CONTACT - Volume 9, Number 2
Faculty, Student and Alumni News

Milestones

Lambda Chi Awards : Sheila Hopkins received the Melba Cather Teaching Award, Daniel Little the Victoria Schoolcraft Leadership Award, and Judith Balcerski received the Judith Balcerski Research Award, which was named for the retiring dean who gave enormous support to the chapter.

Lambda Chi Research Grants : Merryle Parns received a $500 grant for her study "The Effects of Deep Breathing and Guided Imagery on Test Anxiety and Psychosomatic Symptoms in Baccalaureate Nursing Students". Claudette Spalding received a $1000 grant for the testing of a newly developed instrument that will be used in her dissertation research, titled "Willingness to Serve Underserved/Disenfranchised Population: The Effects of University Affiliation, Level of Education, and Nursing Students' Spirituality."

Dr. Carol A. Patsdaughter was appointed co-editor of the Journal of Cultural Diversity .

Debbie Nogueras ' paper, "Teaching Ethical Decision-making Using Critical Reflection, Learning Assessment, and Service Learning", is in February 2002 Nurse Educator .

Jo Ann Gottlieb 's paper, "Designing and Implementing an RN Refresher Course for the Acute Care Hospital: Development of the Nurses' Critical Thinking Skills", is in the February 2002 Journal for Nurses in Staff Development .

Debbie Nogueras and Jo Ann Gottlieb

Nursing students Kelly Miller, Julie Millar, Felicia Burton, and Kirian Barros attended the District V Florida Nurses Association luncheon and were in attendance when Debbie Nogueras received the Community Action Award and Jo Ann Gottlieb the Nursing Student Liaison Award.

Dr. Joan Efinger earned a $1000 scholarship for the National Science Foundation's Evaluator's Institute.

Graduating seniors Lauren Clancy (RN to BSN Option), Debra Lynch (Accelerated Option), Zhandra Wright (Accelerated Option), and Andrea Santora (Basic Option) received the Dean's Awards for their academic achievements at the University's Honors Convocation in May 2002.

Accelerated Option students Steven Guzman and Nathalie Monuma were selected as the 2002 Dr. John T. Macdonald-Harold Norman Scholars . Each will receive $2,500 towards their academic program.

Doctoral students Stephanie LaManna (left) and Marcia Hacker presented at the 8th Qualitative Health Research Conference, International Institute for Qualitative Methodology, Banff, Alberta, Canada in April. Hacker's poster presentation was "From chaos to constructed culture: An ethnomethodological study of inpatient Alzheimer's disease unit" . La Manna co-presented with Dr. Joan Efinger: "The lived experiences of coaches' management and knowledge of athletes with asthma" .

Daniel Little, Sheila Hartop, Jodi Gooden, and Robert Morse also attended and gave poster or podium presentations.  This conference is the most widely attended qualitative research conference in the world.  It is held annually and brings together the gurus of qualitative research and methodology in one place for one week. More than five hundred attendees gather over the one-week period. Dr. Janice Morse of the University of Alberta Division of Nursing organizes the conference each year, with each one being more spectacular that the previous one. The next conference is in May 2003 and I hope to attend.  Daniel Little