The UW Nurses Alumni Organization (NAO) salutes alumni each year who have made significant contributions to the nursing profession. The most recent winners—Nancy Kaufman ’71, who received the Distinguished Achievement Award, and Jessica Kendall ‘14, who received the Outstanding Badger Nursing Award—both give their time and talent to the School and are members of NAO and the Badger Nurse Network.
ForwardNursing
Native American Students Connect Through Culture
Each month during the semester, 10 Native American nursing students gather in Cooper Hall to share the highs and lows of the previous month. These gatherings are part of the Success Through Recruitment/Retention, Engagement, and Mentorship (STREAM) program.
One Family, Four Generations of Badger Nurses
Following in the footsteps of her great-grandmother, grandmother, and aunt, Emily Hanna is the fourth in her family to take part in UW’s nursing program. The generations of women in her family who studied nursing before her served as inspiration and motivation for her to pursue the same path.
Porter Scholarship Plants Legacy for Future Nurses
A Rhinelander, Wisconsin, native and proud School of Nursing alumna, Judy Porter wanted to provide the same educational opportunities that she had to future Badger nurses from northern Wisconsin. Her husband honored her last wish by establishing the Judy Porter Memorial Scholarship Fund.
The Pioneer
Signe Skott Cooper devoted more than 60 years to nursing education at UW–Madison and within the UW System. She died July 16, 2013, having pledged her own estate and that of her sister to the UW Foundation to support the construction of a new state-of-the-art facility for School of Nursing students.
New Strategies for Aging Communities
For two years, the Healthy Aging in Rural Towns (HeART) project has brought together coalitions from Iowa and Langlade counties and the city of Waupun with the School of Nursing’s Center for Aging Research and Education (CARE) to support rural aging-in-place.
Collaboration is Key for New UW CIPE Director
As the new director of the independent UW–Madison Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education, Dr. Hossein Khalili is motivated by the opportunity to improve health outcomes through collaboration across health professions by providing UW health sciences students with team-based learning and practice.
History Lessons
Native Americans face some of the highest rates of health disparities and poverty in the country, inequities that indigenous health care expert Dr. John Lowe explored when he visited the School of Nursing to deliver the 20th Littlefield Leadership Lecture.
Rural Placements for Nursing Students Help Address Rural Health-care Shortage
A partnership between the Monroe Clinic-SSM Health and the UW–Madison School of Nursing provides DNP students opportunities to engage in rural practice, and many return to it.
The Future Problem Solver
As a student Theresa Watts, PhD ’19, had questions. When UW–Madison let her look for answers, she found some. Now the New York Native wants to use her PhD to find solutions to vexing public health problems and to eliminate health disparities.