out into the world and
come back and reflect on what it means. You go back
changed. And once you have this knowledge, you have
the responsibility to act and do something.”
•••
jean reidy ’07
libby davis ’07
While admittedly striking, these art projects were only
intended to be companion pieces, complementary to
papers describing one’s nursing philosophy. These
papers explain how each creative expression evidences
a student’s beliefs and values about nursing and the
nursing profession. Some excerpts, as rich and colorful
as the surrounding projects, follow:
“I attribute my success to this—I never gave or
took any excuse”—Florence Nightingale: This quote
stresses the important values of accountability and
advocacy, which are both essential for nurses. A
nurse who does not take responsibility for a mistake
or who does not advocate for a patient when someone
else is not looking into the patient’s best interest is
also a detriment to the medical profession.
kristin jacques ’07
24 Boston College Nursing VOICE
vanessa lara ’07
Inspired by a book called Pathologies of
Power by Paul Farmer, I’m learning to define
complacency of our current healthcare system
as a violation of human rights. Our healthcare
system needs a lot of reform and I consider it
maleficence to not respond as nurses in the
political sector to the outrageous healthcare
disparities. I would also like to emphasize,
as this goes along with my art piece that
the theme of my piece and philosophy is
that denial of healthcare is denial of life and
that access to health care is a basic human
right, which we violate in this country. In my
practice as a nurse, political advocacy for free
access to healthcare and work in pubic health
nursing as a teacher, conductor of research
and provider of service to the community is
how I plan on implementing my philosophy.
Fall 2007 25
•••
kelley blouin ’07
When women are admitted to our unit, they
often resemble the outside of this box. They
feel scared, hopeless and lonely. In very
literal ways, some of our patients have been
stripped of the womanhood that has always
defined them. We care for women after
hysterectomies, mastectomies, and during
chemotherapy treatment that causes them
to lose their hair. These are moments when
patients find it difficult to rely on the things
that have always sustained them in the past.
The words on the box—fear, loss, depression, dread, illness, tears, anger, alone, and
despair—represent the thoughts and feelings
that predominate during difficult times for
patients.
It is the nurse, through the art and science
of caring, that opens the patient back up to
themselves.
Where the world of science and the world of
mysticism intertwine, I believe, is where the world
of nursing exists. Out of black and white comes
gray, and out of fact and faith comes nursing. This
harmony is yours to tend to, and the efficacy of your
care will resemble the balance. A nurse must be
able to see all things objectively, to assess a situation
without emotion. At the other end of the spectrum, a
nurse must be willing to take on a patient’s suffering,
must have the capacity to feel every emotion, and
fight for them when they are too weak to fight for
themselves. In preparation for care, a nurse must
develop her armor, like a second-skin. The human
condition is far too heart-breaking to witness without
protection.
nicole seagriff ’07
natalie hummel ’07
•••
stephanie sylvia ’07
The balance signifies the challenge that nursing practice must face each and every day to
weigh and equalize the humanistic traditional
nursing values with the profession’s highly
technologic, highly specialized delivery system. However, nursing must also maintain
equilibrium by incorporating each person’s
individualized emotional and physical needs
in its practice.
The collage of pictures is purposefully intertwined—the disabled, the homeless, the incarcerated, the children, and the elderly must all
be cared for to maintain nursing’s intrinsic
value of social justice and altruism. All are
represented in the color spectrum within the
collage as well as the watercolors surrounding
the circular border of the poster. The poster’s
overall shape signifies the treatment of people
as a whole across a global healthcare continuum, with no break in its path.
It is amazing and rather disheartening how quickly
we forget ourselves, and see the patients as bodies
rather than people with their own stories and lives.
It is the nurse’s role to hear the patient’s story, to
offer our support even if just be listening and not
rushing out the door. I do not know exactly what it
is about my manner that gives off the impression
that I will listen, but I am often rewarded with
patients unloading everything onto me because I’ll
actually stay and hear what they have to say. They
must see that I am genuinely interested, and have
often had patients apologize for telling me things
they intended to tell no one. But it is crucial that we
not lose perspective that even the strongest human
being is forced into a stage of utter vulnerability
when unclothed, unhealthy, and alone. It is our
responsibility, our duty, to place ourselves in their
shoes and treat them the same way we would want
to be treated as patients. And we will be patients
some day, there is no doubt, but hopefully we learn
our responsibilities before that day comes, instead of
looking back on a career with regret.
carolyn lamonica ’07
26 Boston College Nursing VOICE
courtney pladsen ’07
meghan lortie ’07
Fall 2007 27
student VOICE
Jennifer Cocio-Thompson, MA/MS ’09
Filling the Gap
profile Chad Abraham Minnich
Transforming Communications
Have you ever sensed a gap in your
care for the critically ill or dying
patient? Has your experience as a
nurse led you to question, “What
more could I have done?” Have
you contemplated, “Is this all I have
to offer this family?” Have you ever
felt like the focus of your patient’s
quality of life has been lost or overlooked?
During the last 11 years of my
career as a pediatric bone marrow
transplant, pediatric intensive care
and neonatal intensive care nurse,
I have struggled with some of these
questions. At times, even thinking
these questions while in my practice has felt like I was going against
the grain or threatening the status
quo. It has not always been easy or
comfortable to search for answers
or strive for change.
Yet, this questioning and sense of
inquiry has led me to my graduate
study at Boston College. Currently
I am a student in the MA/MS
dual degree program—a joint program between the Connell School
of Nursing and the Institute of
Religious Education and Pastoral
28 Boston College Nursing VOICE
Ministry. This unique program has
given me a way to reflect on my
questions, not only through pastoral care and counseling but also
through the role of an advanced
practice nurse specializing in palliative care.
I see palliative care as a refocusing of the lens we use to perceive
our patients and their diseases.
Palliative care is a multi-layered,
multifaceted advancement that centers on the patient and their family,
providing a means through which
pain and suffering can be relieved
in an effective and tangible manner.
I believe the new palliative care program at Boston College is a comprehensive and unique specialty
that is answering a current need in
our healthcare system.
Palliative care provides an interdisciplinary team approach to patient
care. I see such a program in a
hospital or outpatient setting as a
guiding force in helping patients
achieve their personal goals in
the midst of an illness or disease
process. The essence of the team
approach in palliative care is to col-
laborate on a patient’s quality of life
regardless of their medical or disease prognosis. It provides a way
to actively and holistically care for
a patient and their physical symptoms, offering family-centered care
and working towards a balance in
a patient’s emotional, spiritual and
physical well-being.
In the “old days” of nursing education, innovation in the classroom
and in presenting research often
meant finding the best available
multimedia tools to convey your
message. Faculty would work with
the Connell School’s media specialist to identify the best slides,
videos and even rudimentary computer programs into their courses.
The media specialist would assist
them in using cutting-edge tools
such as filmstrip projectors and
even audio taped recordings.
Times have certainly changed.
Through my study of palliative care,
I have come to believe that heath
care practitioners need to have a
greater understanding and appreciation of their patients—particularly
their patients’ struggles. Focusing
on palliative care as an authentic
means to treat patients has helped
me begin to answer my questions;
it is allowing me to close the gaps
in care I had once sensed existed. I
feel that the study of palliative care
has encouraged me to revise my
own perception of my role as an
advanced practice nurse, providing
me with the knowledge, freedom
and confidence to move beyond my
questions and into action. As I continue to develop in my role as an
advance practice nurse I am thrilled
to be a part of an emerging and
dynamic area of study.
When Chad Minnich—
Communications and Instructional
Design Manager at the Connell
School—came to Boston College
in 2000, he immediately saw an
opportunity to use his unique skillset to transform the way that faculty use all types of media—everything from the chalk board to the
Internet—to effectively communicate ideas in their teaching and
research. With a master’s degree
in film and anthropology from the
University of Southern California,
Minnich is well versed in the
theory of communication and how
to use multimedia tools to best
explain complex concepts.
“I guess I see every type of interaction—whether it’s instructional,
MTS Photography
Chad Minnich
BY JOSHUA J. JENSEN
marketing-related, whatever—as
fundamentally rooted in communications. Ironically, I don’t
think I’ve employed any particular
communications philosophy in a
premeditated, conscious way; it
hasn’t been that overt. In working
with faculty I’ve just tried to look
at a project’s goals and figure out
how to enrich the project though
the effective use of media. Then
I design something that, overall,
tries to be illustrative and true to
concept but that’s also creative and
exploratory on a number of levels;
plus it also needs to reflect well on
the school externally.”
Minnich has employed his skills
on a diverse set of faculty projects,
impacting the quality of classroom
instruction, assisting faculty in
using multimedia tools as part
of their research design, designing posters and presentations that
allow faculty to more effectively
present their research, and even
collaborating with faculty in producing educational interventions.
Although many faculty associate
Minnich’s work with his strong
grasp of media technology, it is
really the communications theory
that grounds his work. “Ultimately
the major concern of any project
for me is: what are the communications goals and who is the audience?
Often there are multiple goals and
multiple audiences, but either way,
my goal is essentially the same—I
try to engage technology in a way
that complements teaching and
communications. But I also try to be
subtle. Technology doesn’t replace
teaching or any other interpersonal
interaction; it enhances it.”
To bolster his already considerable abilities, Minnich is currently working toward a PhD in
curriculum and instruction at
Boston College’s Lynch School of
Education. He explains, “It doesn’t
matter whether I’m working to
enhance teaching or whether I’m
engaging people for a specific
research-related purpose. I think
the main reason I’m invested
in the PhD is because I love the
development of learning tools as
much as I love engaging learning
in the classroom. Ultimately, for
me, the PhD is a means of continuing to contribute to effective
and compelling instructional communications—which is really the
key to any successful interaction.”
A selection of Chad’s work may be
found in our endnote—page 45
Fall 2007 29
alumnae/i news now and then - 60 years
The Connell School Celebrates
Our 60th Anniversary
Some 300 guests attended a March 24 cocktail reception
marking the 60th anniversary of the William F. Connell
School of Nursing. Connell School alumnae/i, current
and retired faculty and staff, and Connell School partners from clinical and community settings convened in
Corcoran Commons to peruse multimedia exhibits that
highlighted the school’s past, present and future.
top row Class of ’77(Front) Janice
Corry Luongo, Linda F. Yanes,
(Back) Elizabeth Gillen, Charlene R.
Gottlieb, Anne M. Morrissey, Julie
Mulcahey-Kelland, and Arlene R.
Sullivan; Nursing Librarian Wanda
Anderson, Faculty Member Sandy
Mott and Retired Faculty Member
Mary Ellen Doona; Ashley Dalton,
’07 and Kirby Jackson. right Ruth
Bisscop, ’84 and Maria Morrissey,
’84; Members of the first class,
entering in 1952 (Front) Annette
Lawless Lyons, Phyllis Dustin
Smith, (Back) Mary Jane Garbutt,
Mary Fallon McCabe, Patricia
Child-Foley, and Anne J. Hanson.
“We are extremely grateful for all the support our
friends and alumnae/i have given us and are happy to
take the opportunity of our 60th anniversary to thank
them, to reflect on our past, present our current efforts,
and envision the future of this wonderful school of
nursing,” said Connell School Dean Barbara Hazard.
bottom row Monica O’Reilly,
MS ’07; Jackie Skeith, ’85, Faculty
Member Rita Olivieri, Julie Tyler,
Elizabeth Brown, and Deborah
Mahoney, ’85; Barbara Wallace, ’70,
MS ’73 and her parents Debbie
and Bill. Photography by Suzanne
Camarata.
30 Boston College Nursing VOICE
Among the exhibits were a screening of “Women’s
Voices, Women’s Lives,” a film created by CSON
faculty and staff about African-American women
living with HIV, and a photographic presentation
from the participants in Connell School’s Global
Health Initiative’s recent service learning trip to
Nicaragua. Nursing students also demonstrated
MicroSim, a learning tool that simulates an emergency room setting.
The Connell School was the first full-time undergraduate program at Boston College to accept women
and its nursing doctoral program was the first to be
offered at a Jesuit university.
In recent years, the Connell School has added significantly to its academic offerings, including the
Master’s Entry Program for non-nurse college
graduates, the Nurse Anesthesia Program, and the
Palliative Care Specialty. “Our faculty members are
continually re-evaluating and re-designing curricula
to meet current demands,” said Hazard, who adds
that, despite the Connell School’s growth and changes, “our goal remains to prepare our students to excel
in service to others.”
Reprinted with permission from the Boston College Chronicle
(March 29, 2007).
above Graduates pose next to the student nursing uniform
of their time: Ellen Hanley Fraumeni, ’67, Maureen Foley, ’71,
Janice Corry Luongo, ’77, Faculty Member Jennifer Dacey Allen,
’86, and Kerry Quealy, ’07; Faculty Member Angela Amar and
Dean Barbara Hazard. Photography by Suzanne Camarata.
Fall 2007
31
alumnae/i VOICE
1950s
Elizabeth (Dwyer) Vickers ’53
received her BA and MA in history studies from the University
of West Florida where she wrote
her thesis on Elisabeth Crowell.
Elaine (Noiseux) Galeone ’58
married a fellow BC alum and
together they started a photography business and professional
lab. Together, they have five children and eleven grandchildren
and live in Timonium, MD.
Marie (Lunney) Zielinski ’59
is happily retired and has been
traveling extensively, visiting China, Egypt, England,
Ireland, France, Germany,
Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, Netherlands, Belgium,
Denmark, Russia, Sweden,
Finland, Estonia, France and will
leave for Spain, Italy, Greece and
Turkey this fall. She has five
grandchildren; the youngest,
Adam, was born last June.
1960s
Leona (Rousseau) Dolloff ’60
is a retired nurse educator and
gerontological nurse practitioner. She married Peter Dolloff
in 1956 and is the mother of
five, grandmother of eleven
and great-grandmother of one.
Leona is a quilter, YMCA member, avid reader, political activist
and traveler.
alumni weekend may 2007 reunion breakfast
clockwise from top right Anne Madeus ’57, Kate Wain ’02 and Jackie Sullivan ’10, Ann Bouchard ’77, Gina Ankner ’92, Partricia Maucocchia
’77 and Patricia Dalton ’77, and Elizabeth Gillen ’77. Photography by Chad Minnich.
32 Boston College Nursing VOICE
Ruth (Wright) Kee ’60 is now
retired and spending time
with her husband Bob in
Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.
They have four grandchildren.
Ruth Calavecchio ’61 now works
in California with elders, mostly
refugees from Ukraine. She and
her husband Michael enjoy breeding and showing dogs around the
country.
Jane Murphy Cunniffe ’61 is now
retired after 43 years of nursing.
Jane’s nursing career included
teaching at Boston City School
of Nursing and in Virginia where
she worked mostly in Critical Care
with emphasis on coronary care
and open heart surgery. Jane’s life
is very active despite having had
both of her knees replaced. She
has two children and one grandchild.
Kate Liva Bott ’62 is semi-retired
and lives in the Northern Neck of
Virginia on the Chesapeake Bay.
She continues to work with the
University of Maryland Medical
Center by telecommuting. Kate’s
daughter Julia (A&S ’02) works at
the Gardner Elementary School
in Allston, MA, and is pursuing a
degree in educational administration.
Margaret Shandor Miles ’62
officially retired in 2004 from
her position as Professor at the
University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill. She continues
to work part-time on research
grants, directing the Center for
Innovations in Health Disparities
Research, and mentoring new
faculty and students in research.
In 2006, she was awarded the
Society of Pediatric Nurses First
Lifetime Achievement Leadership
Award, thereafter to be given
as the Margaret Shandor Miles
Leadership Award.
Brenda H. Sullivan-Miller ’62
retired in February 2006 and
presently does some home care
and pet sitting in the large senior
community where she resides.
Her eldest daughter, Kathleen is
the proud mom of 30-month-old
Sophia. Being a grandmother
is the thrill of Brenda’s life and
she is blessed to have her second
daughter, Kerry, living nearby.
Brenda enjoyed gathering with her
classmates at the 45th reunion,
as many of them have remained
close. She has remained a serious Doug Flutie groupie since the
1980s and is also an avid BC football and basketball fan.
Kathleen (Williams) Robbins ’63
was remarried in 2003 to Kenneth
Robbins and now lives in beautiful southwest New Hampshire.
Kathleen retired in August,
after 25 years at the Spaulding
Rehabilitation Hospital. She is
looking forward to traveling, hiking, puttering around the house
and hopes to find some volunteer
work in retirement. She has two
daughters and a wonderful granddaughter who was adopted from
China as a baby.
Ann M. Carty Thrailkill ’64 is
currently Lead Women Veterans
Program Manager at Palo Alto VA
and for the VISN (Fresno, Reno,
Northern California, Honolulu,
San Francisco’s VA). Ann is also
the coordinator for the Women’s
Health Center and an Associate
clinical faculty with Stanford and
Fall 2007 33
alumnae/i VOICE
UCSF. She lives in Sunnyvale,
California. Her son, Tim, is a
patent attorney in southern San
Francisco. Ann’s daughter, Amy,
left the technology world to raise
her son Matt and daughter, Haley.
Carole Edelman ’65, MS ’76
is an Advanced Practice Nurse
in Connecticut specializing in
geriatric care management.
Her textbook, Health Promotion
Throughout the Lifespan, is going
into its seventh edition. Carole
continues to enjoy her daughters and their husbands who live
nearby and more importantly
her four grandchildren who keep
her and her husband feeling
young. Carole plans to travel to
Australia and New Zealand in
February, with classmate
Ada Amaro ’65.
Catherine E. Graziano MS ’65
worked as a nursing educator
at Salve Regina University in
Newport, RI, was a Rhode Island
state senator for ten years, and
is now working with elderly programs to assist seniors and the
disabled in the everyday lives.
Catherine is the mother of five,
grandmother of six and greatgrandmother of two.
Margaret (Keeffe) Baker ’66 lives
with husband, John, in Cleveland,
Ohio and is the mother of four.
Margaret and John spend most of
their time on Fripp Island, SC.
Peggy (Bowes) Best ’67 has a psychotherapy practice in Herndon,
Virginia. Peggy lives in Reston
with her husband.
34 Boston College Nursing VOICE
Anne (Grier) Valenzano MS ’67
would like to say hello to her classmates, Gertrude Redmond ’65
MS ‘67 and Edith Cacciatore MS
’67 and congratulate them on the
“40th anniversary” of finishing
their Master’s program.
Carol Joyce ’69 is practicing psychotherapy including dream work
and Jungian-based approach. Her
avocation and burgeoning second
career is in the music and arts.
Her latest venture is in playwriting
with Gretchen Cryer. She often
utilizes the nursing stories and
concepts she has encountered that
she thinks are good teaching tools
in her performances. Her husband has recently retired so a new
phase of their lives has begun.
Sandra Mott MS ’69 received
an honorary degree from West
Suburban College of Nursing
and delivered the commencement address in 2007. She is
now the president of the Society
of Pediatric Nurses, an Associate
Professor at the Connell School
and chair of the Maternal Child
Health Department.
Jean (Davidson) Skoblar ’69 completed her MSN and Pediatric
Nurse Practitioner training in
1997. She is the mother of four
and has enjoyed volunteering at an
orphanage for HIV positive children in Nairobi, Kenya.
Standards of Practice. Pamela is
currently serving a four-year term
as an elected member of the ANA
Congress on Nursing Practice and
Economics. Her husband, Joseph,
is a retired U.S. Army Colonel.
Mary K. Sidell ’70 is currently
working in Cardiac Rehab at
Eastern Maine Medical Center in
Bangor, Maine. She and her husband, Bruce, raised three daughters and have four grandsons.
Brianne R. Fitzgerald ’71 is working full-time in HIV/AIDS, moonlights at Boston’s Healthcare for
the Homeless Program, and is
working toward her nurse practitioner degree. Brianne is the
mother of four and grandmother
of five.
Cathy Callahan Brennan ’72 lives
in Wethersfield, Connecticut and
is doing foot care for senior citizens. Her oldest child is a freshman in college and her younger
child is a junior in high school.
Janet Cameron-Barry ’72 lives in
Winter Park, FL with her husband,
Joe and their daughter Jennifer.
Janet volunteers as a “Minister to
the Sick” through her parish and
has made spiritual visits to people
in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
1970s
Jan O’Connell ’72 received her
MBA from Boston University and
now lives in Annapolis, Maryland.
Pamela (Porter) Kulbok ’70, MS
’75 was a member of the workgroup that wrote the 2007 ANA
Public Health Nursing: Scope and
Cynthia Caroselli ’73 is currently the Associate Director for
Patient Services and Chief Nurse
Executive for the VA New York
Harbor Health Care System.
Diane Erlandson ’73 MS ’78
received her masters of
Public Health from Harvard
University, was a fellow at the
National Institute of Nursing
Research, and completed her
doctoral studies ABD at Harvard
University. Diane is married
with three children and three
grandchildren. She now lives in
Cohasset, MA.
Maureen Curtis Cooper ’74 was
inducted into the Academy of
Emergency Nursing in 1995.
Maureen practices at Boston
Medical Center in Pediatric
Emergency. She is involved in
statewide teaching of emergency
nurses and recently returned
from teaching emergency nurses
in Bermuda. Her son, Michael, is
a fourth year medical student and
her daughter, Kathleen, is a third
year nursing student.
Joyce E. Bulgar ’75 recently
launched her own business serving the needs of seniors and their
families in the Washington, D.C.
metro area who are facing the
challenges of downsizing and relocating from their long-term homes
to an assisted living facility.
Judy (Gundersen) Groop ’75 has
been the Coordinator of Health
Services at Messiah College since
May of 1994. She was awarded
Best Nurse Leader in 2004 by
Advance for Nurses magazine. She
and husband of 28 years, Andrew,
have two children.
Anita. M. Kinne ’75 has been the
Corporate Director of Nursing for
Health Management Resources—
the nation’s largest provider of
medically supervised weight loss
programs—for the past ten years.
She lives in Needham, MA with
her husband of 32 years, Jeff.
Their daughter, Lisa, 23, is a student at the Art Institute of Atlanta.
Joan (Melanson) Lewis ’74
reports that her daughter
Christine received her second
Master’s degree in industrial psychology, and son Mark was married this summer and teaches on
Long Island with his wife. Joan’s
daughter Theresa—godchild of
Patricia (Webber) Sheridan ’74—
has just finished her Girl Scout
Gold Award.
Marion Longo MS ’75 is a psychiatric mental health nurse at the
BIDMC where she has worked for
22 years. She has been married
for 22 years and has two children.
Denise (Clougherty) Tompkins ’74
published The Quick Reference
Guide to your Child’s Health in
2000, which was recently translated for use in China.
Eileen C. (O’Connell) Costello ’76
was recently appointed Dean of
the School of Health Science at
Mount Wachusett Community
College in Gardner, MA. Eileen’s
Stephanie Page Bardwell ‘76
spends her time in New Bern,
NC with her husband, Cliff. She
is mother of three daughters and
enjoys boating and traveling.
daughter, Eileen M. Costello, is
a senior at the Connell School of
Nursing.
Davida F. Kruger ’76 is employed
at Henry Ford Health System
in Detroit, Michigan as a Nurse
Practitioner in the Division of
Endocrinology, Diabetes and
Bone Disease. Her role includes
both clinical practice and clinical
research. Davida is also editor in
chief of the American Diabetes
Association’s journal, Diabetes
Spectrum.
Deborah (DiSchino) Ryan ’76
earned her PhD from Emory this
past August. She is now in her
25th year on the faculty at the
Nell Hodgson Woodruff School
of Nursing at Emory University.
Deborah is the mother of two
boys.
Bonnie (Orlick) Showstack ’76 is
currently an Occupational Health
Nurse at Haemonetics Corporation
in Braintree, MA. She lives in
Easton, MA with husband Bruce
and their three children.
Rose Cain ’77 lives in Natick,
Massachusetts with her husband
Bob Palmer and two teenage boys,
Bobby and Max. She owns her
own financial services practice,
Spirit Financial, LLC based out
of Wayland, Massachusetts. She
also maintains a clinical practice
as a nurse practitioner focusing on
geriatrics and palliative care.
Kathy Gilsbach ’77 is currently
working as the Clinical Nurse
Specialist in the Neonatal ICU at
Fall 2007 35
clinical research
certificate program
alumnae/i VOICE
Stony Brook University Hospital
in New York.
Karen (Murphy) Noga MS ’77 is
working in Maternal Child Health/
Pediatrics and her daughter,
Lindsay, recently started at BC as
a freshman.
Elaine (DeIeso) Stephens ’77 has
been elected Chairman of the
Board of Directors of the National
Association for Home Care and
Hospice. She and her husband,
Christian, have four sons.
Anne F. Bourque ’78 is now the
Clinical Director of Hematology
and Bone Marrow Transplant at
City of Hope National Medical
Center in California. Her two children, Elizabeth and Greg, are 25
and 20, respectively.
Kathleen Mitchell ’78 went on to
Tufts/New England Medical Center
in Boston and graduated with
a CRNA in 1984. She lived in
Boston and worked for Anesthesia
Associates of Massachusetts for
20 years. Kathleen now lives and
works in Aspen, Colorado as a full
time CRNA at a rural hospital.
Catherine (Brefach) Newman ’78
was presented with the William
E. Boye, Jr. Humanitarian Award
on May 3, 2007. The award recognized her work as a Pediatric
Clinician with Valley Home Care’s
Butterflies Program in Paramus,
NJ, where she provides pediatric
palliative care to children with lifethreatening and life-limiting conditions, as well as her community
service with many organizations
36 Boston College Nursing VOICE
benefiting children and families.
Jane Britt Tallant MS ’78 was
recently appointed to the
Disciplinary Resources Advisory
Panel of the National Council of
State Boards of Nursing.
Maureen Callahan ’79 lives in
Pembroke, Massachusetts with
her husband, John, and children
Brendan, a senior at BC High and
Emily, an 8th grader at the junior
high. Maureen has worked at
Boston IVF for 17 years as a PACU
nurse after working at Beth Israel
Hospital, Bay State Health Care
and Pilgrim Health Care.
Sharon Dirrane ’79 reports that
she enjoys visiting her daughter,
Alexandra, who has just begun her
second year at BC.
Teresa (Wasiuk) Cordo ‘79 is
working at Lahey Clinic in
Burlington, Massachusetts as an
Administrative Supervisor and is
teaching nursing as an adjunct
faculty member at Middlesex
Community College in Bedford,
Massachusetts. She and her
husband, Joe, have three boys.
Their oldest son, Stephen
graduated from BC this year
and the other two are currently
students at BC.
Martha Jones ’79 has worked in
Home Health as a director of an
agency as well as starting her own
business for the recruitment of
nursing administrators, doctors
and pharmacists. She resides
with her partner of 20 years in
Phoenix, AZ.
Valerie D. Lewis-Mosley ’79
retired from clinical practice in
High Risk Obstetrics at the New
York Hospital-Cornell University
Medical. In May 2006, she
graduated Magna Cum Laude
from Seton Hall Law School
obtaining a Master’s of Science
in Jurisprudence with Health
Law Policy as her field of study.
Valerie was recently the keynote speaker for the Chi Eta Phi
Nursing Sorority Scholarship
banquet in Richmond, Virginia,
discussing “Nursing: A
Profession to Brag About.” She
recently celebrated her tenth
wedding anniversary with her
husband Eugene Mosley. They
reside in West Orange, New
Jersey.
Faith (Falco) Scott ’79 works for
the Visiting Nurse Association of
Northern NJ. She and her husband, Greg, have two daughters.
Mary (Egan) Ferrall ’80 works
as a labor and delivery nurse at
Olathe Medical Center in her
hometown, a suburb of Kansas
City. The Ferralls all ran in the
San Diego marathon in June of
this year; it was her first and last
marathon and an exhilarating
experience. Two of her children
have graduated from college,
her third is a junior at St. Louis
University and her youngest is a
junior in high school.
1980s
Robin Griffey ’80 is in her nineteenth year as a pediatric oncology nurse at the Jimmy Fund
Clinic. She lives in Norwood,
MA with her son, Quinn, whom
she adopted from Guatemala.
Colleen Brennan-Martinez ’81
works as a Nurse Practitioner
in Interventional Cardiology at
the Cardiovascular Center at the
University of Michigan Health
System. Colleen’s daughter is
now in college.
Parise (LeBoeuf ) Dubay ’81 is
currently a school nurse at the
schools her three children attend
in Fort Kent, Maine. Parise is a
cancer survivor of six years.
Dee Graceffa MS ’81 is sad to
report that her son, Justin was
recently seriously injured. She
asks her fellow alums for their
thoughts and prayers for her son
and family.
Dina (Levy) Rosenthal ’81 recently received her Masters from
the University of Maryland in
Leadership and Education. She
is the department head of the
Coronary Care Unit and hopes to
be able to give back and join many
of her colleagues as faculty. She
is married with two boys, one of
whom attends Boston College.
Her other son is a senior in high
school. They reside in Rockville,
Maryland.
Mary Ellen Bowers ’82 is living
in Cambridge, Massachusetts and
recently took a new job at Beth
Israel Deaconess Medical Center
as a research nurse in the Biologic
Therapy Program, working on
clinical trials for melanoma and
renal cell cancer.
O
ur Clinical Research Certificate Program includes a rigorous
curriculum to prepare you for exciting in-demand positions
in the field of clinical research—including Clinical Research Associate or Clinical Research Coordinator. This program is team taught by
seasoned professionals working in the field of clinical research and all
topics can be completed in less than two semesters. Requirements for
the certificate program include successfully completing all required
courses—Pathways in Clinical Research, Health Care Statistics, and Clinical
Research Internship—within a two year timeframe.
continuing education program
For more information, call 617-552-4256
or visit http://www.bc.edu/ce
Ask about our Discount Rate—Pathways in Clinical Research and Health
Care Statistics may be taken together for a $100 discount!
NOTICE: The baccalaureate and master’s programs of the William F. Connell School of Nursing
at Boston College are scheduled for an accreditation review by the Commission on Collegiate
Nursing Education (CCNE) on April 16-18, 2008. All constituents are welcome to submit written
comments regarding our programs’ qualifications for accreditation status from now until March
16, 2008. Please address your comments directly to CCNE at the following address:
Ms. LiAnn Shepard, Accreditation Assistant
Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education
One Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 530
Washington, DC 20036-1120
Fall 2007 37
alumnae/i VOICE
Ellen M. (Shea) Byrd ’83 has
worked for the last 20 years in
neonatal intensive care. She is
currently enrolled in Indiana
Wesleyan’s Master’s program
with a concentration in nursing
education. Living in Marshfield,
Ellen is the wife of Doug and
mother of three.
Cheryl Homer ’83 recently
received her MS in Nursing
Administration and Leadership
from Walden University. She is
living in Ocala, Florida where her
last full time position was Nurse
Manager for the CVICU and the
CVU at Munroe Regional Medical
Center. She has also been
employed as a part time instructor at Central Florida Community
College.
Mary (Haran) Willis MS ’83
taught at the University of
Portland until 1995 and is now a
full time mother.
Cheryl (Dishner) Bardetti ’84
currently works as the Quality
and Safety Project Manager at
Caritas Christi Health Care in
Boston. She, her husband Renzo,
and their two children live in
Southborough, MA.
Melissa M. Dziedzic ’84 worked
in a pediatric primary care practice for 6 years and now works
in Otolaryngology. She is certified in Otolaryngology and is an
asthma educator.
Patricia Flanagan MS ’84 is
a nurse practitioner and faculty member at Massachusetts
38 Boston College Nursing VOICE
General Hospital Institute of
Health Professions in Boston.
She has been married to Kevin
Flanagan, the Chief Technical
Officer at Eye Seven Inc. in
Arlington, MA, for 22 years.
They have two children: Kelly
Elizabeth, a senior at Concord
Academy, and Colleen Patricia, a
sophomore at Phillips Academy.
Janet (Foley) Miller ’84 relocated
to South Florida in 1991 and has
made that area home with husband, Ed and triplet boys, Brian,
Devin and Jack. The boys are
now ten years old. Janet is currently the Area Vice President
for South Florida Gentiva Health
Services. She just celebrated her
12th anniversary with Gentiva
and is very proud of her organization’s mission, vision and
values toward clinical care and
position patients outcomes in
the home health setting.
Catherine A. Gels-Birch ’85
is employed at Eastern Maine
Medical Center in Bangor, Maine
where she is the clinical supervisor in the Diabetes, Endocrine &
Nutrition Center.
Janice K. Lavoie ’85 is now
the Director of the Bariatric
Program at Potomac Hospital in
Woodbridge, Virginia.
Rollie Perea ’85 works at Fatima
Hospital Emergency where he is
currently the Clinical Director
and practice as an Emergency
Room Nurse Practitioner. Also,
Rollie is a principal for a consulting company that specializes
in making emergency departments more efficient and productive, and is adjunct faculty
member at UMass/Worcester
and at the MGH-IHP. Rollie has
two boys, Rocky, 4, and Cole, 2.
His wife Leslie is also a nurse
practitioner.
Jacqueline (Clark) Skeith ’85
is a certified informatics nurse
and has been practicing in this
role now for 16 years. She lives
in Exeter, New Hampshire with
her husband and 11-year-old
daughter. Jacqueline recently
presented “Using Technology
to Expedite Screening and
Intervention for Domestic Abuse
and Neglect” at the University
of Maryland SON’s Summer
Institute of Nursing Informatics
in Baltimore, Maryland.
Gloria Antall MS ’87 is an
Assistant Professor at the
Frances Payne Bolton School of
Nursing at Case Western Reserve
University in Cleveland, Ohio.
Gloria and husband Robert
spend time at homes in Shaker
Heights, Ohio and Plymouth,
Massachusetts and have three
children and six grandchildren.
Terri Abely ’87 has three collegeaged children: Patrick, who is a
senior; Timothy, who is a sophomore; and Lauren, who is a
freshman nursing student. Terri
will be celebrating 23 years of
marriage to her best friend, Paul
Abely. The last few years, she
has been a school nurse at St.
Catherine of Sienna in Norwood,
Massachusetts.
Julianne Evangelista ’87 MS ’90
is a PNP in the cardiovascular program at Children’s
Hospital, Boston. She is also
the President of the Northeast
Pediatric Cardiology Nurses
Association (NPCNA). In March,
Julianne published “Assessment
of Pediatric Heart Sounds” in
the American Journal for Nurse
Practitioners and was a contributor to NAPNAP’s Core
Curriculum Book for Pediatric
Nurse Practitioners in Primary
Care for the Cardiovascular
System.
Center—currently in the ICU—
since she graduated from BC. She
and husband, Michael, have two
children, Matthew and Samantha.
Patricia A. Kuster ’87 is a pediatric nurse practitioner and received
her PhD in nursing from UCLA
in 2002. She is married with two
young children and has several
recent publications.
Julie (Jackson) McDonald ’88
received her masters in nursemidwifery at SUNY Stonybrook
and has been a certified nurse
midwife for the past ten years in
a private practice in southeastern
Massachusetts. She is also the
single mom of three children.
Joy A. Laramie ’87 currently
works as a nurse practitioner
in Hospice/Palliative Care and
Geriatrics at the Veterans’ Affairs
Medical Center in Washington,
D.C. She is the author of Primary
Care of the Older Adult, and is
an Assistant Clinical Professor
in the Health Care Sciences at
George Washington University
and Adjunct Clinical Professor at
George Mason University.
Nancy (Bouchard) Meedzan ’87 is
an Assistant Professor of Nursing
at Endicott College in Beverly,
Massachusetts. She lives in
Ipswich, Massachusetts with her
husband and three daughters.
Jeannine Haas Bell ’88 has been
working at St. Elizabeth’s Medical
Elizabeth G. Damato PhD ’88 is
currently Assistant Professor of
Nursing at Case Western Reserve
University where she has received
grants for research on sleep patterns among mothers and children. Elizabeth was named a
Woman of Excellence for Research
& Scholarship by Case Western
Reserve University Research
ShowCASE.
Jacqueline Leonard MS ’89 is
a Child-Adolescent Psychiatric
Clinical Nurse Specialist and is
an assistant professor of nursing at Franciscan University of
Steubenville, Ohio.
Cari (McGrath) Tatian ’89 has
been working as an oncology
RN in outpatient setting for 13
years. Two years ago, she started
her own business with Arbonne
International, a health and wellness company. Cari has three
incredible children: John, 11,
Claudia, 9, and Grace, 6. She and
her family have lived in Natick for
14 years where she enjoys working from her home, caring for her
children and being healthy.
1990s
Marijane Sue Murphy ’91 has
been a clinical resource nurse
at Tufts New England Medical
Center since graduating from BC.
She and husband, Peter (CSOM
’89), adopted a son from Korea
who is now three years old.
Gina Ankner ’92 MS ’97 is a
lecturer and clinical instructor in the Department of Adult
and Child Nursing at UMASS/
Dartmouth. She recently published her first book entitled
Clinical Decision Making: Case
Studies in Medical-Surgical Nursing.
A second book with additional
case studies will be published
later this year.
Kristina Ann (Lane) Gartner ’92
is working as an RN in the SICUCVICU at Lahey Clinical Medical
Center and founded Legal Nurse
Boston, a legal nurse consulting firm. She and her husband
Dieter are proud parents of 11year-old Anasophia, 3-year-old
Ethan Johan and 4-month-old
Roman Luca.
Pasqualeen (Supler) Kessinger
’92 has been working at
University Hospitals Case
Medical Center in Cleveland,
Ohio for 15 years. She is currently a part-time med/surg nursing supervisor and is married to
husband Michael with whom she
has 5 children.
Deborah J. MacDonald MS ’92
received her PhD from UCLA
School of Nursing in 2006 and
since 1997, she has been a cancer
Fall 2007 39
2008 A. Daniel Rubenstein Lecture
Creating the Future of Gerontological Nursing:
Issues, Opportunities and Challenges
alumnae/i VOICE
Thursday, April 24, 2008 | 4:00 – 5:00 Registration & Refreshments, 5:00 – 6:30 Lecture | Boston College
genetic risk clinician, behavioral
and health outcomes researcher,
and cancer genetics educator in
California. She has also written
more than 30 peer-reviewed journal publications and presented
several times on cancer genetics.
Amy (Talsky) Pawasarat ’92
obtained her Masters in Science
from the University of Illinois
in Chicago and now works at
Children’s Memorial Hospital
in Chicago as a PNP in the HIV
clinic. She was married in 2005
to Ted Pawasarat and they have a
son named David.
Luanne Nemes MS ’93 is now the
clinical coordinator and co-founder of the Advanced Fetal Care
Center at Children’s Hospital
Boston. She lives in Duxbury,
Massachusetts with her husband
and 5-year-old son.
Fran (Higgins) McAuley ’94
works part time as a nurse anesthetist at Children’s Hospital of
Pittsburgh. She has been married to husband Doug for 4 years
and has 2 boys: Ben, two years
old, and Sam, two months old.
Charlotte (Altmeyer) Nicholson ’94
is working at the Georgetown
University Hospital Transplant
Institute as a Living Donor
Transplant Coordinator/
Hepatology nurse. Charlotte is
married with two daughters.
Annie (Walsh) Watts ’94 is a
nurse in the PACU at Brigham
and Women’s. She just had
her fourth baby in 5 years and
40 Boston College Nursing VOICE
is married living in Duxbury,
Massachusetts.
Brittany (Newton) Hardiman ’95
is now living in Medfield with
her husband, Brian, and three
children: Molly, 4; Charlie, 2;
and William, 4 months. She
recently worked at Children’s
Hospital in Boston developing
a new graduate orientation program for nurses and is currently
a stay-at-home mom.
Melissa (Johnson) Comeau ’96
is married to Perry Comeau and
has three children: Alexis, 8,
Perry, 6, and Chase, 4. They
live in Harwich, MA and she
works per diem at Cape Cod
Hospital.
Melissa (McNamara) Mullen
’96 is working part-time at
MGH as an ER nurse. She
resides in Newton with her
husband, Dr. John Mullen, and
their two children.
Tyrrell (Carr) Januzzi ’95 married classmate Louis Januzzi.
They have one child with whom
Tyrrell now stays at home.
Prior to 2006, Tyrrell was the
Assistant Nursing Supervisor at
Medical Foster Care Unit at The
Children’s Aid Society in New
York.
Helen (Heffern) Coupas ’97
has been working in cardiology at the Hospital of the
University of Pennsylvania in
Philadelphia since 1999. She
has been married for seven
years to Kevin and they have a
three-year-old daughter, Elena.
Maureen (Donohue) Mann MS ’95
is now living in Northboro,
Massachusetts and working for
VNA Care Network home care.
She is married with an eightyear-old son, Travis.
Jodi (Bartlett) Elder ’97 is now
working at Children’s Hospital
Boston as the Heart Transplant
Nurse Coordinator. She and
her husband live in Brookline,
Massachusetts.
Lee Shirland MS ’95, a MS
Neonatal Nurse Practitioner,
is the co-coordinator for the
Neonatal Advanced Practice
Service in the Neonatal Intensive
Care Unit (NICU) at Cape
Fear Valley Health System in
Fayetteville, North Carolina. Lee
is also the current president
of the Carolinas Association of
Neonatal Nurse Practitioners
(CANNP). Lee serves as an editorial consultant for Neonatal
Network, The Journal of Neonatal
Nursing.
Maura (Forbes) Hughey ’97 is
married and lives in Newbury,
Massachusetts with her husband, Todd and their two
children. Maura is a nurse at
Boston Medical Center.
Joanne O’Sullivan MS ’97 PhD ’03
works as a Nurse Scientist for
Surgical Programs at Children’s
Hospital Boston.
Karen (Tarzia) Uttaro ’97
received her masters from
UMASS/Worcester in 2003 and
has been working for the last 4
years as a clinical nurse educator for UMMMC in Worcester,
MA. She married Nate Uttaro
(LSOE ’96, ’97) and they have a
20-month-old daughter.
Boston College is pleased to present a
lecture from one of our nation’s most
widely respected experts on gerontological nursing, Neville E. Strumpf, PhD,
RN, FAAN.
Stephanie (Walter) Albanese ’98
received her Master’s degree
in Adult Health as a Nurse
Practitioner in 2006 from
Stony Brook University.
She currently works as
a Cardiothoracic Nurse
Practitioner at Long Island
Jewish Medical Center on Long
Island. She lives with her husband of three years and their
son in Amityville, Long Island.
free contact hours!*
Jill Carpenter ’98 is working at
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
in the Endoscopy unit for
the past four years. She was
recently engaged to be married
and is residing in Charlestown,
Massachusetts.
Eric Harrington ’98 now
resides in West Roxbury,
Massachusetts with his wife,
Kara. Eric is employed at Beth
Israel Medical Center as the
unit-based educator for invasive
cardiology.
Rosella (Mancuso) Micalizzi ’98
works at Children’s Hospital
Boston where she is a nurse
manager and teaches pediatric
clinical rotations. Rosella married last year and now resides
in Hamilton, MA. She is also
now an aunt to the newborn
daughter of her twin sister,
Julia (Mancuso) Perkins ’98.
Dr. Strumpf—the Edith Clemmer
Steinbright Professor in Gerontology and
Director of the Center for Gerontologic
Nursing Science at the University of
Pennsylvania—will share decades of
insight about how gerontological nursing has evolved, where we are now, and
what we need to do to prepare for the
future of gerontology.
For more information and to register for
this free event:
Go to http://www.bc.edu/rubenstein
Call MaryBeth Crowley at 617-552-0526
* number of contact hours pending
http://www.bc.edu/rubenstein
teaching certificate
for advanced practice nurses
certificate overview
The Teaching Certificate for advanced
practice nurses is a series of three courses designed to provide teaching and
learning expertise to nurses in order to
meet the need for educators in academic
nursing programs and clinical settings.
The growing shortage of nursing
faculty coupled with increasing enrollments in nursing programs has made
advanced practice nurses with this
teaching certificate increasingly
important in the field.
Courses are available to nurses with master's degrees in nursing or those enrolled
in a nursing master's program who have
completed 50% or more of their program
requirements.
Certificate courses are offered through
distance/web-based education. A certificate is awarded after the successful
completion of the three courses.
learn more online
http://www.bc.edu/teachingcertificate
| online distance learning |
from boston college
Fall 2007 41
alumnae/i VOICE
Caitlin (Feeney) Stover ’98
recently accepted an adjunct
position in Community Health
Nursing at Worcester State
College for the fall semester and
at Boston College for the spring
semester.
Elizabeth Whitaker ’98 lives
in Kansas City and works as
a Nurse Practitioner with a
Gynecologic Oncology group.
She has been an NP for three
years after receiving her masters
in nursing from the University
of Colorado.
2000’s
Alexis (Baine) Bâby ’00 graduated from the University of Illinois
at Chicago in 2006 with a MSN.
She married in October of 2006
and now works as a Pediatric
Nurse Practitioner at Children’s
Memorial Hospital in Chicago in
the Stem Cell Transplant department.
Kathleen M. Kearney ’00 graduated from Suffolk Law, earned
her MSN from Emory University
and passed the CPNP exam.
Currently, she is an attorney at
the Turley Law Firm in Dallas,
Texas. Earlier this year, Kathleen
authored an article published in
the Journal of Nursing Law.
Christine (Holborow) Lauria MS
’00 is now a Geriatric Nurse
Practitioner for MGH. She lives
with her family in Millis, MA
with her two-year old daughter.
Nelse Winder ’00 has been
working as a nurse in DC in the
42 Boston College Nursing VOICE
pediatric ICU for the past few
months and will relocate to Palo
Alto, CA soon for a position in a
pediatric cardiac ICU.
Elyssa (Vasas) Wood ’00
recently finished her PhD in
Nursing from the University of
Pennsylvania. Her dissertation
title was “A Mixed Method Study
of HIV Risk among Jamaican
Adolescent Girls with Older Male
Sexual Partners.” She is now living outside of Washington, D.C.
with her husband, where they
are renovating an 1820s farmhouse.
Leslie (Wlodyka) DeLisle ’01 is
currently pursuing her Master’s
Degree in Psychiatric/Mental
Health Nursing and was just
hired as a part-time clinical
faculty for the Connell School’s
Masters Entry Adult Health rotation at Mass General Hospital.
III (assistant unit manager) on a
pediatric/adult orthopedic postop unit.
Carol Marchetti MS ’02 is back
at the Connell School for her
second year in the PhD program.
Lauren (Forbes) Timmons ’02
is now working at Mass General
Hospital and was married two
years ago to a fellow Boston
College graduate.
Maria DiCenso ’03 just graduated from Northeastern
University’s Pediatric Nurse
Practitioner program in May
2007 and just started working
at Children’s Hospital in Boston
as an NP in the Plastic Surgery
department. She was married at
BC on October 7 to fellow Eagle
Jeff Ambrose.
Tara (LaRosee) Beuoy ’02 welcomed her son, Scott, on May 5,
2007.
Britt (Frisk) Pados ’03 recently
left her position as a Neonatal
NP in New York City to pursue
a PhD in Nursing at the
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. She is currently
a first year Pre-Doctoral Fellow
looking to study feeding and
growth in infants with complex
congenital heart disease. Britt
lives in North Carolina where
she enjoys beautiful weather,
Southern hospitality and ACC
football.
Melissa (Barsz) Carroll ’02 was
married on June 30, 2007 to
husband, Eben, an orthopedic
surgeon. They are now living in
New York City and Melissa just
accepted a new position as CN
Jessica Capone ’04 moved to
West Hartford, Connecticut.
Since graduation from the
Master’s Entry program in 2004,
Jessica has had two children and
moved three times. Her daugh-
Jennifer E. (DeNino) Kolenda ’01
completed her MSN from Emory
University in 2005 and is now
working as an ACNP in neurocritical care at Emory University
Hospital. Jennifer lives with
husband Benjamin in Atlanta,
Georgia.
ter, Mason, will be three years
old in December and her son,
Jules, will be one year old in
October. She is currently a fulltime mother, which she enjoys
very much. She hopes to transition back into a part time nursing role over the next year.
Alex Gleason PhD ’04 married
Nancy this past June and now
works as Director of Medical
Training at Liberty Mutual
Insurance.
Marion Godin ’04 has recently
relocated to Delray Beach,
Florida in pursuit of her masters as a family nurse practitioner at Florida Atlantic
University. Marion was married
in August to Vincent Godin.
Marcy Lamonica ’04 graduated
in 2007 with her MSN from the
University of Pennsylvania’s
Acute/Chronic Pediatric Nurse
Practitioner Program.
Shaama Saber ’04 is now working at the Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia in the Emergency
Department/Level One Trauma
Center. She is now in Graduate
School at the University of
Pennsylvania for Nursing and
Health Care Administration.
Shaama was married in May
to Shady M. Chahoud and they
now live in Philadelphia.
Emily (Karwacki) Sheff MS ’04
and her husband, Eric, just
celebrated the birth of their
first son, Jacob Austin Sheff on
August 16, 2007.
Chasity (Burrows) Walters MS
’04 is working on her Doctoral
studies at NYU College of
Nursing and was married this
year to Samuel Walters.
Nancy Crouse CERT ’05 will
be joining the Connell School
faculty in January 2008 as a
part time Clinical Instructor
for the Community Health
Nursing course taught by Adele
Pike. She is also employed by
the Visiting Nurse Association
of Boston as their Psychiatric
Nurse Consultant and works
for the North Suffolk County
Mental Health Association as
a Community Liason Nurse
for one of their Community
Rehabilitation Support
Programs for the Chronically
Mentally Ill.
Jill Lamson MS ’05 worked at
Reproductive Science Center for
two years as a nurse practitioner
and research coordinator and is
now working for MIT Medical
in Cambridge as a nurse practitioner in their OB/Gyn department.
Kathleen G. O’Leary MS ’05
is a Pain Management Nurse
Practitioner at the New England
Baptist Hospital in Boston and
a Family Nurse Practitioner
for Dr. Wynne Huang MD in
Woburn, MA. Kathleen and her
husband, Michael, have a beautiful two-year-old son, Ryan.
Beth Tumulo ’05 is an
Emergency Trauma Department
RN at Hackensack University
Medical Center in Hackensack,
New Jersey. She just recently bought a house in North
Plainfield, New Jersey.
Kayee Yam MS ’05 has worked
for NYU Medical Center and
Sher Institutes for Reproductive
Medicine and is now the clinical
manager for Batzofin Fertility
Services in Manhattan.
MJ Beaulieu MS ’06 is working in the Neurology Clinic at
Children’s Hospital in Boston
and enjoys providing comprehensive care to pediatric
patients dealing with neurological conditions.
Megan Mattern ’06 and her
fiancé Tim Hughes ’06 each
work as nurses at Mass General
Hospital.
Amy M. O’Meara MS ’06
has been working as a clinician at Planned Parenthood in
Hazleton, Pennsylvania since
May 2007. Her daughter,
Madeleine, was born on July
18, 2006. Amy has agreed to
with with (former BC faculty)
Holly Harner to precept a student from Thomas Jefferson
University in the spring of
2008.
Alumnae/i news is compiled
from alumnae/i submissions
as well as from a variety of
outside media sources.
To include your news in
the next issue, email us at:
nursing.alums@bc.edu
Fall 2007 43
dialogue Dorothy Jones | Ellen Mahoney
endnote
Lee Pellegrini
Chad Minnich
Musings on the Aging Population Aging, is a process that occurs over time—it is initiated
at birth and extends across human existence and beyond
• Aging gives life new meaning and opens up possibility •
Aging offers each person the potential for self recognition, maturation, growth and depth • All humans
engage in aging—it is what we have in common • The
relationships and connections we make as we journey
our life path, enfold and embrace us as we—without
this connection, aging can be a challenging and lonely
experience • Waiting to “grow old” delays engagement in
an inevitable experience and may potentate needless fear
and anxiety • Being an active partner in aging can make
the process more familiar and help balance losses with
gains • Awareness of our own mortality can help us
to value each day and celebrate accomplishments •
With aging comes the potential for increased wisdom to
share and mentor others • Respecting the human rights
and dignity of others is inherent in promoting our
own humanness • Nurses recognize the person as a
holistic being and work in partnership to accompany
individuals and groups as they journey through health,
illness and death • Nurses are hope for the challenged, the
despairing and compromised … their presence offers the
support needed for others to move forward, make changes,
and transform their lives • Nursing cares for the elderly,
exquisitely • Aging is a gift—it should be recognized
early and participated in, actively • Aging informs our
present, acknowledges our past and transforms our
future • Supporting each other throughout the aging process is a conscious experience, with mutual benefit, enriching us each day of our lives.
I hear projections about aging in the future, but I see
people who are aging; I hear statistics that express generalizations, but I see individuals—quality of life and quality of care are pressing issues now • “Growing ole ain’t
no picnic,” as someone said, but there are yet roles to be
played, wisdom to be gained, values to be passed on •
Nursing knowledge is pivotal to many of the most salient
issues—health promotion, transitions, self-care management, partnership, care-giving, end-of-life • Martha
Rogers said development occurs in many dimensions, is
always forward moving and characterized by increasing
complexity and diversity—knowing this gives me a whole
new perspective when I interact with older adults • Let
us be slow to attribute anything to aging: stereotypes go
out the window—research says that older people are more
different from each other than any other age group • Erik
Erikson found older people more compassionate, more
tolerant, more patient ... but positive generalizations are
as suspect as negative ones • One of our Gerontological
Clinical Nurse Specialist students (Margaret Doyle ’07)
wrote that in caring for older adults, she learned to think
creatively and critically—reflections like this make me
hopeful for the future, but also acutely aware of the need
to develop this knowledge and skill in all • Grow old along
with me – who knows what we’ll find – healthy aging is a
new undiscovered country, “Old people should be explorers” (Tennyson) • Exercise! Maintain the brain (and the
body)! • If we can pay for war, we can pay for long-term
care • Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said (at the first
White House Conference on Aging) that a civilization
can be measured by how it cares for its old people.
Dorothy Jones, EdD, RNC, ANP, FAAN, is a Professor of Adult
Health.
Ellen Mahoney, DNSc, RNCS, is an Associate Professor of
Adult Health.
44 Boston College Nursing VOICE
instructional, research and promotional projects chad minnich
has contributed to are numerous
and varied (see page 17). included
here is a brief sampling: top row
Women’s Voices Women’s Lives—HIV
prevention film with Drs. Rosanna
DeMarco and Anne Norris; CARE
Project (Communicating and Relating
Effectively—Mothers and Infants) promotion and data capture protocol/system for Dr. June Horowitz. center HPV
Women’s Health Survey promotion for
Dr. Jennifer Allen and Holly Fontenot;
Aging, Biotechnology and the Future
Conference collateral, for Dr. Catherine
Read; Eating Disorders Study collateral
for Dr. Barbara Wolfe. bottom row CATS
(Child Adolescent Teasing in Schools)
web resources for Dr. Judith Vessey.
william f. connell
school of nursing
140 commonwealth avenue
chestnut hill, ma 02467
non profit org.
u.s. postage paid
boston, ma
permit # 55294