CONTACT - Volume 10, Number 1
Message from the Dean
Pegge L. Bell, Ph.D., RN

As the "new" dean, I send you greetings. This is my first year at Barry and already I have been immersed in the history and the traditions of the school. The community has been receptive and the faculty have been very supportive as I become part of the history of this school. We have many challenges as a school - admitting and graduating the brightest and most culturally diverse students, maintaining a faculty body that excels in teaching and scholarship, meeting the needs of our healthcare affiliates, and providing a number of services to our community-at-large. Yet, given our history, I know we are up to the challenge.

As we celebrate the Division of Nursing's 50th anniversary, it's a wonderful time to reflect on the accomplishments and future plans of the school. Just 50 years ago the first all-female class entered the nursing program. At our recent Alumni Day Open House, three junior nursing students wore the traditional pink uniform, white pinafore, and white cap. They fumbled with all the buttons on the dress and pinafore, and needed assistance donning the white caps. An alum from the class of 1954 noticed one of them wore her sandals (the student forgot her shoes at home that morning). She pointed out that the student would be sent home from clinical in violation of the professional dress code. She shared that while she was a student here she spent many hours over the weekends starching and ironing her clinical uniform. The students were fascinated by her memories of her time here as a student.

left to right : Jennifer Cole, Dean Bell, Manuela Robiou, Willane Toussaint

Much has happened in the past 50 years to our definition of professionalism and how our students portray themselves in the community. For decades our students were educated by traditional classroom activities, primarily offered in lecture format. They were assigned to a clinical group in an acute care hospital for the duration of the program. Their view of nursing was limited to caring for those who required hospitalization for illnesses and surgical procedures. Today, we have a community-based curriculum, which exposes students to a number of primary care services. Students are wearing khaki pants and a pullover with the Barry logo. They blend into the community and at first sight, they don't look like nurses at all. However, to those they serve in communities of South Florida, they provide health services and screenings that impact whole communities - not just an isolated patient in a hospital room. Students in the graduate program are providing care as nurse practitioners, learning to manage health organizations, and educating staff, patients, and students. Doctoral students are conducting research studies that identify and test remedies for our disenfranchised, at-risk, and vulnerable populations.

Technology has also been added as a teaching strategy for students at all levels of the program. Faculty and students communicate through the Internet on a daily basis. Students access the web to gather information about their patients, and to access data bases that inform and support their nursing actions. What a dynamic world nursing at Barry University has become. The future will be challenging, but the faculty are committed to offering the same quality in all educational programs, building on their scholarship, and serving the community. Just like the first graduate nurses in America, our students are finding their way outside the walls of the hospital. They are back in the neighborhoods that comprise our diverse communities-and Barry is being well represented by their actions.