The School of Nursing Newsletter

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The School of Nursing Newsletter - From the Office of Dean Patricia Starck


May 12, 2009

We had a wonderful graduation ceremony at the George R. Brown Convention Center last Friday.  We were honored to have Regent Janiece Longoria present, and to have President Larry Kaiser confer the degrees to some 258 graduates of our four degree programs.  Our Student Affairs Office always thinks of everything to make the ceremony meaningful and memorable. It is a time of great celebration with faculty and administration in a variety of colorful academic regalia and graduates and families being exuberant that this day has finally come.

May 6- 12 is National Nurses Week, with the theme, Nurses: Building a Healthy America.  Since we have Pinning, Sigma Theta Tau and Graduation May 7 and 8, we have delayed our official Nurse Week celebration to May 12.  We will gather in the Cullen Multipurpose Room from 2:30- 3:30 pm.  There will not be a program per se, we’ll just celebrate each other!

From Executive Council May 6:

  • The Emergency Management Plan has been revised by the Office of Environmental Health and Safety to be congruent with the National Incident Management System (NIMS).  The latest version has a green face sheet (old one was blue so be sure it is replaced) and is dated 2009.  Copies are in the offices of the Dean and the Associate Dean for Management.
  • As of August 1, the university will discontinue hard copies of our paycheck stubs.  Instead, our “stubs” will be online through the internet like webmail as part of the PeopleSoft 9, Self Service component.  There is online training available, but we were told it is very intuitive.  You will use the same password as for emails.  You will also be able to make changes to direct deposits online, or you can have Central Administration do this for you.  You can print your stubs; they will be archived, but it was unclear for what period of time.  You will also be able to make W-4 Tax changes; next year the plan is you can also get your W-2 this way.  You can view your benefits summary.  I’m sure we will be hearing more detailed information on this.
  • We had an updated report from the Office of Institutional Advancement about progress tempered by the effects of the economic downturn.

PARTNERS had their final meeting of the year at the incoming Chair, Sheri Henriksen’s home and we are happy to report that Bette Thomas, current Chair was present, recovering from her accident.  As an exciting part of the meeting they made recommendations for their continuing SON support this year totaling $261,634.  They will fund 7 full student scholarships (one in each degree program area) and are adding an additional full scholarship for the spring BSN admittance.  They are establishing an endowed research grant in the amount of $50,000 to support research efforts of a junior faculty member. In addition, they awarded a research grant submitted by our faculty, however those who submitted this year are currently being notified so watch your email next week for an announcement.  Finally, they made a wonderful gift of $35,000 to the Accelerated PhD Program, which is the first official gift on record. As you may recall, the George Foundation has offered a $500,000 challenge grant for this new program, which will be formally announced at the luncheon on May 29.  PARTNERS also took a large part in this week’s pinning ceremony by supplying the sterling silver nursing pins for all BSN graduates.  Sheri Henriksen gave lovely congratulatory remarks to the graduates at the ceremony.  They also provided healthy snacks every day for our students who were studying for exams.  Great work PARTNERS!

We just got our second gift for the Accelerated PhD; $250,000 from the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System!  There already is significant student interest as word has spread about this upcoming opportunity.

Thanks to our terrific CEIR staff, the School has offered training to faculty and staff on using Adobe Connect as one of our strategies to plan for continuity of business if we had an emergency such as an epidemic, bomb threat, or a hurricane, etc.   We are getting VPN access for our home computers which would allow us to carry on our standard responsibilities.  Adobe Connect is being used in some of our educational programs currently and could be used as an alternative to conference calls for various meetings. In the School of Nursing, Susan Perez, Associate Dean for Management, has the chief responsibility. She will be planning information sessions to update all faculty and staff.

Have a good week.


Dean Starck