“In my conversations with her sister, Jane Pinckert, I learned that Gladys was an avid world traveler, but one with a purpose,” said UArizona Nursing Dean Ki Moore, PhD, RN, FAAN.  “She consulted on the development of nursing programs in a number of countries including Ghana and Korea. This dedication for nursing education was why Gladys was among the most respected national and international nursing leaders. At the heart of her passion was the student experience and Gladys loved attending our Scholarship Tea. She gave a memorable presentation about her time as Dean at our last “in-person” Tea and the entire room was encapsulated by her enthusiasm.  We are blessed for her long history of advancing our College in research and education.”

During her tenure as dean, Dr. Sorensen led the College to national prominence in nursing education. She raised the profile of graduate education in the College, particularly the PhD program, to international prominence for its excellence in nursing research. Students and alumni celebrated her excellence as a teacher, both in clinical and classroom settings, and her leadership in national nursing organizations helped shape the future of nursing and nursing education.

Born October 17, 1922, she spent her earliest years in Nebraska, where she demonstrated a commitment to caring for others from a young age. Her career in nursing education began in 1945 when she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from the University of Nebraska. She went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Nursing and a Public Health Nursing Certificate from the University of Colorado in 1951. In 1964 she earned the Doctor of Education degree from Teacher’s College, Columbia University, cementing her trajectory for higher education. 

After five years of clinical nursing positions, Dr. Sorensen accepted a teaching position at the University of Colorado School of Nursing, where she honed her skills as a nurse educator.  In 1958 she made Tucson her home, joining the newly established baccalaureate nursing program at the University of Arizona, when the College’s base was still a modest conference room in the Liberal Arts Building.

Dr. Sorensen was acknowledged by colleagues, students and alumni as an excellent teacher in both classroom and clinical settings, and as a skilled mentor to many faculty and alumni. During the following years, she demonstrated excellence in nursing education, nursing research and nursing leadership. She served as Professor of Nursing from 1958-1967, teaching baccalaureate and graduate nursing students, one of whom was future UArizona Nursing Dean Suzanne Van Ort, PhD, FAAN, Dean Emerita and Professor Emerita.  

“Throughout her distinguished career, Dr. Gladys Sorensen demonstrated excellence in nursing education, nursing research and nursing leadership,” said Dr. Van Ort, who became the College’s fourth dean in 1992. “As Dean of the UArizona College of Nursing, she guided the evolution of the College in developing baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs that reflected both the art and science of nursing. Dr. Sorensen’s leadership in national nursing organizations helped shape the future of nursing education.  On a personal level, I have been fortunate to know Dr. Sorensen for more than five decades, beginning with her being one of my instructors in the baccalaureate nursing program. Throughout my career she was a valued mentor and role model to me as a student, alumna, colleague and academic administrator. Dr. Sorensen’s legacy of excellence will live on through the achievements of those whose lives she touched.”

When Dr. Sorensen succeeded UArizona's first dean, Pearl Ann Coulter, in 1967, the College was only a shadow of what it would grow to be, occupying modest quarters in the UA stadium building and a former real-estate office near campus. Under her tenure, construction began on the new College of Nursing building, and in 1968 she oversaw the official ribbon-cutting ceremony that marked the launch of the UArizona College of Nursing as we know it today.

Dr. Sorensen held the position of dean until her retirement as Dean Emerita and Professor Emerita in 1986.  She guided the evolution of the College of Nursing in developing baccalaureate and graduate programs. During her tenure, graduate education in the College, particularly the PhD program, was recognized throughout the world for excellence in nursing research.  She was also instrumental in the establishment of Beta Mu Chapter, Sigma Theta Tau International, which has gone on to win 13 Chapter Key awards for excellence in activities such as membership recruitment and retention, publicity and programing, professional and leadership development and local, national and international collaboration. 

Dr. Sorensen’s leadership in national nursing organizations helped shape the future of nursing and nursing education. She served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Nursing Education and held leadership positions in the Council of Baccalaureate and Higher Degree Programs of National League for Nursing, the Western Council on Higher Education, and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.  On the state level, she held many leadership positions throughout her career and was recently honored by the Arizona Nursing Association as part of its Year of the Nurse recognition. 

Among her many accomplishments, she was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. In 1985, she was elected as President of this prestigious organization, and in 2002 she was named a “Living Legend” of the Academy, a significant professional accolade. In recognition of all her accomplishments and contributions to the profession, Dr. Sorensen was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Her commitment to UArizona Nursing students was so robust that in 1987 the College established the Gladys E. Sorensen Award for Academic Excellence. Launched in appreciation of Dean Sorensen’s achievements and her development of outstanding academic programs that promote the nursing profession,  the awartd ensures her impact on the successes of future Wildcat Nurses. “It was a true honor to receive the Gladys E. Sorensen Award for Academic Excellence as a BSN graduate,” said December 2020 graduate Emily Turecek, one of the most recent recipients of the award. “To be recognized for both academic and clinical care is something I hold very highly, and am proud to continue the excellence Dr.  Sorensen demonstrated. I will continue to uphold these values as I begin my career as an RN and whatever my future endeavors may hold.”

In addition to her professional accomplishment, Dr. Sorensen participated actively in community service in the Tucson area. She was a Board member of the Pima Council on Aging and an Elder at St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church.

In her long and full life, Gladys Sorensen loved her family, honored her friends, lived her faith, and served the nursing profession with distinction.

We will miss you, Gladys!

“It’s a great privilege to be named a Fellow by the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. I have been a member of and served the Society in many roles over the years. It has grown to be the pre-eminent scientific society in my field. It is truly an honor to be nominated and named a fellow by my distinguished peers," ~ Judith Gordon, PhD

The SRNT Fellowship recognizes Dr. Gordon as a leader in the field of implementing evidence-based guidelines and developing innovative tobacco interventions using technology-based methods and integrative techniques. 

In recent years, Dr. Gordon developed See Me Smoke Free, the first study to develop and evaluate a telephone-based, guided imagery smoking-cessation program. She was also co-developer of Click City: Tobacco, a landmark school-based online tobacco prevention program that addresses the hazards of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Devices (ENDS), better known as e-cigarettes. Most recently, she developed a new mobile app that address the negative health effects of social isolation by reducing stress and anxiety using a technique called Guided Imagery, which has been used to help people quit smoking,  get into shape, and reduce stress.

“It’s a great privilege to be named a Fellow by the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. I have been a member of and served the Society in many roles over the years. It has grown to be the pre-eminent scientific society in my field. It is truly an honor to be nominated and named a fellow by my distinguished peers.”

Dr. Gordon has been the PI or Co-Investigator on more than 40 projects (more than $45M) funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, NASA, private foundations, and the University of Arizona. She has authored or co-authored more than 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals, plus books, book chapters, and a variety of products. Dr. Gordon has presented widely at national and international scientific conferences, including many invited presentations. She has served on NIH and other national proposal review committees, editorial boards, and professional societies, and received several local, statewide and national awards for her contributions to science and service.

Dr. Gordon received her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Oregon.  She has more than 25 years of experience in lifestyle behavior change research, specializing in tobacco and vaping cessation and prevention. More information about Dr. Gordon’s research is available at: https://www.nursing.arizona.edu/judithg.

“The honor graciously provided by the AANP reaffirms the importance of the work I am involved with regarding equity, diversity and inclusion in higher education," ~ Timian Godfrey, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, CPH

“The honor graciously provided by the AANP reaffirms the importance of the work I am involved with regarding equity, diversity and inclusion in higher education,” Dr. Godfrey said. “By creating structures and processes encompassing inclusive excellence in health profession education, a socially just workforce is created and prepared to effectively impact health justice. Knowing a national organization also recognizes the value in this provides motivation to continue working toward the achievement of health equity.”

Creating harmony in scholarship and practice is a priority for Dr. Godfrey. She is of Hawaiian-Japanese and Navajo descent. Dr. Godfrey belongs to the Red Bottom clan of the Navajo Nation and her maternal grandfather is from the Salt clan. A primary motivation to pursue a nursing career is her personal conviction in Hózhó, a Navajo belief that health and well-being for all living things result in physical and spiritual beauty, harmony and goodness. Dr. Godfrey reads academic articles and consults with peers, students and communities to broaden her knowledge, and strives to attain and maintain Hózhó by learning from the stories of others. By empowering those she works with, she said beauty and harmony are created, and better outcomes are achieved.

Dr. Godfrey also works as an advanced practice clinician with TribalEM, an emergency medicine leadership company that works exclusively with government and tribal health programs.

“Engaging with Native people in the emergency department offers an opportunity to provide the meaningfully exceptional care these communities so greatly deserve,” Dr. Godfrey said. “Acknowledging and honoring the immense value of the traditional and cultural knowledge unique to each tribal nation promotes best outcomes.”

“In the 10 years since Dr. Godfrey became a nurse, she has generated an outstanding record of scholarship, leadership and service to underrepresented groups, including Native Americans,” said her nominator Lori Martin-Plank, PhD, FNP-BC, NP-C, GNP-BC, FAANP, FNAP, clinical associate professor in the College of Nursing.

Dr. Godfrey said the College of Nursing provides an incredibly supportive environment for her to do work on improving equity, diversity and inclusion in health care. She credits mentors and a collaborative mindset in the college for her success.

Since beginning her career as an AmeriCorps scholar in rural Utah, Dr. Godfrey has accumulated more than 17 years of health care experience working in the capacities of a certified nursing assistant, emergency medical technician, registered nurse, and now as a nurse practitioner. She is continuing her public health advocacy through efforts to establish an additional Arizona Health Education Center (AHEC) aimed at developing education opportunities in health sciences with the 22 tribes in Arizona.

“Since COVID has greatly impacted the Navajo reservation, I hope that I can offer my support through these difficult times. Thus, my role as a nurse on the reservation has just become that more meaningful and I look forward to helping my people when they need it the most.​​​​​​," ~ Shynnah Tacheene, BSN-IH Cohort Senior

How would you describe your experience over the course of the program?

My experience over the course of this program has been truly amazing. I have loved every moment I spent in this program, even with the challenges of COVID. This program combines conventional and holistic approaches to nursing and the curriculum was just the right balance of each. I do feel that it has prepared me for the nursing profession, and I am excited to extend my knowledge on integrative health to the reservation. Despite all the challenges, I was supported greatly by the faculty and am truly grateful to have been a part of this first cohort of BSN-IH students.

What has been your greatest takeaway from the program?

The greatest takeaway for me personally is the importance of the many integrative modalities we have learned over the span of this program. Not only have I learned so much about alternative approaches to patient care but I've learned how to implement these modalities into my personal life. We have incorporated the six integrative nursing principles throughout this program and in all aspects of the care we provide. There was also an emphasis on self-care, and I have implemented so many integrative modalities to help me cope and destress while in nursing school.

Tell us about your post-graduation plans.

My post-graduation plan is to return home to the Navajo reservation. I will be working at an Indian Health Services facility on a medical surgical unit. Since COVID has greatly impacted the Navajo reservation, I hope that I can offer my support through these difficult times. My role as a nurse on the reservation has just become that much more meaningful and I look forward to helping my people when they need it the most.

“Our students and faculty are the best of the best, and we are blessed to be housed in Gilbert,” Dr. Parisek said. “It is a very holistic community with a long-standing history of partnering with organizations that will benefit the community at large.”

"Forming long-term partnerships with higher education institutions has always been a priority for us, and we were thrilled when the University of Arizona chose Gilbert to expand their BSN program," said Gilbert Mayor Scott Anderson. "Now that the demand for those in the healthcare industry has become more critical, we're grateful that students trained right here in Gilbert from the University of Arizona will be able to assist their communities when they are needed the most."

The four-semester, upper-division BSN-IH program differs from the conventional BSN pathway in that it focuses on integrative health, and wellbeing assessment and promotion. Integrative health offers an alternative to traditional biomedical and pharmacological options, and promotes a healing-oriented, whole-person approach to health care. Conditions are clinically treated through a variety of methods, including lifestyle enhancement, nutrition and appropriate biomedical therapies.

“Our students and faculty are the best of the best, and we are blessed to be housed in Gilbert. It is a very holistic community with a long-standing history of partnering with organizations that will benefit the community at large," ~ Betty Parisek , EdD, MSN, RN, Program Director, BSNIH

Shynnah Tacheene, a member of the Navajo Nation who grew up in Pinon, Ariz., is one of the program’s first graduates. She looks forward to returning to her community, where she has a job lined up at a medical surgical unit run by Indian Health Services.

“Since COVID has greatly impacted the Navajo reservation, my role as a nurse on the reservation has become that much more meaningful,” Tacheene said. “I look forward to helping my people when they need it the most.”

Tacheene chose a career in nursing because of the need for health care professionals in her community. She was drawn to the integrative health focus of the BSN-IH program.

“I loved every moment, even with the challenges of COVID,” she said. “It combines conventional and holistic approaches to nursing, and the curriculum was just the right balance of each. I do feel that it has prepared me for the nursing profession, and I am excited to extend my knowledge on integrative health to the reservation.”

Dr. Parisek says that the program is unique because it encourages students to embrace the art of nursing in addition to the technical skills.

“Students typically focus on the tasks that they’re learning, but the integrative health focus helps them remember the principles of integrative nursing,” she said.

Components of self-care are woven throughout the curriculum, including many complementary therapies that students can use not only with their patients, but also for themselves.

Robust community partnerships in Gilbert and the surrounding communities are a cornerstone of the program.

“We feel we have a responsibility to the communities we serve,” Dr. Parisek said. “We want to be present not only as UArizona Nursing, but also as part of our community.”

Last year, students had an opportunity to work with the Lauren’s Institute for Education, a school for developmentally disabled children and adults. BSN-IH students also completed clinical hours and provided health screenings and education for Mercy Housing, the nation’s largest affordable housing advocacy organization. Additionally, plans are underway for students to provide health care outreach to Hushabye Nursery, which provides care for babies born to addicted mothers, as well as the local Boys and Girls Club after school program.

Many of those partnerships have been put on hold during the pandemic, but with the help of technological innovations provided by a recent gift from Andrew and Kristen Braccia, the BSN-IH program has prospered and grown as classes went virtual earlier this year.  

“We determined very far back in spring that our students needed a lot of high-touch connections with faculty and with their peers,” Dr. Parisek said. “As we return to in-person activities, those connections with our students will only grow stronger. We will continue to be successful because our faculty live and breathe that philosophy, and I think it shows in our level of student attainment.”

UArizona Nursing’s BSN-IH applications for the Summer 2021 cohort close Dec. 15; for the Fall 2021 cohort, applications close Feb. 1, 2021. To apply, visit the program’s website.

“This award underscores my lifelong goal of highlighting the need for clinical services and health policies that provide health care for all women. Further, the award emphasizes our need to provide appropriate educational content so that nurse practitioners can deliver the health care women so desperately need," ~ Judith A. Berg, PhD, RN, WHNP-BC, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN

Over the course of her nearly five-decade career, Dr. Berg has promoted access to the full range of reproductive health care for all women, has helped reduce health disparities and has advanced science to better understand women’s health issues, including symptom management and health promotion across the lifespan. She also has pushed to expand the role of the women’s health nurse practitioner (WHNP), a specialty within the nurse practitioner profession that focuses on providing obstetrical, gynecological and primary care to women at all stages of life within inpatient and outpatient settings.

“The women’s health nurse practitioner role was created to fill a significant gap in health care services tailored to women’s unique needs,” Dr. Berg said. “I was fortunate to receive the finest education and training, and that launched my long career of caring and mandating for high-quality health care for all women.”

The Fran Way Legacy Award was named after its first recipient, Fran Way, RNC-E, WHNP, MS, a nurse practitioner who helped cement women’s health as a specialty within her profession. The second recipient, Mary Rubin, PhD, WHNP-BC, FAANP, initiated services to scores of women in need of cervical cancer screening and treatment. Both previous recipients were integral to providing the highest quality care to women across the lifespan.

“Everyone who knows Dr. Berg is aware of her passion and advocacy for women’s health,” said her nominator, Aimee Chism Holland, DNP, WHNP-BC, FNP-C, FAANP, assistant dean for graduate clinical education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “Dr. Berg is a renowned international WHNP leader. Other than Fran Way and Mary Rubin, I cannot think of anyone else who has devoted so much time, energy and hard work to advance our profession. Dr. Berg is a very special individual who has had a wonderful impact on women’s health.”

Dr. Berg has participated in 19 grants that she devoted to advance women’s health. She also has received numerous awards for her leadership, mentorship and service throughout her nursing career. In 2019, she was appointed by University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins, MD, as a clinical professor emerita of nursing in honor of her exemplary service over 22 years to the College of Nursing and the University of Arizona.

“Data Science needs to be something that we address in every course and is familiar to students because they learn about it over and over again throughout courses, but in different perspectives, so that when they inevitably need to evaluate a large data set for their research question, they are equipped to understand all the dimensions of working with big data," ~ Kimberly Shea, PhD, RN, CHPN

Dr. Shea and her colleagues created the Data Science Curriculum Organizing Model (DSCOM) to guide a comprehensive review of PhD education that will enable data science to be addressed within the individual courses throughout the program. The DSCOM represents concepts and constructs, and their relationships which are essential to a comprehensive understanding of data science. By transforming the terminology and applicability of multidisciplinary data science models into the DSCOM, Dr. Shea’s team found that application of the DSCOM identified areas for threading into core course curriculum, as well as gaps that require additional content. Bottom line: the DSCOM is an effective tool to guide curriculum development and evaluation towards the preparation of nurse scientists with knowledge of data science.

“The ubiquitous presence of technology continually generates vast quantities of data that necessitate leaders within the health care system understand data science,” Dr. Shea and her co-authors wrote in their article. “As the foundation of the health care system, nurses must have a working knowledge of technology generated data. Data science is more than just understanding numbers used for analysis. Data support evidence-based practice and nurse scientists must thoroughly understand the complexities of data science in order to use advanced analysis techniques to build knowledge for providers.”

“In our college we have a remarkable group of informatics scholars and data science is one of the components or interests of informatics,” Dr. Shea explains, noting how retired UArizona Nursing Professor Anne Rosenfeld’s interest in expanding Nursing’s focus on integrating data science into graduate-level curriculum provided the inspiration for the project. “We wanted to see how we might look at integrating data science into our PhD curriculum.”

Dr. Shea and colleagues found that there was ample room for data science to be integrated throughout the College’s courses. “It's not just one course, it's possible within every course,” she says, “because it [data science] applies to every course and every bit of what we teach in today’s [PhD] programs and potentially in the DNP.” However in the article, they only apply the DSCOM to the core courses in the PhD program.

“We decided to use a course mapping technique, taking from all the syllabi and objectives in all of the core courses,” Dr. Shea explains. “We then applied our model to evaluating those syllabi to discover the overlaps and gaps.”

The concept mapping technique was a concerted effort that was painstaking.  Dr. Shea says. “In short, we evaluated constructs [Domain, Ethics, Theory, Technical, Analytics and Dissemination] for matches and then gathered information about concepts within the constructs and found that there were opportunities for insertion, overlaps and gaps that needed to be filled.”  The course mapping identified that there were 123 matches and 3 large gaps within the existing curriculums.

The next step will be to take what has been learned and implement it into the UArizona Nursing’s upper division course work – and hopefully disseminate use of the model to other nursing schools. Dr. Shea hopes that by sharing the team’s research and conclusions, others will learn the methodology without having to conduct their own intensive evaluations of the academic literature on the subject.

“Ultimately it can be used by nursing colleges and schools throughout the United States and abroad to realize that data science is much bigger than just getting a data set and using statistics” she says, noting that the DSCOM can be accurately used to apply, disseminate, and analyze gaps in the curriculum of other institutions. “It [data science] is our future of evaluating outcomes and needs to be something that we address in every course and is familiar to students because they learn about it over and over again throughout courses, but in different perspectives, so that when they inevitably need to evaluate a large data set for their research question, they are equipped to understand all the dimensions of working with big data.”

“This multi-sensory infant massage is low-cost, easy to learn, and can be applied as soon as the baby’s born. The mother applies the infant massage, but any caretaker or clinician can easily teach it," ~ Aleeca Bell, PhD, RN, CNM

This intervention has been researched for 30 years in primarily pre-term infants in the NICU, but Dr. Bell’s study will focus on full-term healthy babies.  “We want to promote positive mother-infant interaction, but there’s limited research to show us what works in a cost-effective way,” she says. “This multi-sensory infant massage is low-cost, easy to learn, and can be applied as soon as the baby’s born. The mother applies the infant massage, but any caretaker or clinician can easily teach it.”

The scientific literature demonstrates that higher oxytocin levels in blood and saliva are associated with better mother-infant synchrony, but a unique element of Dr. Bell’s study is that it looks in greater detail at the oxytocin pathway to determine epigenetic effects (i.e., how oxytocin is regulated). “In this RCT, we hypothesized that moms with a history of early life adversity will demonstrate lower mother-infant synchrony due in part to a dysregulated oxytocin system,” Dr. Bell says. “We theorize that our intervention will lead to greater mother-infant synchrony and a better functioning oxytocin system.”

During the three-month intervention, participating mothers will give the 15-minute infant massage daily, because three months is the earliest that mother-infant synchrony can be reliably measured. More than just a massage, the technique is geared toward teaching new moms how to engage with their infant. There will also be a control group who will come to all the study sessions to donate blood and answer questionnaires, but they will receive an educational intervention about safe infant care.

The moms and babies will be videotaped during their interactions, after which video coders will complete the painstaking process of micro-coding behaviors. “We use a highly rigorous method that only requires three minutes of video recorded behavior to measure frame-by-frame the mother’s and the baby’s gaze, affect, touch and speech,” Dr. Bell says. She points out that most researchers who study mother-infant interactions use a more subjective method where coders are trained to reliably examine segments of recordings to rate the quality of that interaction. “Another unique aspect of the study is that it’s a very objective, quantitative way to measure behavior,” she says. 

Currently, Dr. Bell is hiring staff for the project, but she hopes to begin recruiting participants in January. Though the recruitment sites have yet to be determined, Dr. Bell has already set in place a raft of safety guidelines to make the process safer during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recruiting will be done over the phone versus in person and when participants do need to come to the College for study visits, masks and social distancing will be required. Appointment times will also be limited and staggered to avoid waiting room interactions as much as possible.

Once this study is completed, Dr. Bell hopes to enhance her research with further inquiries. One extension is to follow vulnerable mother-infant dyads for a longer period of time to ascertain broader biobehavioral health outcomes, and to determine epigenetic effects of the massage in the infant. Another goal is to enable clinicians to implement teaching the infant massage, testing at multiple sites, so that it can eventually become standard of care.

Dr. Bell, who practiced as a Certified Nurse Midwife for seven years prior to entering academia, has an unwavering commitment to improve the wellbeing of mothers and babies in the perinatal period. She seeks to promote a positive birth experience for women and encourage optimal mother-infant interaction. “The same passion I had as a clinician is what drives my research,” she says. “As a clinician I wanted to promote physiologic birth and to help moms and babies get off to a great start – to help them fall in love with each other. These are the same desires that drive my research questions.”

“Acknowledging traditional Indigenous lands should be a meaningful practice with appreciation and gratitude to the original inhabitants, their love for the land and sacrifices made to protect and sustain the land. Beyond words and explanation, we hope to spark curiosity, inspire greater interest to learn about local tribes and communities, not only here in Arizona but, as your work takes you to the various Indigenous lands across the globe."

Among Indigenous people, acknowledgment of the land is a venerable traditional practice. The land where we work and live is comprised of rich traditions, cultures and history. It is important to understand the long-standing history that brought us to reside on the land, and to seek understanding of our place within that history. Land acknowledgements remind us of the sacred and interdependent relationship between people, animals, land, natural elements and the universal environment. Land acknowledgments bring awareness to the forced removal of Indigenous peoples from their beloved homelands and the impact historical events have had on the ongoing disparities that continue to exist throughout Native communities today. A formal Land Acknowledgment is an honest, respectful and intentional action to bring forgotten histories into present consciousness and is a simple yet incredibly powerful gesture of acknowledging and respecting Indigenous people and the spirit of the land.

Land Acknowledgments express recognition, honor, gratitude, and appreciation for the traditional homelands of tribal nations and communities. Listeners are encouraged to seek understanding of the history of the specific tribal nations acknowledged and to think about what it means to occupy space on Indigenous lands. Open acknowledgment of traditional lands also provides a valuable learning opportunity for those who may have never heard the names of the tribal nations and communities that have and continue to reside on the land they are on. The Land Acknowledgment serves as verbal memoriam to Indigenous peoples by recognizing where they came from and affirming who they are today.

Acknowledging traditional Indigenous lands should be a meaningful practice with appreciation and gratitude to the original inhabitants, their love for the land and sacrifices made to protect and sustain the land. Beyond words and explanation, we hope to spark curiosity, inspire greater interest to learn about local tribes and communities, not only here in Arizona but, as your work takes you to the various Indigenous lands across the globe. Land acknowledgements represent advocacy and convey willingness to care for the community in which we reside. Exploring the culture, stories and learning about local tribal Nations, and what their civilization was like before colonialism deepens our understanding of the complex history of Indigenous people.

Another, seemingly simple, action of great significance is to normalize and encourage discussions about Indigenous cultures and issues, rather than avoiding the topic. Conversations and discussion about Native issues raise awareness and assist us in understanding how we can all become better at minimizing unintended cross-cultural misunderstandings. An example of a few points of discussion might include discussions on the following facts; approximately 90,000 American Indian families are under-housed or homeless and only 13% of American Indians have a college degree. Many people aren’t aware of these alarming statistics and other profound disparities, which is why opportunities to exchange and promote cross-cultural awareness is a crucial goal. As patient and community advocates, it’s critical for us to lead these sometimes uncomfortable and challenging conversations and recognize them as opportunities to collaborate on efforts that will put a stop to these long-standing disparities.

Repetition and practice foster comfort. The act and practice of regularly speaking, writing and offering a land acknowledgement is a first step towards normalizing this practice. As we acknowledge land, it allows us to enhance our awareness of not only our geographical environment but, also the past, present and future as well as the extensive relationships we have with the communities we serve. Dr. Nadine Caron, the first Canadian female surgeon of First Nations descent, once said, “To learn to understand our present, to be part of what our future holds, one must understand and respect our past.” Land acknowledgment statements validate, honor and infuse an awareness of the constant Indigenous presence that we have always been surrounded by.  Land acknowledges must become a comfortable, natural and regular aspect of our day to day professional routine as nurses, educators, scientists. When delivered with intention, respect, and meaning, the Land Acknowledgement is an invitation to learn and grow together. Ahe’hee.

College of Nursing research takes a comprehensive approach

Nurses are trained to address the person, the environment, and well-being, and the research in the college typically incorporates these, Dr. Loescher said.

“We look at it through a little bit different lens than a physician or a pharmacist. We're really looking at health in a broader context,” said Dr. Loescher, who noted she is pleased to see other health care fields have begun to move in a more holistic direction, too. One of the most difficult challenges in health care is to change human behavior, both Dr. Loescher and Dr. Gordon said, and much of the college’s research work touches on ways to promote positive behavioral changes. For example, Tracy Crane, PhD, an assistant professor in Nursing, Public Health and Nutrition Sciences, is studying the impact of lifestyle behaviors, such as changes to diet, physical activity, sleep and tobacco use, on health outcomes for cancer survivors.

“Most of these projects show the synergy that happens between practice and research,” said Dr. Gordon. “Our PhD students are nurses who have practiced and who have been working in various areas, and they’ve generated questions that we answer through the research process, which generates more questions.”

Nursing research includes basic and behavioral sciences, and beyond

“We have researchers who are looking at the effect of stroke on brain microglia, all the way to questions such as ‘How do we better provide tobacco cessation treatments to cancer patients at the UArizona Cancer Center?’ and everything in between,” Dr. Gordon said.

The science comes together just as it does in other colleges, in a variety of settings, including laboratories and community engagement programs.

“We have two core labs. One is a biological core lab that does basic wet lab assays looking at biological markers in our research. We also have a behavioral applied clinical science lab that provides space and facilities for doing in-person behavioral research across all our domains,” Dr. Gordon said. “Much of our research takes place in community settings. We recruit participants through health centers, community centers, and social media.”

College of Nursing research is as diverse as the researchers are

College of Nursing faculty is comprised of both nurses and scientists from other fields, creating a rich environment for team science. Faculty and students in the PhD program who come from a nursing career bring myriad life and work experience to the study of human health, and that makes the research that comes out of the college equally diverse. Those from other fields bring their expertise to enrich research and education.

Drs. Loescher and Gordon are prime examples.

Dr. Loescher began her career as an ICU nurse, then moved into oncology and eventually worked at the University of Arizona Cancer Center. She then earned her PhD from the College of Nursing, and now oversees the PhD program along with conducting cancer prevention behavioral research.

Dr. Gordon is representative of those with other professional backgrounds. Dr. Gordon’s health care background is in behavioral psychology. Before that, she worked in IT and theater. She pulled all of that together when she worked with students studying computer science to create the See Me Serene mobile phone app to study guided meditation for stress reduction and smoking cessation.

“I like to describe the research in the College of Nursing as research done by nurses and other experts about nursing and, primarily, about how to improve health, health care and health equity,” said Dr. Gordon.

College of Nursing research embraces teamwork

Nurses are trained to be collaborative in the clinical environment, which translates to being collaborative in their research pursuits, said Dr. Gordon.

“We have so many connections to so many different fields, and I think it stems from an attitude of recognizing that there are different members of the team that bring different expertise, and together it creates this really positive synergy,” Dr. Gordon said.

Zhanette Coffee, FNP-BC, MSN, APRN, a nursing PhD student, is a prime example. She is studying integrative health approaches for patients with opioid use disorder and chronic pain. The study is a collaboration with researchers at the College of Pharmacy and the Comprehensive Pain and Addiction Center.

Dr. Gordon and Dr. Loescher are both members of the University of Arizona Cancer Center and have worked on cancer prevention strategies. They say that College of Nursing faculty are involved in many kinds of health research with many collaborators.

“I think you'll find that a lot of the research we do may be perceived as something else besides nursing because we have so many team players,” Dr. Loescher said. Dr. Gordon agrees, “What this shows is the important contribution that the College of Nursing makes to team science and to improving health.”

Additional examples of ongoing research in the College of Nursing:

• Terry A. Badger, PhD, RN, FAAN, chair of the division of community and systems health science: innovative ways to reduce psychological distress among cancer survivors and their caregivers, through telephone and app-based interventions
• Aleeca Bell, PhD, RN, CNM, associate professor: integrative intervention for improving the maternal-child bond in order to improve health outcomes and long-term educational and other outcomes, among first-time, low income mothers.
• PhD student Ottilie Rung: testing the feasibility of integrative health intervention alternate nostril breathing to reduce biopsychosocial stress in pregnant women who are victims of intimate partner violence.
• PhD student Elizabeth Johnson: testing a USB wristband device worn by pediatric cancer patients that houses clinical trial information to be accessed by providers in critical care and emergency situations.
• PhD student Cristina Rivera Carpenter: studying wellness among Diné women in Navajo Nation border towns using a methodology that integrates mainstream Western qualitative methodology with Indigenous methodologies.
• PhD student Carrie Langley: studying the factors that facilitate and inhibit the use of community-based transitional support services by adults with mental illness post release from jail.