School of Nursing: Connections

FROM THE DEAN’S DESK

Nancy Fugate Woods, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, Dean and Professor

As the School of Nursing celebrates its continuing reputation as the top-ranked school of nursing in the nation, we pause to reflect on the implications of our leadership. Throughout the twentieth century, nurses have played a major role in political history, social progress, and the transformation of nursing as a profession. Once primarily home- or hospital-based, the work of nursing today spans advanced practice, research, teaching, private industry, law and health policy. At the School of Nursing, we prepare nurses to practice in all of these domains. We strive for a standard of excellence that will prepare our graduates to not only be successful in their chosen career pathways, but also to mentor subsequent generations and to influence health policy at all levels.

Perhaps nowhere has this been more critical than in care of children. Whether in its educational programs, practice, research, or service opportunities, the School is deeply committed to children at every stage, from prenatal parenting classes through the crucial years of early childhood and on into adolescence. Today as never before, that involvement spreads beyond individual families and communities to shaping policies and providing leadership that can benefit children everywhere. Without healthy children, both mentally and physically, the future achievements of our society nationally and internationally will be seriously compromised. In this issue of Connections, we look to the many ways in which the School of Nursing is making a difference in the lives of children. It is a responsibility we take very seriously, knowing that the true value of nursing and nursing science is not in school rankings or scholarship for its own sake but rather in how we can make a difference in our future as a society. We hope you will enjoy reading about some of the hundreds of ways our faculty, staff and students are making that difference every day.