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Welcome to the first issue of our alumni e-newsletter for the
School of Nursing It is our hope this will be
an effective way to stay in touch with you and to disseminate information
regarding news of the School of Nursing and its alumni.
The
information will be brief and to the point with links to additional
information for those wishing to receive more detail on specific
subjects.
Am I an Alum of the College of Health and
Human Services (CHHS)?Yes. The College of Health and Human
Services (CHHS) was created in 2006 using the existing College of Nursing
and Health Science as the organizational foundation for creating an
expanded presence of health and human service programs at Mason and to
transform the environment to include research productivity. The college
includes the following units:
- School of Nursing,
- Department of Global and Community Health,
- Department of Social Work, and
- Department of Health Administration and Policy.
In
addition, there is:
- The Center for the Study of Chronic Illness and Disability (CCID)
and
- The Center for Health Policy Research and Ethics (CHPRE).
Call for Nominations for Distinguished
Alumnus Award
The Distinguished Alumnus Award recognizes a
professional graduate of the College of Health and Human Services whose
contributions to the health care or human services fields merit special
commendation. If you or someone who you know should be considered
for this prestigious award, please
contact Gail Weirich at 703-993-6018 by Friday, December 11 with the
name of the alumnus.
Alumni from 2007-2009: Rise to the
Challenge and Give BackCHHS has received a challenge grant from five
generous donors totaling $15,000 to be applied towards priority needs for
the college. This is exciting news! To complete the challenge:
- CHHS needs to receive 150 individual
donations from alumni who graduated or will graduate from 2007–2011 at
either the undergraduate or graduate level.
- The terms of the challenge grant do not stipulate a specific amount
for the contribution but the funds must
be donated during the current fiscal year which ends June 30, 2010.
We hope you
will consider a gift at this time that will benefit faculty and students
in the college. You can request that your gift be applied to a specific
program or scholarship fund. Please visit the CHHS Alumni and Friends website for more information
on ways of supporting the college. For questions, please contact Gail
Weirich via e-mail or call her at 703-993-6018.
Spotlight on a School of Nursing
AlumnaFrom Marcy
Osterhaus, BSN '80, MS '06:
 During
my years in critical care nursing, and raising a family, I completed my
BSN at George Mason University. During my oncology leadership years I
completed my master's degree in health systems, also at Mason. I
found I had a passion for learning and influencing how organizational
systems work. Certification in oncology has been a professional choice for
over 10 years.
My career has been a lesson of making the most of
opportunities as they become visible, which is how I came to be an adjunct
professor at GMU teaching undergraduates in the HAP program. The anxiety
producing challenge was a highlight of my career. I loved classroom
teaching. At the time I was working full time, managing a small
floral business and being primary caregiver for my mother who was ill and
living with us. My career is also an example of the varied professional
choices that are increasingly available to the nurse today.
For me attending the GMU School of Nursing satisfied my search for wider
horizons in nursing and created long term friendships. I found the faculty
to be responsive and supportive of the working professional. The teaching
format acknowledged the skills and experience of the adult learner. There
is a strong commitment for students to achieve high professional
performance in the learning context of the real world issues in health
care delivery and population needs.
The oncology setting offers a variety of professional
roles, responsibilities and patient relationships. I started as an
infusion nurse which lead to leadership responsibilities, moved into
transplant work, then used my clinical and leadership
expertise to guide and participate in multiple oncology units, which
lead to doing oncology research and just recently I have returned to
the in-patient setting as an oncology navigator.
You are welcome to contact me, I am eager to talk about
oncology nursing and my emerging concern for more ovarian cancer awareness
as well as making the workplace user friendly. My contact
information is Marcy.osterhaus@inova.org and (703) 776-2901.
New Program: Sign Up to Mentor a Nursing
Undergrad StudentMentors are excellent resources to students
interested in researching career options or in shadowing an employer in
their field of study. If you're a seasoned grad looking to support future
professionals in your field or a student seeking career advice please sign
up by sending an e-mail to chhsalum@gmu.edu. Please provide the
following contact information:
Name
Position Title
Place of
Employment
Work Phone
Business E-mail Address
Alternate E-mail
Address
Best time to be reached
We will find an opportunity for you to share your career experiences
with a current student. If you have any questions, contact Gail
Weirich at 703-993-6018.
We appreciate your interest!
CHHS Signature Alumni Event: "The Dirt on
the Grape" More
than 50 CHHS alums and guests had a memorable evening at the “Dirt on the
Grape” wine tasting event on October 3, 2009. The CHHS Alumni Board
would like to thank faculty member Lisa Pawloski and special guests Ellen
Crosby and Mary Watson-DeLauder for their contributions in making the
event a success.
Eighteen
alumni from the School of Nursing had a fun-filled evening renewing
friendships and visiting with colleagues and faculty. Alumni classes
from 1986 through 2009 were represented at the event.
 Additional
pictures from the evening can be viewed on the CHHS Alumni web pages.
Let Us Hear from YouWe would like to
hear from nursing alumni about career moves, accomplishments, and
recognitions. Please send information to chhsalum@gmu.edu, and we will post in
spring edition of the Alumni E-news.
To update contact information
with the Mason Alumni Association, visit the MASONline Alumni Directory.
In MemoriamMary K. Victor, BSN '76, MSN '80, had the
distinction of receiving her undergraduate degree with the first nursing
class as well as receiving her master’s degree with the first class of the
graduate program. Before attending Mason, Mary was a practicing RN.
Her passion for learning, elder care, and helping others were
motivation to further her academic experience. Along with Dr. Evelyn
Cohelan, founder of the Mason School of Nursing, and other nursing school
colleagues, Mary was instrumental in gaining approval for the nursing
program from the accreditation agencies in the Commonwealth of
Virginia.
Mary Victor died this year on August 24 at the age of
87 in Florida. Students and faculty in nursing school at Mason became
her lifelong friends. Her extended Mason family included Dianne
Borovies, BSN '76, MSN '80; Mildred Fitch, BSN '76, MSN '80; Mildred
Jones, BSN '76, MSN '80, CERG '83; Mary Silva, PhD; and Kitty Parker
Smith. Mary and Kitty Parker Smith lived in Pimmit Hills in Falls
Church at the same time while working at the health department giving Salk
and Sabine vaccines.
Mary and her husband, John, were avid
history enthusiasts. Mary was chapter president of the local
Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). John Victor will long be
remembered as the first Mason mascot, “Mr. Patriot.” He received a
Bachelor of Individualized Study in 18th century medicine from Mason in
1980, the same year Mary received her MSN. Mary and John’s daughter,
Diane Cichocki, follows in her parents’ footsteps by lecturing on 18th
century topics and holding a leadership position with the DAR in Northern
Virginia.
Thank You, AARP, For Your
Generosity The
Dulles Chapter of AARP was the sponsor of the 8th Annual Herndon
Classic Car Show on September 13. Proceeds from the event go to Mason
undergraduate nursing students. The theme this year was “The
Fifties.” Carhops helped out, including Mason alumni Margaret
(Margie) Gastrock, BSN '77, and Terri Morris, BSN ’81. Nursing
students performed blood pressure and blood sugar screenings for attendees
in addition to presenting a special award to a show participant. The
chapter will award two $2,250 nursing scholarships for the spring
semester.
Faculty
News Robin E. Remsburg, PhD, associate dean
for CHHS and director of the School of Nursing, has been selected for
fellow status by the Health Sciences Section of the Gerontological Society
of America (GSA). GSA is the oldest and largest interdisciplinary
organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of
aging. Dr. Remsburg joins a group of highly accomplished members of the
organization who are selected by their section peers for this honor. She
was recognized with other new fellows at the 2009 Annual Scientific
Meeting in November.
 Joyce
Hahn, PhD, was named Outstanding Nurse Policy Leader this
fall. Dr. Hahn was presented the award by Dr. Sallie Eissler,
commissioner on government relations. The award is sponsored by the
Virginia Nurses Association. Dr. Hahn began teaching at Mason in 2002
as an adjunct and currently holds the position of assistant dean for the
master’s division of the School of Nursing.
Faculty
ResearchFrom Jean Moore, PhD
-- I am currently working on three research projects:
- Nutrition Project in Santiago, Chile -- We are using what we learned
in a recent childhood obesity project in Washington, D.C. Dr. Lisa
Pawloski, Dr. Kathy Gaffney, and I are doing this as a joint project
with the School of Nursing and Global and Community Health. We
visited two schools in Santiago and measured children's nutrition
status, knowledge, and behavior. We also measured mother's behavior that
would affect child nutrition.
- An examination of the psychometric properties (reliability and
validity) of nutrition behavior instruments that we created for children
and parents. We have created the instruments and translated them from
English into Spanish.
- Studying the effect of health care organizations' actions to
support research on the research productivity of their nurses. This
is a joint project with Kathy Chappell from Inova Health System.
From
Pearl Zhou, RN, PhD:
Trust is a critical concept
in the patient-provider relationship and is fundamental to the healing
process. However, little is known about how oncology patients’ trust in
their oncologists and nurses and whether or not their trust is related to
objective and subjective health outcomes. In 2009, Dr. Zhou received a
grant from the Mason-Inova Life Science Research Collaboration Fund to
survey 500 oncology patients to find out their trust level in the
oncologists and nurses and what factors affected their trust. She will
also investigate if trust is related to patients’ adherence to treatment
recommendations, hospital admissions or ER visits, physical functioning,
and psychosocial status. The results of Dr. Zhou’s study will lead to
development of interventions to improve patients’ trust and health care
quality.
HRSA Grant Awarded to School of
Nursing
SON has been awarded a $92,892 Advanced
Education Nurse Traineeship (AENT) grant from the Health Resources and
Services Administration (HRSA). The AENT grant is available to all
graduate nurse practitioner, advanced clinical, nursing administration,
nurse educator, and clinical nurse leader master's students and doctoral
students. The intent of the enabling legislation is to prepare advanced
degree educated nurses to serve in areas of nursing shortage need and each
recipient should plan such service after graduation. AENT recipients are
required to provide information related to their professional employment
activity following graduation.
Dr. Joyce Hahn, assistant dean of the master's
division, is the project director. The grant application lists
eligibility requirements and program details. The
deadline for receiving a spring 2010 grant is Tuesday, December
1. For additional information on the AENT program,
contact Janice Lee Beverly.
Dr. Robin Remsburg Receives HRSA Grant
to Develop Geriatrics Program
Dr. Robin Remsburg, director of the School
of Nursing, has been awarded funding from Health Resources and Services
Administration (HRSA) to develop Partners for Education in Geriatrics
(PEG). The three-year program is targeted
for faculty teaching in Northern Virginia
schools of nursing who are interested in developing specialty expertise in
gerontological nursing. The program will also prepare faculty to sit for
gerontological nurse certification.
The program includes a fall and spring seminar
series and a summer practicum experience designed to foster content and
skill mastery and to provide classroom and clinical resources and
innovative strategies for teaching gerontological nursing as well
as support sessions to assist trainees in infusing gerontological
nursing content and experiences into undergraduate nursing curriculum.
A limited number of scholarships for qualified faculty to
participate are available. For additional
program and scholarship information, contact Susan Eckis
at
703-993-1938.
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