Welcome from the Dean

A Message from the Dean of Nursing

Dr. Joan Creasia

Dear Alumni and Friends,  

The past year has been an exciting one for the College of Nursing.  We received federal funding to establish a graduate program in Homeland Security Nursing, the first of its kind in the nation. The announcement, which was picked up by national news networks, generated much excitement, and we immediately began receiving inquiries about the program from across the nation.  In part because of this new frontier, the doctoral program grew exponentially.

Early last year, the University launched the “Ready for the World” initiative, an ambitious plan to help students gain the international and intercultural knowledge they need to succeed in today’s global society. The plan calls for internationalizing the curriculum and providing opportunities for students to study abroad.  Many of the activities that College of Nursing faculty and students were engaged in fit well into this initiative.  We have interacted with various cultures, both at home and abroad and some of these are described in this issue of the Nursing Report.  In addition, our course, Transcultural Nursing, was already in place. We continue to embrace new ideas to expand students’ horizons, expose them to multicultural perspectives, and make them “Ready for the World.”

College of Nursing graduates continue to be in demand. At the time of graduation in May 2006,  50% of the BSN graduates had accepted positions in the Knoxville area, 26% had accepted positions in other Tennessee locations, 14% had accepted positions out of state (2 of which were military assignments), and10% were still undecided where they would work. August 2006 graduates from the nurse anesthesia specialty were hired before the ink on their diplomas was dry, and master’s graduates with other clinical specialties were also in high demand.  Several of our doctoral graduates assumed nursing faculty positions.

We recently hosted the 5th Annual Scholarship Banquet which recognizes our generous donors and outstanding scholars.  Donors and guests who have attended from the beginning remarked how much this event has grown over the years.  It is to the credit of our generous donors that scholarship endowments have increased, thus providing more money to distribute to deserving students.  If you wish to contribute to one of the scholarship funds or establish a new endowment, please call the Development Office at 865-974-2755.

Once again, I extend my gratitude to you for your loyal support of the College of Nursing.  You have made a big difference in the lives of our students by helping us to maintain the high standard of excellence by which we have built our programs. It is with your continued support that we can scale to even greater heights in nursing education.

Warm regards,

Joan L. Creasia, PhD, RN
Dean and Professor