Dirt
on the Grape, the Next Course
Saturday, October 2
5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Mason
Hall, Meese Conference Room
$15/alumni;
$10/additional guests
Register
Now
 The
CHHS Alumni Chapter Board invites CHHS alumni and guests to re-connect
with friends and colleagues and enjoy an evening of socializing.
Sommelier Mary Watson-DeLauder returns and joins Chef Sandy Amato
(Owner, Cooking with Sandy) to educate and tantalize your taste
buds with desserts  and
dessert wines.
For more information on the Dirt on the Grape, the Next
Course, contact CHHS
at (703) 993-6018. You can also view photos from last year's event.
Dirt on the Grape, the Next Course is held in conjunction
with Alumni Weekend. Registration for all events is now
open.
Health Administration and Policy Alumni Affinity Meeting
(Open to all alumni)
Saturday, October 2
4 - 5:30
p.m.
Mason Hall, Room D3
The second Health Administration and Policy Alumni
Affinity event will take place Saturday, October 2 as part of Alumni
Weekend.
Dr. Len
Nichols, director of the Health Policy Research
& Ethics Center, is a highlighted speaker for the event, discussing
hot topics in management, technology and other health management related
issues. For additional information contact us at (703)
993-6018.
At the April 1 HAP Alumni Affinity meeting, Harry
Greenspun, MD, CHHS Advisory Board member and chief medical officer of
Dell Systems, made a presentation to the department’s alumni and faculty.
After the formal presentations, he was able to meet with one of the
attendees, a recent graduate of the Department of Health Administration
and Policy.
Dr. Greenspun made the following comment after the
meeting: "Despite softness in other areas of the economy, demand for
well-prepared personnel to meet the needs of health care and health IT
roles is growing rapidly. As a senior executive at the largest provider of
health IT services worldwide, I feel this pressure particularly acutely.
Faced with a critical open role, our recruiters tapped into our worldwide
network of potential candidates. George Mason University's College of
Health and Human Services was able to provide one immediately who met all
my criteria of education and experience. Within two weeks, I had an
outstanding new member of my team with the skills and energy needed in
such an important role."
Spotlight
on SON Alumni
Carol Urban,
BSN, MSN ’91, PhD ‘06
 Carol
Urban is an "alum times two" from Mason's School of Nursing graduating
with her PhD in 2006, and an MSN with a concentration in nursing
administration and graduate certificate in nursing education in 1991.
Dr. Urban commented, “I chose Mason when we first moved
back here because it had exactly the combination of MSN concentrations
that I wanted. I had been a staff development clinician and a
manager at my hospital in California before our move and I very much
wanted to stay in education. I felt that the administrative focus
would also provide the advanced management experience I needed to stay in
staff development. So I chose the MSN-admin track with the certificate in
nursing education.”
During Dr. Urban’s second year, she was a GTA in the
skills lab and taught a clinical course the summer after she graduated.
“And it just sort of "clicked" that teaching nursing students was what I
wanted to do, drawing from my clinical and staff development background
along the way," said Urban. "It was a natural fit to go on for the PhD. I
was very interested in technology in education and focused my dissertation
on how technology could help students struggling with their courses (in
that case, pharmacology)."
Since 2006, Dr. Urban has served in the role of assistant
dean for undergraduate nursing in the School of Nursing, administering the
largest BSN program in the Commonwealth. She has worked with
the faculty teaching undergraduate courses on steadily increasing Mason's
NCLEX-RN exam pass rate. As a result, this year's mid-year
cycle statistics reported a 95% average pass rate. This fall she
will help launch a new joint venture between Mason and NOVA's
associate degree RN program. Called the "Momentum 2 + 1 program" at NOVA,
it allows students to complete their BSN in three years rather than
four; two years are completed at NOVA and one year at Mason. In
preparation for this new pathway, Dr. Urban has worked with faculty to
develop their courses into online options for the RN-to-BSN student.
Dr. Urban also integrates technology into her own
courses, most notably her pharmacology class, combining asynchronous
activities and synchronous chat-exam review sessions to assist students
with difficult content. She was recently named nurse contributor to the
third edition of Michael Adams "Pharmacology for Nurses" and has agreed to
sign on as co-author on a second pharmacology text for nurses aimed at the
baccalaureate and master's level student.
Dr. Urban serves on the general education committee
and the distance education council at Mason and was a finalist in
Mason's 2010 teaching excellence awards. In May 2010, she was
honored with the "Habit of Excellence Award" by the College of Health and
Human Services.
Dr. Urban’s enthusiastic patriot pride shows through with
her comments, "I absolutely think Mason students are the best! We
have nursing students from all over the world as well as from
local towns in Virginia. They bring all that wealth of life experience
with them and are compassionate practitioners and (a huge plus in our
area) culturally-sensitive providers because of it. I've been most
impressed by how much they reach out to each other -- both to help when
school or life isn't going well, but also to celebrate with each other
when things are good. I think we benefit from their presence and I
know I learn more and more every year I get to work with them. It's
always a 'happy-sad' every year when we launch a new group, but they've
done wonderful things while they're with us and go on to be Mason's
ambassadors in their own careers."
SON
Alumni Notes
Kathy E. McNamara,
RN-BC, MSN NE-BC, passed her Nurse Executive Certification from
ANCC in February 2010. McNamara is a Mason graduate and received her
BSN in 1997 and MSN in 2002.
Let Us Hear from
You
We would like to hear from SON alumni about career moves,
accomplishments, and recognitions. Please email us
and we may post it in the next edition of the Alumni E-news.
To update contact information
with the Mason Alumni Association, visit the MASONline Alumni Directory.
From Strangers to Friends
-- Networking Opportunity for Mason PhD Nursing Program
Alumni
In 2010, the “From Strangers to Friends” alumni-initiated
program was launched to provide ongoing opportunities for Mason nursing
PhD alumni to get to network by sharing a meal and conversation together.
Two successful events - bringing together alumni from different time
periods- have taken place at the homes of Nancy Falk and Kathi Huddleston.
If you are interested in joining the group for our next
gathering in September or October (date(s) TBD), contact Nancy
Falk at (703) 827-8953. Also, hostesses/hosts are being
sought for the next event and those in the future. Consider opening
your home, creating an outstanding gathering, and joining in the fun!
CHHS Alumni Chapter
Board
The Alumni Chapter Board was established for the
educational, professional and social purposes of its members and to
support goals and objectives of its members and to support the goals and
objectives of George Mason University, the College of Health and Human
Services and the Mason Alumni Association.
The CHHS Alumni Chapter events throughout the year target
social, educational, and networking needs of alumni. In the fall, the
Chapter hosts a signature event, in conjunction with Mason's Alumni
Weekend. Throughout the rest of the year, chapter events are held to keep
you in touch with the latest findings in health care and provide
networking opportunities with other CHHS alumni and faculty.
Meet the Alumni Chapter Board members:
Lisa Callahan, BS '03,
MSW '04
Co-President
 Lisa Callahan
enjoys her work with the Alumni Chapter Board and looks forward to
connecting with CHHS alumni, especially with her colleagues and
fellow alumni in social work. She currently works for Fairfax County
government in the Department of Family Services as a long term care
ombudsman.
Callahan enjoys relaxing with gardening, bird watching,
reading, knitting, and antiquing. She enjoys reading books by Stieg
Larsson including The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. A favorite
eating place is Aladdin Restaurant in Burke where she enjoys hummus,
lentil soup and mint tea.
Lori McLean, MSN
'96
Co-President
 Lori
McLean has lived in the Fairfax area for 30 years. She is a family
nurse practitioner for Fairfax County Health Department and has been in
this position for four years. She also worked for the county health
department for nine years earlier in her career. McLean was an
adjunct faculty member of the School of Nursing for four
years, teaching to undergraduate nursing students. She has been
involved with Alumni Chapter Board for several years.
When McLean received her MSN in 1996, she felt “Patriot
Pride” as she participated in the commencement ceremony. Joining fellow
students and faculty, as family and friends looked on with encouragement,
“I felt so 100% Mason,” she said.
In her free time, McLean enjoys reading, traveling, and
daydreaming about retirement. She enjoys books by James Michener and John
Grisham. She cheers for her favorite Boston teams –Celtics, Red Sox, and
Patriots, and it goes without saying she is a proud Mason Patriot
fan. Her favorite restaurants are Italian and she rates the newly
opened Mason Inn as a “fabulous dining experience.”
Bridget Nesko, BSN
'06
Vice President – Membership
 Bridget
Nesko currently works part-time and has served as healthcare legislative
and policy advisor to various political candidates, including those
seeking office in the U.S. Congress, the Virginia State House of Delegates
and the U.S. Presidency.
Nesko graduated from George Mason University School of
Nursing in 2006, receiving the Kitty Parker Leadership Award at
graduation. She has served on the Board since 2006. Nesko was introduced
to the alumni chapter when a previous instructor invited her to an alumni
event. She thoroughly enjoys the networking and social opportunities of an
active alumna with the college. Nesko loves mingling with new grads to
encourage them professionally and to hopefully share the many perks of
being a member of the CHHS Alumni Chapter.
Nesko's hobbies include reading, cooking, politics,
walking, and anything having to do with sand and surf. Her favorite
dining spot is Pulcinella, a quaint Italian restaurant located in McLean,
Virginia.
Kathleen Ross, MSW '08
Vice
President – Membership
 Kathleen
Ross’s position with the board gives her an opportunity to keep in touch
with Mason alumni. This past spring she represented the Alumni Chapter
Board at the Social Work MSW presentations.
Ross said, “I was impressed by the creativity and
professionalism of the projects.” She also attended last year’s CHHS
Signature Alumni Event, Dirt on the Grape. “I also truly enjoyed meeting
some phenomenal people at the Dirt on the Grape event.”
Ross teaches adaptive swimming classes for children with
disabilities, and loves seeing someone grow to be safe and have fun in the
water. In her leisure time, she enjoys swimming, walking, tasting wines,
spending time with her almost one year old, Alexander, and her husband,
Keel. Ross and her husband enjoy ethnic restaurants, and their
favorites are Thai Basil and Picante in Chantilly, Virginia. She also
enjoys reading and her favorite book is The Tipping Point, by
Malcolm Gladwell.
Bette Burch, BSN '80
Vice
President - Scholarships & Awards
 Bette
Burch enjoys her position with the board and eagerly looks forward to
attending Mason’s scholarship and awards receptions to keep in touch with
students and alumni.
This past year, Bette was featured in an article on the
Mason website at a scholarship
reception held on March 31. The annual event provided an
opportunity for donors to meet the students who benefit from their gifts
and for students to thank donors for their generosity. Nursing major Augusto Paredes-Ubillus, spoke
to guests about receiving the Bette Burch Scholarship Endowment. Burch has
generously supported scholarships for School of Nursing students since
1997.
Burch is happily retired and enjoys knitting and reading.
Her favorite food is seafood and enjoys dining at Coastal Flats and
Sweetwater Tavern.
Robin Patton BS '81, CERG
'06
Secretary
 Robin
Patton has been a member of the Fairfax Community and has been employed by
the County of Fairfax for 25 years. She is currently the director of the
land acquisition division for the Department of Public Works and
Environmental Services.
She is a valuable member of the Alumni Chapter Board and
says, “I’ve always enjoyed coming back to the campus and seeing all the
growth and changes! I continue to feel connected to GMU and I hope other
alumni will enjoy staying connected.”
Patton lives with her husband, Jay, in Annandale and in
her leisure time, enjoys reading, cooking, visiting the Eastern Shore, and
watching old movie classics.
Bita Hassannia BS '09
Board
Member at Large
 Bita
Hassannia is a recent alumna of Mason and graduated from the Department of
Health Administration and Policy.
"I attended several alumni events which all made me feel
part of a community that was filled with sense of belonging to a group of
people who had a common root of GMU education. The first event I attended
was an alumni dinner boat outing in Old Town Alexandria, then the
wonderful event of the Dirt on the Grape. It was at that event I realized
how great it was to be an alumna and to stay in touch with CHHS, and I
decided to become a board member."
In her leisure time, Hassannia
enjoys yoga, biking, running, reading, and cooking. Her favorite foods
include sushi, Thai, Italian, and most of the Middle Eastern cuisines. Her
favorite book selections are The Da Vinci Code and Eat, Pray
and Love.
Mimi Sodhi, PhD, MSW, LCSW
Faculty Social
Work Liaison
 Mimi
Sodhi has recently volunteered to serve on the board as faculty liaison
for the Department of Social Work. She moved to the Fairfax area a year
ago to accept the position of MSW field director in social work.
Sodhi has
two adult children who live in Georgia and she is “re-developing” herself.
Her leisure time activities include playing in a Fairfax women's soccer
league, taking golf lessons, and trying to get into tennis. She is looking
for people to explore the area with and introduce her to good,
non-tourist spots in the D.C. area. She loves to travel and looks forward
in continuing to broaden her understanding of different cultures.
As a CHHS alumna/us, you can
continue to be part of the invigorating environment and stay connected
with classmates, friends, and faculty by joining the Alumni Chapter. You will have many
opportunities to expand on your experiences that began at Mason.
Alumni Chapter Visit to Reston
Hospital
 The
CHHS Alumni Chapter visit to Reston Hospital was a successful alumni
outreach event. Cindy Glover, chief of nursing, Reston Hospital and her
administrative team, led by Linda Smyser, were extremely hospitable to the
CHHS Alumni Chapter and Mason volunteers.
 Announcements
to hospital staff about our visit, encouraging Mason alums to stop by and
meet the volunteers and hear about new post-graduate programs offered by
CHHS were made throughout the day.
We were able to meet with 13 Mason alums during a
four-hour time period in their work environment. Chapter Board members
talked with the alums about graduate programs, faculty, and alumni
events.
Pictured above (left to right): Dawn Whitmore, Juanita
Perkins, Bridget Nesko and Cindy Glover
Pictured above: (left to right): Catherine Abramson, Dawn
Whitmore, Lisa Young BSN '86.
College News
Reston Hospital Donation Names
Healthcare Technologies
Innovation Lab
 Reston
Hospital Center has donated $50,000 to Mason’s College of Health and Human
Services (CHHS). As a result, the college will honor the hospital by
naming the Reston Hospital Center Healthcare Technologies Innovation Lab.
The naming gift was announced at the May 12 graduating nurses’ pinning
ceremony, which was also sponsored by the organization.
"Giving back is something important to all of us at
Reston Hospital Center, but this gift is all the more special to me," said
Cindy Glover, RN, BSN '77, vice president and chief nursing officer at
Reston Hospital Center. "As an alumna of George Mason, I’m proud to give
back to a university that has helped me achieve so much in my own career
and that has had such a positive impact on the nursing workforce at
Reston."
Pictured above (left to
right): Robin Remsburg, Cindy Glover, Shirley Travis
Students
Receiving Department Awards
at May Commencement
  The
School of Nursing proudly celebrates graduation of 179 undergraduate BSN
students, 87 MSN students, and two PhD students during the May College of
Health and Human Services (CHHS) commencement ceremony.
Pictured above (left to right): John Regalario, Juanita
Perkins, Shana Hardy
Pictured above: SON BSN
students join together for traditional Nursing Pinning Ceremony.
Photography by Cable Risdon.
Undergraduate Award
for Excellence
in
Clinical
Practice
Kelly M. Svoboda,
BSN
Elizabeth N. Prochazka, BSN
Undergraduate Community Health
Award
Alison N. Timer, BSN
Rita M. Carty Academic Achievement
Award
Tamara L.
Morgan, BSN
Sigma Theta Tau—Kitty
Parker Smith Leadership Award
Diane A. Henzey, BSN
Undergraduate Excellence in Writing
Award
Whitney L. Hancock, BS
Graduate Award for
Excellence
in Advanced Clinical
Practice
Keysha A. Pochopien, MSN
Graduate Award for Excellence in Nursing
Administration
Dane S. Sehnert, MSN
Graduate Award for Excellence in Nursing
Education
Barbara G.
Burgess, MSN
Graduate Nurse
Practitioner Award for Excellence
in Primary
Care
Lennis B. Klenk, MSN
Vivian G. Paskowski, MSN
Graduate Award for Excellence in Nursing
Research
Barbara Szita, MSN
Nursing Research Dissertation
Award
Patricia Ann Goldberg,
PhD
Faculty Receiving Awards at May Commencement
College of Health and Human Services Habit of
Excellence Award
Carol Urban, PhD, RN, assistant professor and
assistant dean, undergraduate division
Evelyn E. Cohelan Faculty Leadership Award
Charlene Douglas, PhD, RN
Master Teacher Award
for Adjunct Faculty
Maureen McLaughlin, PhD, RN
Mason
Gets SCHEV Approval for a New DNP Program Set to Launch in Fall
2010
In May, the State Council for Higher Education in
Virginia approved the SON’s new Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree. Mason
is now one of four Virginia state schools offering this new degree and two
offering the BSN to DNP option. Both Mason and Radford University will
admit their first class of DNP students in the fall. Mason also
offers a post-master's option as well. For the BSN to DNP option,
many of the core courses are offered online and many courses are being
offered in an executive style format. Students will come to campus
for two days and then once per month for the semester, completing online
activities in the interim. This format is designed to accommodate the busy
schedules and lives of students who are working and have families.
Approximately 15 to 20 students will comprise the first
class. Students selected for the first class were notified in early August
and will begin course work at the end of the month. Students can develop
expertise in several areas including primary care for adult and family
nurse practitioners, advance clinical nursing, and nursing
administration.
Applications for the second
class will be accepted beginning in March 2011. Learn
more.
New
RN to BSN Program is Gaining Momentum
This fall, Mason will launch another new program, the
Momentum 2 + 1 program, a collaboration with Northern Virginia Community
College (NOVA), to offer an online BSN completion program for graduates of
NOVA’s Momentum program, who can with one additional year of full time
study at Mason, complete the BSN degree. Approximately 20 students
will enroll in this new option. Additionally, other RNs wishing to
complete a BSN now have the option of taking online courses. This new
online program provides many RNs more flexibility in completing their
degree. Learn
more.
Mason also has an RN to
MSN option, with all of the core courses being offered in an
online format.
New Faculty
Margaret Rodan, ScD, MPH
 Margaret
Rodan, ScD, MPH, recently became a member of the SON faculty. Dr. Rodan’s
most recent position was research project director for the NIH D.C.
Initiative to Reduce Infant Mortality in the District of Columbia.
This project was lead by the Georgetown University Medical Center,
Department of Pediatrics, where Dr. Rodan was a faculty member. Her
special areas of interest include prenatal care, adolescent health and
risk assessment. Rodan received her ScD from Harvard University,
School of Public Health in 1997.
 Rodan
continues to be involved in the data analysis and writing phase of a
randomized clinical trial conducted by Georgetown University Medical
Center in collaboration with George Washington University, Howard
University, Children’s National Medical Center and RTI, International. The
subject of the study is teenage mothers in Washington, D.C. and the focus
of the GirlTalk intervention was to build competence in those social
contextual areas that provide resilience to pressures for further early
childbearing. A two-year curriculum with both group-based and
individual-focused components was delivered by master’s prepared
counselors, including Mason alumna, Julia Baidoo '05. Dr. Renee
Milligan (SON) served as a co-investigator on the protocol.
Within the teen’s social context, the goal is to build
positive relationships, healthy reproductive practices and strong youth
assets to enhance attitudes and behaviors associated with extending
interpregnancy intervals for parenting teen mothers. For additional
information on the study, please contact Dr. Rodan.
Rodan will be teaching classes in research methods and
biostatistics for the fall semester.
Pictured above (left to
right): Margaret Rodan, Renee Milligan,
Julia Baidoo, MeD ‘05
Faculty
News
  The
SON extends enthusiastic congratulations to Lisa Campo, DNP and
Kathy Dickman, DNP, two faculty members who
completed their Doctor in Nursing Practice Degree from George Washington
University in May! After two long years of intense study, Drs. Campo
and Dickman are among the first graduating class and happy to return to
full-time teaching positions. Dr. Campo teaches in our adult nurse
practitioner program and has a faculty practice plan at the Mason Student
Health Services. Dr. Dickman, who teaches in the family nurse practitioner
program, assumed the role of coordinator of the NP programs at Mason and
practices at the Jeanie Schmidt
Free Clinic in Herndon, Virginia.
Pictured above (on left): Lisa Campo,
DNP '10
Pictured above (on right): Kathy Dickman, DNP, '10, MSN
'96
Highlights on Faculty Practice
A new initiative in the College
of Health and Human Services is to enable faculty to practice in their
specialty area as part of their faculty role. Faculty practice is a
professional service provided by a faculty member within their scope of
professional expertise and faculty appointment. Faculty practice promotes
excellence in health care and offers support for meeting licensure,
certification, and continuing education requirements. Faculty
members, as part of their faculty role, work 1-2 days per week with a
health or social services organization to provide a set of agreed upon
services or expected products or outcomes. The College of Health and
Human Services (CHHS) is compensated for the time faculty members engage
in practice arrangements. Our goals for CHHS faculty practice include:
- Employ faculty practitioners who deliver evidence-based care and
services to vulnerable populations;
- Opportunities for student education and mentoring that solve real
individual client, organizational, or community problems;
- Provide a menu of services including comprehensive assessment and
building patient capacity for self-care (strengths identification and
support);
- Discovery and development of new products, evidenced based best
practices, dissemination of new knowledge (i.e. patents, grants,
research, publications), consultations; and
- Opportunities for Mason to give back to our community.
The SON has several faculty members who practice one or
two days per week as part of their workload.
 Renee
Milligan, PhD, CRNP, was the first faculty member hired to engage
in this new initiative. Dr. Milligan is a women’s health nurse
practitioner. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, she provides gynecological
services to low income women who receive their care at the Pregnancy Aid Center (PAC)
in College Park, Maryland. PAC is a nonsectarian, non-profit,
community-based women’s health clinic and social service agency. The
clinic provides culturally sensitive, individualized medical and mental
health care to low-income women, adolescents, and newborns who have
Medicaid, or whose Medicaid is pending, or who have no insurance. PAC is
the sole non-government program in Prince George’s County providing
comprehensive women’s health care on a sliding scale: basic primary care
to the uninsured, prenatal care, family planning, sexually transmitted
infection screening and treatment, cancer screening, and an outreach
program for teens to prevent repeat pregnancies.
"The Pregnancy Aid Center is a unique practice site,"
commented Dr. Milligan. "Over the past 30 years it has progressed from a
limited pregnancy counseling service to providing ambulatory low and high
risk obstetric care, and women’s health care to women from teenagers
through elderly. My practice centers on management of contraceptive and
preventive services to women, with enough treatment and OB coverage to
keep it continually varied and exciting."
"The strength of my practice is that it gives me
opportunities to get researchable ideas, makes my clinical teaching more
realistic, and allows me to mentor Mason nurse practitioner students. One
of the real life lessons that students learn, besides exposure to many
interesting clinical cases, is that for a person to practice at a site
such as the Pregnancy Aid Center, that person must understand the
reimbursement aspects of patients who have no resources. Thus, a
practitioner must maximize sliding fee, volunteer, medical assistance,
soft money, and donation resources to increase patient access to
care."
To learn more, contact Renee
Milligan.
Drs. Lora Peppard,
Goodlett McDaniel, and Robin Remsburg were invited keynote
speakers at the Fairfax/Falls Church Community Services Board Annual
Nurse’s Day Celebration on May 11, the birthday of Florence Nightingale,
the mother of modern nursing. Their presentation Integrating
Care at the CSB: Uniting the Strengths of Academic and Clinical Practice
was well received by approximately 40 nurses and health care
providers who provide mental health care services to county
residents. The focus of the presentation was on how primary and
mental health services can be integrated to better meet the health care
needs of persons with mental health conditions.
In August, Dr. Peppard, a psychiatric/mental health nurse
practitioner, will begin a new faculty practice plan with the CSB, where
she will provide mental health services several days per week at the CSB
clinics located at their Springfield and Woodburn locations. This is a
wonderful new partnership for the SON to help provide much needed services
to a vulnerable population in our community.
Faculty Farewells
The SON bids a fond farewell to several nursing faculty
who are leaving Mason to take on new challenges. Drs. Adele
Young, Joyce Hahn, Pam Cangelosi, Maggie Venzke, and
Carol Heddleston concluded their tenure at Mason at the end of
the academic year. Dr. Young taught in the NP program and many of
the core master’s and undergraduate courses and served as the coordinator
of the NP programs. Dr. Hahn taught in the nursing administration
concentration for the master’s and doctoral programs and served as the
assistant dean for the master’s program. Dr. Cangelosi served as the
coordinator of the nurse educator program and conducted research on
outcomes for students in second degree programs. Ms. Venzke taught in
the FNP program and Ms. Heddleston served as an adjunct teaching in our
undergraduate programs. Our faculty, staff, and students will miss these
outstanding faculty members, but truly wish them well as they begin new
adventures in their nursing careers.
SON Program News
GMU SON
Awarded HRSA Grant Renewal
The SON has been awarded a $64,146
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 grant is to prepare advanced degree educated nurses to serve in areas
experiencing a nursing shortage and who have underserved populations.
Students receiving AENT funding are encouraged to plan to work in these
areas after graduation.
Through the
grant, Mason SON awarded 29 students funding for their graduate
studies. Students received from $1,000 to $6,000 depending on the
number of courses they were taking and their impending date of graduation.
We expect to award approximately 20 students in the 2010/11 academic year.
Dr. Kathy Gaffney is the new project director, replacing Dr. Joyce Hahn,
the former director. The grant
application lists eligibility requirements and
program details. The deadline for receiving a Fall 2010 grant
is August 15. For additional information on the AENT program,
contact 703-993-1947.
Partners for Education in Gerontology (PEG) Year Two
Begins
 July
1 marked the beginning of year two for SON’s HRSA grant to create a
faculty development program for nursing instructors teaching undergraduate
programs. According to Dr. Robin Remsburg, associate dean, director
of the School of Nursing, year one of the three year program was a great
success. She and several Mason faculty and staff, Lisa Campo, DNP,
Francine Roberts, PhD, and Terri Ann Guingab, MS, have been involved in
the project this past year.
The PEG enrolled 17 nursing instructors from five
Northern Virginia Schools of Nursing, including Germanna Community
College, Northern Virginia Community College, Marymount University,
Shenandoah University, and Mason. The program, which consists of a
series of seminars, a summer clinical experience, and sessions designed to
help faculty infuse geriatrics content into the courses they teach, will
prepare faculty to sit for gerontological nurse certification. This summer
participants in the PEG have been exploring the myriad programs and
services that provide health care to older adults in our community,
visiting care managers, home care providers, assisted living and nursing
facilities, adult day care, acute geriatric units, and hospice providers
to identify ways to use these settings to teach students about caring for
older adults.
Many Mason and community partners have made the first
year of the project a success. Mason faculty who have contributed
include Drs. Shirley Travis, CHHS dean, Frank Whittington, CHHS associate
dean for academic affairs, Cathy Thompkins, social work, William (Jim)
McAuley, communications department, Jerome Short, psychology, and Goodlett
McDaniel, Office of the Provost, distance education, Lynn Gerber and
Patrice Winter, Center for Chronic Illness and Disability, Charlene
Douglas, nursing, and Deirdre Carolan, SON alum. Community partners
include the national and Dulles AARP Chapters, the Fairfax County Health
Department, INOVA Fairfax Hospital, and the West Virginia Geriatric
Education Center.
Year two kicks off this fall with the program being
offered in an online format. Faculty from across the Mid-Atlantic
area will be able to participate in the program. A limited number of
scholarships for qualified faculty to participate are
available. Program
and scholarship information is available. For more
information contact Susan Eckis
at (703) 993-1938.
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