The School of Nursing Newsletter

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


January 16, 2009

This week we welcomed students back to the School and got another semester underway. A lot of people commented on how nice it was to have a long break and that they were eager to start off the new year. We are optimistic that it will be a good year not only for us locally but for our nation as a whole. Next week will bring two important national events-the celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. The School is on holiday on Monday and I hope everyone will participate in remembering Dr. King and how he changed history for our nation and the world. We have arranged for viewing of the inauguration on Tuesday thanks to Linda Crays and her team and to Dr. Nancy Bergstrom who got the ball rolling. We invite all faculty, staff, and students to view the inauguration which will be telecast in the SON Cizik Lobby, and in classrooms 330, 606, and 703 from 10:30am to about 12 noon on Tuesday, January 20.

The School of Nursing has received funding from both the Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation ($50,000) and the Vivian L. Smith Foundation ($10,300) to support scholarships to students in our Bacc2 program.

This week we produced two significant reports. We completed the School's Strategic/Vision Plan requested by President Larry Kaiser for the next five years. I want to thank all of you who gave input and shared your dreams, visions, and strategies. It is a document that is forward thinking, yet dealing with the realities we face. It will take all of us working together to achieve the goals we have established. I'm confident it can be done, maybe in less than five years! With the dedicated and hard working team in the school and our fantastic community supporters, nothing is impossible.
The other report we produced, thanks to Michelle Thomas for putting it all together, is our annual report for 2007-2008. It is full of tables and charts to show the last five year trend, and helps to point the way for the future. We had many significant accomplishments of which we can all be proud. A copy was sent to university officials and to everyone in the School. If anyone else would like a full copy or the Executive Summary, please contact Michelle at Michelle.Thomas@uth.tmc.edu.

As you know by now, the Texas Legislature is in session and the bills have started flowing. Generally, my office receives an alert for all proposed bills that may have an effect on us. I am asked to review it and complete a Bill Impact statement that goes to UT System for further attention. I will keep you informed about bills related to our mission, although we review bills that affect nursing service, etc. as well. For example, Senator Jane Nelson has recently proposed a bill on nurse staffing which would require hospitals to have a committee to determine safe staffing, with at least half the committee being Registered Nurses and the committee would report directly to the hospital board (HB 591/SB 476). These bills have to be analyzed carefully for frequently there are other things in them that may not be as desirable as the intended effect.

I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable long week-end.

 


Dean Starck