What an exciting time this is for the College of Nursing! As we begin our 50th anniversary celebrations, I would like to take a minute for reflection.
We value our history and look with anticipation toward the future. Our deans have made a mark in history, beginning with Hilda Roberts (1968-1972), who established the Center for Nursing Education, the first nursing education consortium in the United States, along with what were then called Eastern Washington State College and Whitworth College, and Fort Wright College. Grace Deloughry (1972-1973) followed and enrollment reached 200 students by 1972. Laura Dustan (1975-1982) oversaw the construction of the Magnuson building, and started the RNB program. The name of the consortium formally changed to the Intercollegiate Center for Nursing Education under her watch. Thelma Cleveland (1982-1997) was our longest serving dean, brought us through the first accreditation, started the master’s program, expanded to other campuses and started the office for development.
Remarkable leadership continued under Dorothy Detlor (1997-2006) who oversaw the design of the building we are in now and the development of the PhD program proposal, and expanded research activities. Committed to the underserved community, the People’s Clinic and Ronald McDonald Care Mobile flourished under her watch. In 2000, we officially became the WSU College of Nursing. Patricia Butterfield (2007-2015) opened the PhD and DNP programs and oversaw coordination of the multi-campus environment. She greatly expanded research within the College.
This thread of leadership has led to extraordinary faculty. While I could mention each faculty, past and present, let me give some exemplars that demonstrate our scope and stretch. They have made astonishing contributions to our students (Charlene Clark opened our practice lab), the underserved (Margaret Bruya ran the People’s Clinic for many years), Native American populations (Robbie Paul and Janet Katz have worked with Native American students), vulnerable children (Linda Eddy) and military members’ health (Denise Smart).
Most recently, we have celebrated becoming a Center of Excellence in Nursing Education, and the establishment of the College’s first distinguished professorship, the Waldron O. and Janet S. Lindblad Distinguished Professorship in Geriatrics. We have created the Healthy People + Healthy Pets project, where nursing and veterinary students offer health care counseling and services to indigent folks and their pets. We are grateful to MultiCare and the Denice Murphy Community Nursing Endowment for helping us conduct that event twice per year.
Going forward in this celebratory year, our focus will be on our most distinctive element: interprofessional innovation, across campuses, colleges, disciplines and in education, practice, research and service. Why is this my priority? Because our patients need all of us – every profession, every teacher, every researcher. Unless we work together, we are working in conflict with, or duplicating the work of others and it is the patient who suffers.
This year, we will be laser focused on building better teams for teaching and learning, so our students are prepared for team-based health care. We will build more education and practice opportunities by working with our collaborators. Our research must be cross-disciplinary. How can we possibly look at pain, for instance, without involving nursing, medicine, pharmacy, social work, financial representatives or physical therapists?
For interprofessional teams to work, they must be representative, so we will be increasing our efforts in diversifying the student body, faculty and staff. Diversity, equity and inclusion will be evident in our education, research, practice and service activities. We will increase our interprofessional work to support the well-being of our students. Depression, suicide, sexual assaults, and self-harm occur far too often in college students, and it takes every member of the team to create an effective solution.
I need your help in making the future real. There is purpose behind what we do as nurses, to care for people. We are building something that matters. Our collective success matters. The contribution of each person we touch matters. Let’s make great things happen!
