Spring 2009 Commencement Speaker

Dr. Joyce (Graupmann) Black graduated from Winona State University in 1978. She is one of the early graduates of the RN to BSN nursing program, first earning her associate degree at what is now Rochester Community and Technical College, then completing her bachelor’s degree in Nursing at Winona State. Dr. Black went on to attend the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), where she earned a master’s degree in Nursing (1981) and a doctorate in Nursing (1999). She currently serves as associate professor in the College of Nursing at UNMC. Renowned for her expertise in the area of pressure ulcer research, Dr. Black has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel since 1998, including two terms as president in 2006 and 2007. She also serves as a member of the Skin Wound Advisory Team at UNMC.

She is a member of many professional nursing associations, including the American Practitioners in Wound Care Association; the Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurses Society; the Midwest Nursing Research Society; and the American Society of Plastic Surgical Nurses.

In addition, Dr. Black served for 24 years as Editor-in-Chief of Plastic Surgical Nursing, a publication of the American Society of Plastic Surgical Nurses, and currently serves as president of the UNMC College of Nursing Alumni Association.

She has authored numerous scholarly articles and book chapters as well as seven books, including a medical surgical nursing textbook that was recognized as the American Journal of Nursing’s Book of the Year in 1998 and won a national award for improving nursing textbook coverage of topics related to care of the dying. She also co-authored “Medical-Surgical Nursing: Clinical Management for Positive Outcomes,” one of the most widely used adult health nursing textbooks in the United States.

Dr. Black has achieved national recognition for her nursing work and research, and has presented more than 200 times at the local, regional and national levels, as well as more than 20 times internationally.

In 2006, she was recognized with the “Alvin Earl Outstanding Health Science Educator Award,” for which she was also nominated by students at UNMC in both 2000 and 2005. In addition, she received the UNMC College of Nursing’s “Rosalie Yeaworth Outstanding Teacher Award” in 2005.

She continues to be engaged in the Winona State community of learners, receiving the “Distinguished Young Alumni” award in 1988 and visiting as a guest alumni lecturer for nursing students in Winona and Rochester in 2007.

Dr. Black is a native of Worthington, Minn., and now lives in Elkhorn, Neb.