ADULT LEARNERS - Villanova University

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FACULTY FOCUSCollege Salutes Two Faculty Membersfor 25 Years of ServiceThe College of Nursing this year ishonoring Nancy C. Sharts-Hopko,Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, professorand director of the Ph.D. Program inNursing, and Joyce S. Willens ’83 B.S.N.,Ph.D., R.N.-BC, assistant professor, fortheir quarter-century of service. Bothjoined the faculty in 1986.Dr. Sharts-Hopko has taught nearlya dozen courses for undergraduate andgraduate students. Her commitment toexcellence within the College, VillanovaUniversity and the profession is demonstratedthrough her service on a variety ofcommittees and her memberships in professionalorganizations. She has receivedawards for outstanding service to the Universitycommunity, such as the LawrenceC. Gallen, O.S.A., Faculty Service Award.A role model for students, she is treasurerof the Board of Directors of Sigma ThetaTau International, nursing’s honor society,and was elected to the National League forNursing’s (NLN) Commission on Certificationto help set policy for the designationof certified nurse educators.In 2003, Dr. Sharts-Hopko was namedthe director of Nursing’s new Ph.D. program.With a background in academia andmaternal-child and women’s health, shelectures frequently on education, researchand clinical topics and has publishednumerous articles on evidence-basedpractice, women’s health concerns suchas vision impairment and disability, HIV/AIDS, childbearing and other areas. Shecontinues to show her dedication to thefield of nursing and the University with(Left) Nancy C. Sharts-Hopko, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN,who directs the College’sPh.D. Program in Nursing,has a background inmaternal-child andwomen’s health.(Right) Joyce S. Willens’83 B.S.N., Ph.D., R.N.-BCis a resource at the Collegeand nationally on painand its management.her enduring professional growth and herdevotion to improving nursing education.Dr. Willens, former coordinator ofthe B.S.N./M.S.N. Gateway Program forRegistered Nurses, has taught undergraduateand graduate students, includingstudents from the Sultanate of Oman, incourses relating to the nursing process,health assessment, clinical practice skillsand pain. She also serves on several Universityand College committees, includingthe Senate and Faculty Congress.Dr. Willens is a knowledgeableresource for faculty and students interestedin issues related to pain and its management.Stemming from her teachingand research interests, she has publishedscholarly articles and chapters and is theeditor of Pain Management Nursing, thejournal of the American Society for PainManagement Nursing (ASPMN). She alsobelongs to the American Pain Society. InJune 2011, she was elected to a one-yearterm as president-elect of ASPMN andreceived its Distinguished Service Award.Dr. Willens is one of two nurses in thenation selected from ASPMN for theContent Expert Panel for the AmericanNurses Credentialing Center’s new certificationexamination in pain management.She edited the 1996 AJN Book of theYear, Pain Management: an InterdisciplinaryApproach. She has chaired ASPMN’s taskforce that completed the role delineationsurvey defining what pain managementnurses do. This study was published inPain Management Nursing and serves as abasis for test content outline. •FACULTY TRANSITIONSFlexibility, networking and negotiationare among the skills of Clinical AssistantProfessor Francis Amorim, M.S.N.,R.N., CCE, the College of Nursing’s newcoordinator of Clinical Education. Herprevious six years as student placementcoordinator for Thomas JeffersonUniversity Hospital involved matchingmore than 1,900 students from 13 nursingprograms in the Philadelphia areawith clinical units within that health-caresystem. Her new role at the Collegebrings the challenge of ensuring excellentclinical placements for all Nursingundergraduates.Fluent in Italianand with a “workingknowledge” ofSpanish and Portuguese,Amorim wasraised in Philadelphia.After earningher B.S.N. fromThomas Jefferson,she began her careeras a perinatal staffnurse at Pennsylvania Hospital. She quither job one summer to realize a dreamshe shared with her husband, Thomas,a teacher, soccer coach and Villanovaalumnus. They traveled through Europeto the World Cup Soccer tournament.Upon their return, she earned an M.S.N.degree as a perinatal clinical nurse specialistfrom the University of Pennsylvania.While raising their two sons, sheheld adjunct faculty positions in nursingprograms in the Philadelphia areabefore returning full-time to Jefferson.Last July, her work there was recognizedwith the prestigious Excellencein Professional Development Educator/Academic Liaison Practice Award fromthe National Nursing Staff DevelopmentOrganization.“One of my better qualities is thatI like people and like to resolve issues,because in both academic and practice[settings] there is a lot of negotiating,”says Amorim. “Coming to Villanova wasa different professional challenge and anexcellent personal fit. I started in academiaand came back to it.” Appreciatingthe ways in which she has seen Villanova’smission and philosophical backgroundblend, she says simply, “I love it.”Registered dietitian Denice Ferko-Adams, M.P.H., R.D., LDN is directorof the MacDonald Center for Obesity18 Villanova Nursing | Spring 2012
Prevention and Education (COPE);she joined Villanova Nursing in spring2011. The College established this newcenter, funded by the MacDonald FamilyFoundation and the Take Shape for LifeFoundation, to address the nation’s obesityepidemic through professional andconsumer education and research. Shebrings to her role more than 20 years ofclinical, community and worksite experiencein weight management. Integratingher experience and passion for wellnesswith a master’s degree in public healthfrom East Stroudsburg University, sheis a national expert and leader in theAcademy of Nutrition and Dietetics,the new name of the American DieteticAssociation (ADA). She earned herB.S. in dietetics at Indiana University ofPennsylvania and completed the ADA’sChild and Adolescent Certificate inWeight Management. In recognition ofher pioneering efforts in worksite wellnessand weight management, Ferko-Adams was honored in 2009 with theprestigious ADA Excellence in PracticeAward in Business and Consultationand was the first recipient of the ADA/SCAN Award for Excellence in Practicefor Wellness.As president ofher consulting company,WellnessPress, Ferko-Adamsdeveloped andimplemented yearroundweight, health,cafeteria and fitnesscampaigns fornational clients,including ACTSRetirement Life Communities, AirProducts, Bethlehem Steel Corporation,BMW of North America, Harley-Davidson,Impact Health, Lehigh University,Mack Trucks and many others. Shecreated software to track data onparticipants in her clients’ programs,documenting outcomes that translate tosaving health-care dollars.Ferko-Adams served as an adjunctfaculty member for Marywood University’sdietetics’ program and for thenursing program at Alvernia College(now University).A nationally recognized speaker,Ferko-Adams frequently addressesworksite wellness and business topics.In addition, she serves as a resource forthe media and has expertise in doinglive cooking demonstrations for television.She has served in many national,state and local leadership roles, includingnational professional issues delegatefor the ADA, chair of ADA’s NutritionEntrepreneurs Dietetic Practice Groupand president of the PennsylvaniaDietetic Association.Amy E. McKeever’08 Ph.D., R.N., CRNPbegan her new facultyrole in Januaryas assistant professor,teaching in theundergraduate andgraduate program,with a concentrationin maternalchildnursing in theundergraduate program. Her doctoraldissertation at the College was “CollegeStudents’ Self-Reported BehavioralChange after an Educational Interventionto Reduce Behaviors Associatedwith Cervical Cancer Risk.”Dr. McKeever earned her B.S.N fromGwynedd-Mercy College and her M.S.N.and advanced practice training in women’shealth from the University of Pennsylvania.During her five years at DrexelUniversity and two at Temple University,she was an active and engaged memberof the nursing faculty.Experienced in clinical arenas andteaching, Dr. McKeever is a certifiedregistered nurse practitioner specializingin women’s health. She has worked in avariety of clinical settings focusing onmaternal-child health, providing primarycare to women across the lifespan. Herclinical passion is caring for women withpre-malignant and malignant gynecologicaldisorders. She provides care to thesepatients at her gynecological oncologypractice at Main Line Health Care.Dr. McKeever is a member of severalclinical and research-oriented professionalorganizations, including the Associationof Women’s Health, Obstetricand Neonatal Nurses; the American Collegeof Nurse Practitioners; the AmericanAcademy of Nurse Practitioners; theAmerican Society of Colposcopists andCervical Pathologists; and Sigma ThetaTau International. She has publishedseveral articles on maternal-child nursing,integrating evidence-based practiceinto teaching and cervical cancer riskreduction.Debra Shearer, Ed.D., M.S.N., FNP-BCin October 2011 began as director of theCollege’s newly developed Doctor ofNursing Practice (D.N.P.) Program. Shebrings a wealth of experience in clinicalpractice, education and programdevelopment.A B.S.N. graduate of La Salle University,Dr. Shearer worked in the neonatalICU of St. Christopher’s Hospital for Childrenin Philadelphia and on the transportteam before completing her family nursepractitioner (FNP) degree in 1997 atMCP Hahnemann University’s College ofNursing (now Drexel University Collegeof Nursing and Health Professions). Withher FNP license in hand, she practiced inPhiladelphia in the emergency departmentsat Frankford Hospital and whatwas then Graduate Hospital, and inWilmington, Del., at St. Francis Hospital.Her first faculty position was in 1998 withMCP Hahnemann’s FNP program. Shetook three years off after the birth of herdaughter in 2000, returned to Drexelas the coordinator for clinical adjunctfaculty in nursing, later served as directorof Clinical Education and in 2009became chair of the Nurse PractitionerDepartment. She received her doctor ofeducation degree from Rowan Universityin 2005, where her dissertation was “Outfrom the Periphery: Engaging NursingClinical Adjunct Faculty in Their ProfessionalDevelopment.”Always looking for a new challenge,in 2010 Dr. Shearer worked with Drexel’sCollege of Medicine to develop andoperate its Convenient Care Center atLiberty Place in Center City Philadelphia.She was the center’s chief nursepractitioner and held a faculty appointmentin Medicine.Dr. Shearer now isready for the challengesassociatedwith developingand implementinga Doctor of NursingPractice program. “Iam looking forwardto starting a programthat will educateadvanced practicenurses to translate nursing science intopractice to improve patient outcomes,”she observes.FACULTY PUBLICATIONSAngelina C. Arcamone ’82 B.S.N.,’86 M.S.N., Ph.D., R.N., CCE, assistantdean and director of the UndergraduateProgram, co-authored with doctoralstudent Nancy Wise ’09 M.S.N., R.N.the article “Survey of Adolescent ViewsVillanova Nursing | Spring 2012 19
Page 1 and 2: SPRING 2012ADULT LEARNERS
Page 3 and 4: PERSPECTIVESDear Alumni and Friends
Page 5 and 6: (Clockwise) In their former lives,
Page 7 and 8: Rowland sees the value of adult lea
Page 9 and 10: The love of horses that guided Shan
Page 11 and 12: compared to those not told.” Thos
Page 13 and 14: Aligning Public Health and Primary
Page 15 and 16: Gathering during a reception in Dri
Page 17 and 18: Geriatric Conference Attracted Nurs
Page 19: A Tribute to Rose O’Driscoll’s
Page 23 and 24: Medical Missions: The Clinicians’
Page 25 and 26: Faculty Share Expertise at National
Page 27 and 28: SUPPORTING THE NEXT GENERATIONBelie
Page 29 and 30: ALUMNI FOCUS“Forever Family” Cr
Page 31 and 32: NURSING ALUMNI NOTES1960sTara Siega
Page 33 and 34: Do You Have News to Share?Stay in t
Page 35 and 36: Visiting with Nursing’s Navy and

ADULT LEARNERS - Villanova University

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