Paying it Forward” - School of Nursing - West Virginia University

Georgia L. Narsavage, PhD, CRNP, FAAN
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TThis entire year we are celebrating 50 years of WVU School of
Nursing's achievements in teaching, service / practice, and research.
As the state's major research institution and its only land-grant
university, West Virginia University is charged with understanding
and meeting the distinctive needs of the people of the state. Our
School of Nursing's 50 years represent a unique and sustained
history of contributions to improving the health and quality of life
for citizens of West Virginia and the nation. At its inception the
founding Dean, Dorothy M. Major, and six faculty developed a liberal
arts/ nursing science curriculum in a revolutionary pattern that was
to become known nationally as "The West Virginia Plan." The class
of '64 had 19 new nurses and 2 RNs. In 2009, we graduated 132
new nurses and 73 RNs who earned the BSN degree - look at some of
their photos in this issue and see the faces of our future.
The 2nd Dean, Lorita Jenab, expanded the MSN and RN-BSN
programs to students throughout the state, delivering courses on site
at Charleston-Beckley, Montgomery, Potomac State, Parkersburg,
Glenville, and Shepherdstown. In a program begun by Dr. Judith
Kandzari, nursing students in rural health last year provided13,950
hours of service; a nursing student's community service project was
one of the best in the state for the 3rd year. After Judy's much too
early passing, her husband and many others chose to honor her
through a scholarship in her memory as well as a lecture series on
rural health - look inside for a picture of one of the recent recipients
of her scholarship and the story on the impact it is having on the
student recipient and rural health care in West Virginia.
Dean E. Jane Martin led the School of Nursing from 1992 to
2007, introducing a faculty clinical track, the first faculty practice
plan, and the first nursing doctoral programs in WV. In her tenure,
the school moved to a newly renovated 6th floor of the HSC. In 2000
for the first time the MSN program was identified as one of "the best
schools" by US News and World Report. That recognition is in place
today. Dean Martin has supported a scholarship that honors and
remembers her dear nursing friend, Anna Mary Miller; we have
included a story about one of the recent recipients of that scholarship
and the difference her nursing research is making in improving
quality of life for people in West Virginia.
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