Minnesota Nursing Magazine Spring/Summer 2012 - School of ...

alumni news
1955
Carolyn Schroeder’s lifelong leadership
and dedication to nursing was celebrated
in January on the occasion of her 80th
birthday by Dean Connie Delaney and
special guests.
Back row: Dan Simundson; Gigi Fourré Schumacher,
director of Development; Mary Lou Christensen
‘60; Clint and Carolyn Schroeder; Laurel Mallon,
director of Alumni and Donor Relations; Dean Connie
Delaney. Front row: Patricia Kane ‘60 and Katherine
Lillehei ‘50.
1968
Patricia Robertson, MS ’68, was named the
2012 Metro Area Volunteer of the Year by
Aging Services of Minnesota for her years of
service to the residents at Walker Methodist
in Minneapolis. This special award is the
highest honor recognizing the dedication
and service of volunteers who support
Minnesota seniors.
1977
Joan Dodgson, PhD ‘77, MPH, RN, was
inducted as a 2011 Fellow into the
American Academy of Nursing. Dodgson
is an associate professor and director
of the Center for the Advancement of
Health Disparities Research in the School
of Nursing and Dental Hygiene at the
University of Hawaii-Manoa.
Marsha Lewis, PhD, RN, MS ’77, was been
named Dean of the University at Buffalo
School of Nursing in New York. Prior to her
new appointment, she was an associate
professor and associate dean for education
in the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of
Nursing at Emory University in Atlanta.
Lewis began her career in higher education
as an instructor at the U of M’s School of
Nursing in 1977. She became an assistant
professor in 1992, and rose to the level of
an associate professor in 1999, and served
as the director of graduate studies from
2001-2006.
Lewis is a specialist in psychiatricmental
health and nursing education, with
expertise in curriculum and instructional
systems, and she has directed a research
program for caregivers of persons with
dementia. She has received 19 research
grants and seven educational trainingprogram
grants from the National Institute
of Nursing Research, the National Institute
of Aging, the Department of Health
and Human Services, the Alzheimer’s
Disease Research Center, the Alzheimer’s
Association and the NIH-Fogarty
International Research Collaboration. Her
grants have funded research that addresses
a number of important issues in nursing
and caregiving, such as caregiver stress,
online caregiver training and development,
and testing of a Hispanic training program
related to Alzheimer’s disease.
Lewis is the author or co-author of
more than 20 refereed original journal
articles and the author or co-author of
one book and two book chapters. She has
collaborated on the development of four
different educational software programs
and three educational videos.
During the School of Nursing’s
Centennial Celebration in 2009, Lewis
was named one its 100 Distinguished
Alumni. She was recognized for her work
in the development of “Savvy Caregiver”, a
national and international training program
that helps caregivers understand how
dementia affects their family members.
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