Innovations: Nursing Science, Education, Practice - University of ...

Faculty Honors 1 9 9 8 – 1 9 9 9
For their outstanding contributions
to nursing and health care and for
their leadership in nursing re s e a rc h ,
education, and practice, School of
Nursing faculty were honored by
their peers, their students, the healthc
a re community, their pro f e s s i o n a l
o rganizations, and academic institutions
across the nation. The following
is a selection of awards and honors
received by Penn Nursing faculty
this year.
Faculty Honors
Linda Aiken, PhD, FAAN, FRCN, RN,
Claire M. Fagin Leadership Professor of
Nursing and Sociology — Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation Investigator Award in
Health Policy Research; The Sigma Theta
Tau Award for Clinical Scholarship; Fellow
in the Royal College of Nursing;
Georgetown University Honorary
Doctorate; Member of the American
Academy of Sciences
Ann Burgess, DNSc, FAAN, RN, van
Ameringen Professor of Psychiatric
Nursing — 1999 Sigma Theta Tau Episteme
Award
Margaret Cotroneo, PhD, RN, Associate
Professor — Fulbright Fellowship; Fellow
in the American Family Therapy Academy;
University of Pennsylvania Community
Service Award
Janet Deatrick, PhD, FAAN, RN,
Associate Professor — University of Illinois
Alumni Association Achievement Award;
School of Nursing Doctoral Student Award;
Sigma Theta Tau International’s 2000-2001
Distinguished Lecturer
As a young nurse more than 30
years ago, Claire Fagin, PhD, FA A N ,
RN, set the tenor of her career with a
doctoral dissertation that led hospitals
t h roughout the country to change their
p ro c e d u res to benefit children and their
p a rents.
The joy of helping nurses serve our
n a t i o n ’s veterans guided Ve rnice D.
F e rguson, MA, FAAN, FRCN, RN,
(HNu’98) through her care e r, and
millions of men and women benefited
f rom her insight.
In recognition of the achievements
and advances to nursing made by
Fagin and Ferguson, the American
Academy of Nursing honored them as
“Living Legends.”
As the first child psychiatric nurse to
hold a doctorate degree, Fagin pro v e d
that hospitalized children gre a t l y
benefit by having their parents spend
the night with them.
Her influence on nursing and the
c o u n t ry ’s health care climbed when she
became dean of Penn Nursing in 1977,
t u rning the School into a top-ranking
re s e a rch center that now attracts the
highest level of federal re s e a rch dollars.
At Penn, she developed the Center
for Nursing Research and five of the
S c h o o l ’s seven re s e a rch centers. The
size of the School’s first-year class
tripled under Fagin’s leadership, and
the nursing graduate school trained
A m e r i can Aca d e m y
of Nursing Honors
“Living Le g e n d s ”
Claire Fagin, PhD, FAAN, RN and
Vernice D. Ferguson, MA,
FAAN, FRCN, RN, (HNu’98)
m o re master’s students than any other
in the nation. A doctor of philosophy
p rogram, an important goal of Fagin’s ,
was established in 1982.
Fagin, who re t i red as dean in 1991,
has received 10 honorary doctoral
d e g rees and numerous alumni, civic,
and professional awards. She has published
eight books and monographs
and more than 75 art i c l e s .
B e f o re retiring in 1992, Ferg u s o n
oversaw 60,000 nurses as assistant chief
medical director of nursing programs at
the Department of Veterans Affairs.
She also served as the chief nurse at
the re s e a rch-oriented Veterans Aff a i r s
Medical Center in Madison, Wi s c o n s i n ,
and led the prestigious Clinical Center
at the National Institutes of Health. She
s e rved as president of Sigma Theta Ta u
I n t e rnational and the Intern a t i o n a l
Society of Nurses in Cancer Care .
Her academic career included thre e
fellowships, one in physics at the
University of Maryland and another in
alcohol studies at Yale University, and
she was a scholar in residence at the
Catholic University of America.
The year after leaving govern m e n t
s e rvice, Ferguson joined Penn Nursing
as senior fellow holding the Fagin
Family Chair in Cultural Diversity. She
spent four years helping the faculty and
students to further their knowledge,
s e n s i t i v i t y, and leadership in cultural
d i v e r s i t y. She also advised the School
on its goals of re c ruiting and re t a i n i n g
minority students and faculty.
F e rguson spent nine weeks in South
Africa during 1995 as a visiting associate
professor in nursing science at the
University of the North West.
F e rguson has received seven hono
r a ry degrees and numerous pro f e s-
sional awards. In Britain, she became
only the second American ever named
a fellow of the Royal College of
Nursing. She also was the first nurse to
receive the Catholic University of
A m e r i c a ’s citation for community service
and education.
24 P e n n N u r s i n g