School of Nursing to Sponsor Distinguished Lectureship on Diversity in Nursing

 The one-day event, Stewardship and Diversity in Nursing Through Online Education, is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 11, and will be held at Thomas Edison State College, 101 W. State St., Trenton, N.J.

 “Our first annual lectureship will emphasize the importance of building alliances and how linking stewardship and diversity through online education can increase the number of minority nurse educators in the United States and throughout the world,” said Susan M. O’Brien, EdD, RN, dean of the School of Nursing at Thomas Edison State College.  “We believe this event will also increase the awareness of the role of the professional nurse in promoting online education as a tool that can help alleviate the nursing faculty shortage facing our country.”

Lectureship speakers include:
• Linda Gural, RN, president, New Jersey State Nurses Association
• Kem Louie, PhD, RN, FAAN, secretary, Asian America/Pacific Islander Nurses Association
• Hilda Richards, EdD, RN, FAAN, chancellor/president emeritus, Indiana University Northwest; board member, National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Associations; past president, National Black Nurses Association
• Peter Block, author, Stewardship: Choosing Service Over Self-Interest
The event also includes a panel discussion titled, Strengthening Diversity in Nursing through Online Education, and a book signing by Peter Block and Hilda Richards.

The lectureship is part of a three-year, $600,000 grant the college received in 2005 from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to recruit and prepare minority nurse educators in online education and develop a collaborative network of diverse nurse faculty members to enhance nursing programs nationwide. This October, the first 15 minority nurse educators to take part in the initiative at Thomas Edison State College will complete the program. Several of these grant participants will be taking part in the lectureship’s panel discussion.

“The potential benefit of educating minority nurse faculty in online pedagogy is vast,” said O’Brien. “Online nursing education has the potential to reach rural students who have limited, and at times, no access, to an accredited baccalaureate nursing education. It also enables more students to benefit from a more culturally diverse faculty, which enhances their overall education and improves the care they provide to society.”

George A. Pruitt, PhD, president of Thomas Edison State College, said the institution is honored to host its first distinguished lectureship on diversity in nursing.

“This event will serve as a catalyst to increase the number of minority nurse educators who can share their specialized skills at nursing schools throughout the country,” he said.

Registration for the lectureship is $120, which includes lunch and books. Registration forms and information are available online at www.tesc.edu/nursing/ or by contacting the School of Nursing at (609) 633-6460 or via e-mail at nursing@tesc.edu.

Funding for the distinguished lectureship was made possible (in part) by grant award D11HP05199 from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration. The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or the Health Resources and Services Administration, nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. government. 

About Thomas Edison State College
Thomas Edison State College provides flexible, high-quality, collegiate learning opportunities for self-directed adults. One of New Jersey’s 12 senior public institutions of higher education, the College offers 16 associate, baccalaureate and master’s degrees in more than 100 areas of study. Students earn degrees through a wide variety of rigorous and high-quality academic methods that can be customized to meet their individual needs. Identified by Forbes magazine as one of the top 20 colleges and universities in the nation in the use of technology to create learning opportunities for adults, Thomas Edison State College is a national leader in the assessment of adult learning and a pioneer in the use of educational technologies. The College is home to The John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy. The New Jersey State Library is an affiliate of Thomas Edison State College.

About the School of Nursing at Thomas Edison State College
The Nursing Program at Thomas Edison State College was established in 1983 primarily to provide education and career opportunities for RNs in New Jersey who wanted an alternative to campus-based baccalaureate education. The BSN program based in School of Nursing has been continually accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission. In 2001, the Nursing Program transitioned from an examination-based to an online program. In July 2006, the School opened a Master of Science in Nursing, Nurse Educator Degree program and a Nurse Educator Certificate program. Nursing enrollment at the College is approximately 600 students from across the United States. Approximately 25 percent of students in the School of Nursing are minorities. Approximately 85 percent of the School’s nurse educators have doctoral degrees and approximately 25 percent are minorities. Graduates of the School of Nursing have served the profession in nursing leadership positions and approximately 30 percent go on to graduate nursing education.