School Notes: School of Nursing
July/August 2015

Celebrations

The last weekend in May was full of special events at the School of Nursing, including YSN reunions, a symposium on the science of self-management, and a celebration of Margaret Grey’s ten-year deanship.

The weekend kicked off with the symposium, which featured presentations by experts in self-management. A lecture by Nancy Redeker, Beatrice Renfield Professor of Nursing and an authority on sleep disorders, was a highlight of the YSN reunion, which coincided this year with Yale College reunions. And in honor of Dean Margaret Grey, who steps down in August, members of the YSN community gathered for a banquet celebration at the West Campus Conference Center to applaud Dean Grey’s impact on the school and the university.

Alumna honored by cancer nurses

Deborah K. Mayer ’85MSN is the recipient of the 2015 Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes her outstanding contributions as an oncology nurse researcher, mentor, and educator, as well as her service to ONS and the community at large. ONS is a professional association of more than 35,000 members committed to promoting excellence in oncology nursing and the transformation of cancer care. Mayer has been a member of ONS since its incorporation in 1975.

Awards for nurse scientists

The Eastern Nursing Research Society honored three YSN alumnae at this year’s annual Scientific Sessions in April. Martha A. Q. Curley ’87MSN was recipient of the Distinguished Contributions to Nursing Research award, which recognizes individuals for their outstanding contributions to nursing research as a senior investigator. Curley is currently the Ellen and Robert Kapito Professor of Nursing Science at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Susan Sullivan-Bolyai ’99DSciNur received the Suzanne Feetham Nurse Scientist Family Research Award, which recognizes a junior or senior investigator who has made outstanding contributions to the understanding of families in health and illness; family functioning; and/or family structure. She is now an associate professor and director of the Florence S. Downs PhD Program in Nursing Research and Theory Development at New York University’s College of Nursing. And Pei-Shiun Chang ’10MSN, currently a nursing PhD candidate, won first place in the Early PhD Poster Competition this year. Her poster, “Physical and Psychological Effects of Qigong Exercise in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: An Exploratory Study,” is also her dissertation proposal.