Rho Pi Chapter 422
Shenandoah University
Winchester, VA
The President’s Message
This 2007 will be an exciting year for Rho Pi Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International. Rho Pi Chapter was excited to be host the 2007 Annual Research and Scholarship Day, Creating a Spirit of Inquiry and Collegial Relationships. This is the ninth anniversary of this event. Dr. Alyce Shultz, Vice President of STTI , was the keynote speaker and presented: "Creating a Spirit of Inquiry." Dr. Alyce Schultz is the Associate Director of the Center for the Advancement of Evidence-Based Practice and Clinical Professor at Arizona State University College of Nursing and Healthcare Innovation. For almost 12 years prior to this move, she was the Director of the Center for Nursing Research and Quality Outcomes at Maine Medical Center, in Portland, Maine, with an adjunct appointment at University of Southern Maine, School of Nursing. As the Nurse Researcher in a tertiary care setting, her primary role was as a mentor and educator of staff nurses in promoting evidence-based practice and the conduct of research. In collaboration with staff nurses, faculty, physicians, social workers, and dietitians, she was funded by six external grants, three internal grants, and has written over 25 peer-reviewed publications. In 2003, she and a team of staff nurses received an Innovation in Clinical Excellence award sponsored by Sigma Theta Tau International and Nursing Spectrum. Dr Schultz also serves as the current Vice-President of Sigma Theta Tau International.
Dr. Anne Belcher, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, was the afternoon featured speaker and presented "Mean Girls, Mean Boys - A Nursing Problem". Additionally, there were many breakout sessions and poster displays on current research and scholarly activities in nursing.
The annual symposium is designed to empower nurses and to encourage scholarship, research and leadership. It is also a time for the honor society to recognize the achievements of its members. During Research Day the following awards were presented:
Excellence in Nursing Leadership: Desiree Brunelle (WMC)
Excellence in Clinical Practice: Jennifer Matthews (SU and WMH)
Excellence in Education: Heather Wilson (WMC)
Thanks to all who helped pull this research day together. It was the work of many people. Patti Krauskopf served as Program Chair and Wanida Wanant and Cheryl Dumont, who coordinated the abstract submissions and the research award. Jennifer Matthews who coordinates the awards, Kathy Ganske and Marcia Perkins who coordinated fund raising, and Kelly Peters who handled finances and many other last minute details. Dr. Marian Newton has a knack for helping us located our speakers and she did it again. Thank you our wonderful staff, Nichole, Amy, Kamie, and Rhonda who helped bring it all together. I hope I did not miss anyone. This research and scholarship day is a great accomplishment. Thank you to Winchester Medical Center who contributes the annual research award. We are very grateful for this contribution.
Following research day activities, we proudly welcomed 44 new members, undergraduate and graduate students and community leaders at our annual Induction Ceremony. A new member orientation was held to welcome these new members in early May.
This spring, the Chapter, in collaboration with the SU SNA participated in a community service project to collect items needed by the Shelter for Abused Women in Winchester/Frederick County. They presented the Shelter with one collection and have another collection box in the lobby of the nursing office ready to go. We will try to set an annual community service for our chapter.
A new goal set for this year is to grow our finances with the goal to be able to initiate provision of small research awards, and/or textbook or scholarship awards. We are on our way to realizing these goals. Our fundraising at research day was very successful
We are excited to announce that two of our members, Patti Krauskopf and Cheryl Dumont are doing paper presentations at the 18th Annual Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Research Congress held in Vienna, Austria in July of this year.
Mark your calendars for the next Biennial Convention, A Vision to Action: Global Health, on November 2nd-7th, 2007 in Baltimore. Visit www.nursingsociety.org for announcements related to the convention. We have several members who will be presenting at this conference.
All meetings, board and business, are open to all members. The calendar is posted on our web site. Please join us. Meetings are held at the Health Professions Building on the campus of Winchester Medical Center. If any of you have lost touch with us, please let us know how to reach you. We value your talents and contributions to our chapter. Email and home address changes must be made through headquarters.
Please note that our officer transition will take place at our next meeting on Monday July 2nd. It will be a covered dish picnic at the home of Janice Smith at 5pm. Please RSVP jsmith9@su.edu.
Janice S. Smith, PhD, RN
jsmith9@su.edu