Sandra Thebaud-Young—will receive their doctoral hoods at the ceremony at the Izod Center on May 14. The doctor of nursing practice is the highest-level clinical degree in nursing. It gives nurses who already hold master’s degrees additional education
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in leadership in nursing practice and health care organizations, and prepares them to be scholars recognized for outstanding patient care outcomes. The program, which began in fall 2011, is the first doctoral program offered by the University.
UNIVERSITYREPORT
THE INAUGURAL GRADUATES OF THE DNP PROGRAM: FRONT ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: SHARON PUCHALSKI, HARRIET COLEMAN, RACHEL KOSHY, KAREN MAGARELLI, VIVEK AGNIHOTRI, TONI TORTORELLA GENOVA, MARYANNE BAUDO; REAR, LEFT TO RIGHT: GUSTAVO GONZALES, SANDRA THEBAUD-YOUNG, JILL GUZMAN, AND MARIA BRENNAN
As part of the program, each candidate has completed a clinically based research project designed to help demonstrate expertise in nursing practice. “Each dissertation looks at an issue important in health care today,” says Brenda Marshall, associate professor of nursing and coordinator of the DNP program. Projects ranged from a study of the use of the Wii balance board to evaluate potential concussions in collegiate athletes to the effects a religious leader can have on diabetes education in the Latino community. Their dissertations will be entered into the University’s library collection. “Each of the students is at the top of their clinical area as nurse leaders or practitioners or in the application of scholarship in an academic setting,” adds Marshall. “This program ties together practice, knowledge, and leadership, and we are so proud of all these graduates.”
M E M O R I A M
It is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of two members of the campus community Chernoh Sesay, professor of political science and former provost and executive vice president, died December 4, 2013. He was sixty-eight. Sesay joined the University community as provost in January 1996. During his tenure in the position, which he held until June 2005, the University underwent profound changes, including the attainment of University status in June 1997; the development of new mission, vision, and diversity statements that reflected the institution’s values, commitment to student success, and obligations as a regional, public comprehensive University; creation of a Student Success Plan to serve as a blueprint for pursuing the University’s mission; and the establishment of six undergraduate and six graduate degree programs. He returned to a position as a full-time faculty member in the Department of Political Science in September 2006. “He had a generous mind, he inspired and returned loyalty, and he sought to build consensus and bring large groups together to discover and to move the University’s agenda forward,” says Stephen Hahn, associate provost. “He strengthened academic programs and raised aspirations, to leave a significant legacy.”
Volume 15, Number 1
Spring 2014
Brenda Harris, associate director, student enrollment services, died December 11, 2013. She was sixty. Harris joined the University community in 1977 as assistant registrar, and continued to serve students on campus for more than three decades. In 2008, she joined the team of the newly created Center for Student Services as the associate director for student services. During her career at William Paterson, Harris volunteered her services to a variety of campus-based community initiatives, including the annual Kwanzaa celebration; she was also an honorary member of the Chi Alpha Epsilon National Honor Society, of which the University’s Educational Opportunity Fund Program was a charter member. Harris also devoted her time to the scholarship committee at High Park Gardens, where she resided. “Brenda excelled at her job and she worked tirelessly to update processes in her area so that they would best serve students,” says Jonnine DeLoatch, director of the Office of the Sophomore and Junior Experience. “She mentored many and was a dear and true friend.”
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