Notes onNIU School of Nursing

Northern Nursing

Nursing Alumna Recognized

Alumna Award 1

Women Awards 2

ISAPN Boot Camp 3

Scholarships 4

Poster Day 5

NPA Trivia Night 5

Staff & Fac News 6-7

Dr. Joyce Barra receives the Distinguished Alumnus Award

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Each year, the NIU Alumni Association recognizes the achievements of outstanding alumni. Recipients are selected based on outstanding professional and personal successes, as well as involvement in civic, cultural or charitable activities.

Dr. Joyce Barra

The Distinguished Alumni Award is the most prestigious award given by the Alumni Association and has been awarded each year since 1964. The 2017 winner for the College of Health and Human Sciences is nursing alumna Dr. Joyce Barra, class of 1980.

Dr. Barra began teaching in 1990 as an adjunct clinical instructor at Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) and was a full-time professor at SLCC from 1992-2005. She then served as interim dean at the SLCC School of Health Sciences.

After serving as a full-time faculty member and director of the graduate program at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, she is currently part-time faculty there, where she teachesnursing courses and is a member of the Institutional Review Board. Barra is also an independent consultant to academic organizations and health care institutions, specializing in ACEN accreditation, self-study preparation, guidance, review and follow-up recommendations. Her consulting services continue to be in demand nationwide.

Dr. Barra has been published in several professional journals, including RN Magazine, Journal of Nursing Education and International Nursing. She is currently conducting research through the Utah Cluster Acceleration Partnership on a description of roles and responsibilities of care management processes.

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It’s time to take the next step.

NIU is accepting applications for its new online DNP program; classes start in fall 2017.

Post-master’s and post-bachelor’s programs available

go.niu.edu/dnp

Outstanding Women

Nursing senior Brittany Rios receiving her award from President Baker and Laura Vazquez

Eleanor Evins (center) with President Baker and PCSW Chair, Laura Vazquez

The NIU Presidential Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) presented their annual awards on April 23, 2017. Select women of NIU were recognized with the Outstanding Women Student Award. The award recognizes students whose leadership may be less formal in nature, who entertain non-traditional aspirations, have overcome significant obstacles in the process of pursuing their education or whose achievements and contributions might otherwise go unrecognized.

The NIU School of Nursing was well-represented among the awardees. Brittany Rios (senior), Eleanor Evins (senior) and Jennifer Davis (graduate student) received the prestigious award.

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NIU Hosts ISAPN Boot CampThe NIU School of Nursing was proud sponsor of the Illinois Society for Advanced Practice Nurses (ISAPN) Boot Camp on April 28-30. This was a regional event made available to all interested advanced practice nurses (or soon to be advanced practice nurses). Approximately 85 nurses attended the training. While this is the first time NIU has hosted in several years, it was actually 10 years ago that NIU hosted the first ISAPN Boot Camp event – so it was appropriate that 2017 saw the event return to NIU’s campus.

Boot Camp attendees display the number 10 with their hands to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the event.

Event topics included:• Transitioning from RN to APN• The Nurse Practice Act• Interviewing Skills• Contract Negotiations• Reimbursement 101

Michelle Buck with former NIU faculty member Dr. Donna Plonczynski 3

Diane Ryzner (l) with former NIU School of Nursing Chair Dr. Marilyn Stromborg (c) and Michelle Buck (r)

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Scholarship Awards Top $160,000

Nursing Scholarships

by the Numbers

Thanks to the generosity of some incredible people, the School of Nursing awarded over $160,000 in student scholarships for school year 2017-2018. This represents the highest dollar amount awarded in School history.

Donors met prior to the ceremony and shared their motivations for supporting student scholarships

Value of scholarships awarded

The School of Nursing held a small recognition ceremony for students on April 17, 2017. To make the event even more meaningful, a number of donors stopped in to meet the awardees and hear their stories. Each student present had the opportunity to stand up and tell the donors and their peers what the scholarship means to them and their academic goals. It was a moving event that on occasion saw the need for a tissue or two.

The School of Nursing would like to thank the following donors for attending:

Connie Arends Mary Jane ShawDon and Ann Charleston Marilyn StromborgMarian Frerichs Barbara WalpoleMary Keipura Diane WhiteEarl Rachowicz

Jasmine Dobbs

Students share their thanks…..

Nellie BarryLuis Flores

Donor Earl Rachowiczwith scholarship winner Shane Simonini

Donor Diane White with scholarship winner Rygine Tapiculin

# of scholarships awarded

Range of individual scholarship awards

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Honors Poster Day

It’s that time of year again – Honors Poster Day! The best and brightest from the School proudly present their research projects in a competition held every semester in the hallowed halls of the Nursing Building. This year saw a record 31 submissions! Several judges from the SoN staff and faculty went through the poster presentations and arrived at the winners below.

Rachel Shapland with “Nitrous Oxide for Pain Relief During Labor”

Maryan Saman with “Registered Nurse Turnover: Causes, Effects and Implications”

Courtney Fleming with her poster “Breastfeeding Around the World”

3rd Place winners included Jenni Della-Peruta, Aleka Mantzoukis,Jamie Turner and Michaela Bulthuis

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NPA Trivia Night Tradition ContinuesIn a growing tradition that will soon rival such events as Christmas and Administrative Professionals Day, the Northern Prairie Alliance’s Trivia Night held another edition on April 7, 2017.

This year saw three teams battle through excruciatingly difficult NCLEX-prep questions in a no-holds-barred, cage match atmosphere. The final scores are below – it was close, but the champs were crowned: Wally Swenson, Larry Guttman and GaganSingh.

Team French-Canadians: (l to r) Larry Guttman, Gagan Singh, and Wally Swenson

The French-Canadians

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The Three Kidneys

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The Intraosseusses

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Notes on Northern Nursing

Pam Taylor

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The School of Nursing would like to welcome Amber Davis to the team. Amber is our new RN-BS Coordinator. A former instructor for the School, Amber was most recently at Kishwaukee Hospital. We’re glad you’re back, Amber!

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Amber Davis

Pam Taylor, our Director of Graduate Studies, received a Certificate of Recognition at a university-wide ceremony on April 12. The Supportive Professional Staff (SPS) awards recognize excellence among SPS employees. Pam’s tireless efforts and unmatched skills were essential in a number of successes with the School’s graduate program this year. Congratulations, Pam!

Three School of Nursing staff and faculty members were recognized with service awards in April. Thanks to all of them for their years of dedicated service to NIU and our students!

Dr. Mary Elaine Koren Amy Johnson Sandy Wolf

15 Years 10 Years 10 Years

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Sad Farewells….

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Dr. Patricia BraunAssociate Professor

Dr. Braun’s began her career at NIU as a visiting professor in 2009 and became a full-time faculty member in 2010. She is a pediatric nurse practitioner and taught primarily at the graduate level in the last few years.

Dr. Mary Elaine KorenAssociate Professor

Dr. Koren’s career at NIU began in 2001. She served on all of the School’s committees at some point and many college and university level ones, too. She published 15 articles, three book chapters, two clinical guidelines and made 25 professional presentations. She served as Area Coordinator from 2010-2017. She looks forward to spending time with family and learning to golf…and maybe catch up on some sleep.

Mary RudnickiStudent Success Program Coordinator

Mary Rudnicki’s role as the Student Success Coordinator means she had an impact on A LOT of students. She’s worked with the NIU School of Nursing since the late 80s (there’s some debate here). Mary will devote some more time to her horses and family in her retirement.

Connie UhlkenRN-BS Coordinator

The epitome of Huskie-ness, Connie earned her B.S. and M.S. degrees from NIU and then served the School and its students in a number of roles beginning in 1999. When they have to divide your job into three new positions, you know you do a lot of work. Connie plans to do some camping and an epic European cruise in the months to come.

Sandy WolfInstructor

Sandy served as both a clinical and didactic instructor from 2007-2017. A student favorite, she was asked to be the keynote speaker at this semester’s pinning ceremony, an honor bestowed by students to a single faculty member or instructor. She is looking forward to sleeping past 4:50 am.

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The School of Nursing wishes our departing team

members the best in their future endeavors!

Cover Page 8The School of Nursing welcomes your donations. Please go to niufoundation.org to donate online or contact Anthony D’Andrea at adandrea@niu.edu or (815) 753-1390.

Northern Illinois UniversitySchool of Nursing1240 Normal RoadDeKalb, IL 60115(815) 753-1231nursing@niu.edu

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