Year in review 2023-2024
Year in Review 2023–2024
Dean Katherine E. Gregory
This has been another exciting year at the Connell School of Nursing. Our entire community—from students to faculty to staff and to our alumni—has contributed to the successes you will see in our Year in Review. I am grateful they have chosen nursing. And I am grateful to you for choosing nursing as well.
As I reflect on the past year, I am reminded that the work we do is more than a job. It is a calling. It involves sacrifice, compassion, and resilience. It brings health and well-being to our communities. It advances research. It improves patient care.
What calls us to choose nursing? Many of you have taken time to reflect on this question and to share your thoughtful responses. Thank you for that. It has been a gift and an inspiration. And it reaffirms my gratitude for being called to nursing. Because, like many of you, I choose nursing to serve others and to impact human health. I am proud of this work, proud to share this mission with all of you, and proud to be part of a community who continues to choose nursing.
Wishing you health and well-being,
Katherine E. Gregory
Dean, Connell School of Nursing
- Denise Charron-Prochownik, M.S. ’82, was inducted into the Sigma International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame. She is a professor and chair of the Department of Health Promotion & Development at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing.
- Martha A.Q. Curley, Ph.D. ’97, was named an American Academy of Nursing Living Legend during the AAN’s 50th anniversary year.
- Anne Gross, M.S. ’90, was named Ning Zhao Chair of Nursing, the first endowed nursing position of its kind, at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Gross is also Dana-Farber’s senior vice president for patient care services and chief nursing officer.
- Jennie Chin Hansen ’70, H’08 (pictured, right), a nationally recognized advocate and thought leader on health care needs of older adults, was awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters from Harvard University in May. She is believed to be the first nurse to receive an honorary doctorate from Harvard.
Christopher Lee
Barry Family/Goldman Sachs Professor
Christopher Lee
Barry Family/Goldman Sachs Professor
Lee is one of 30 world-renowned nurse scientists who will be inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame in July.
Karen Lyons
Professor
Karen Lyons
Professor
Lyons was elected to the board of directors of the Gerontological Society of America—the nation’s largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging.
Brittney van de Water
Assistant Professor
Brittney van de Water
Assistant Professor
van de Water joined the editorial board of BMC Global and Public Health—the first nurse to do so.
Ph.D. candidate Nickie Burney (left) and D.N.P. student Cheryl Slater (right) were awarded scholarships from the Nurses Educational Funds.
- Burney received the Johnson & Johnson 2023 Health Equity Scholarship. Her program of research emphasizes chronic disease prevention in vulnerable populations.
- Slater received the 2023 Madeline A. Naegle Scholarship and continues to work with bereaved families, opioid-exposed newborns in low-resource settings, and pregnant women with substance use disorder.
Julie Canuto-Depina ’25 was awarded Boston College’s 2024 Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship, an honor for which Esther Udoakang ’25 was also a finalist. The scholarship recognizes a BC junior who demonstrates superior academic achievement, extracurricular leadership, community service, and involvement with the African American community and issues.
Ji In Kim, D.N.P. ’25, was a Boston College delegate to COP28, the world’s largest international climate change conference, which took place in December. The delegation briefed the BC community on their experience in two interactive sessions held online from Dubai, the location for COP28.
- U.S. News & World Report ranked the Connell School 10th out of 654 schools in its 2024 Best Undergraduate Nursing Programs survey.
- In the fall, the Mary Mahoney Program welcomed its first cohort of direct entry master’s nursing students who identify as first generation and/or belong to a historically marginalized group.
- Assistant Dean Dany Hilaire and her team create an individualized approach to one of the nation’s most robust and innovative clinical education programs.
- Associate Professor of the Practice Donna Cullinan, Assistant Professor of the Practice Raymond Gasser, and Associate Professor and Strakosch Family Faculty Fellow Tam Nguyen developed the inaugural Design Hackathon as part of the population health clinical. In teams, CSON students learned design methods, discussed the impact of ChatGPT on the future of health decision-making, and used AI to generate personas for diabetes patients.
- M. Colleen Simonelli, CSON’s associate dean for student services and a professor of the practice, received the 2024 Boston College Community Service Award for her efforts to help establish a new nursing school at St. John’s College, a Jesuit higher education institution in Belize.
Assistant Professor Lindsey Camp’s discussion on the history of public health aired on C-SPAN2’s Lectures in History series in February.
Associate Professor Andrew Dwyer is a 2023–2024 Virtual Visiting Professor in a Johns Hopkins School of Medicine program called Health Humanities and Health Systems Science Distinction Tracks: Generating a Guild of Authentic Citizens in Healthcare.
Leah Gordon, associate dean for inclusive excellence, diversity, and belonging, joined the 2024 cohort in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Diversity Leadership Institute. Her poster presentation was “How a Community of Practice (CoP) Model Can Serve as a Space for Hope, Unity, and Belonging (HUB) by Centering Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging in Nursing Education during Societal Times of Challenge.”
The American Nurses Association appointed Associate Professor of the Practice Aimee Milliken to the panel that is drafting the 2025 Code of Ethics, a critical initiative revised every 10 years.
DEAN RITA P. KELLEHER AWARD
Adelene Egan ’18 received the 15th annual Dean Rita P. Kelleher Award in April. She is a senior staff nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
SPRING PINNACLE LECTURE
Denetra Hampton, a 22-year Navy veteran, former United States Naval Nurse Corps Officer, and founder of For Nurses By Nurses Productions, presented CSON’s spring Pinnacle lecture, “Advancing the Health Sciences through Scientific Storytelling.” Prior to the lecture, Hampton’s film “The Black Angels: A Nurse’s Story” was screened.
VISITING PROFESSOR
Visiting Professor Sang Hui Chu, from Yonsei University College of Nursing in Seoul, presented the talk “Complex PTSD in North Korean Defectors: Psychosocial and Biological Markers,” based on her research.
FALL PINNACLE LECTURE
The fall Pinnacle lecture was presented by Vanessa Kerry, MD, M.Sc., director of the Program in Global Public Policy and Social Change at Harvard Medical School, CEO of Seed Global Health, and special envoy for climate change and health at the World Health Organization. Kerry’s lecture was titled “From Pandemic Preparedness to Climate Change Resiliency, the Solutions Lie with Our Health Care Professionals.”
NANDA INTERNATIONAL
Boston College hosted the NANDA International Conference, whose topic—“Shaping, Informing, and Communicating Nursing and the Human Experience”—celebrated 50 years of the organization’s work in nursing practice, research, educational curricula, and informatics.
SIGMA SYMPOSIUM
Boston College hosted the Sixth Annual Sigma Region 15 Nursing Research Symposium in October. The topic was “Bold Innovations: Nurses Leading the Changing Health Care Climate.”
