Story by: Elliot Mann, Post-Bulletin Rochester, MN
.JPG)
Winona State University professor Sue Sullivan expects to attend the university's commencement ceremony Friday, but she won't be a spectator.
Sullivan, 48, is part of Winona State's first doctorate class in nursing.
Winona State will graduate six of the doctorate-level students as part of a consortium program with four facilities from the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. There are 22 graduates in the entire consortium.
Sullivan, who lives in Rochester, is in her fifth year of teaching and has worked at Olmsted Medical Center for more than 25 years. When she became a nurse, she wasn't thinking of continuing on the academic ladder for another decade.
"I kept thinking, I can do more, I can do more," Sullivan said. "That's what kind of drives me."
Bill McBreen, Dean of the WSU College of Nursing and Health Science, said graduates will provide leadership to continue propelling health care and nursing forward. The degree also allows nurses to use research findings to help navigate data driven change.
"Not just in the implementation in research, but really be the facilitators in innovation," McBreen said.
Sullivan has worked with Rochester public schools and Mayo Clinic doctors through the Rochester Healthy Communities Partnership on a preventative care plan for tuberculosis. The effort, referred to as community-based participatory research, involves interviewing community members and learning how to train the community about health education.
Sullivan said it mainly involves listening to the community members, rather than choosing what to research. The degree is not a research-based doctorate but more of a focus on clinical practice.
The doctorate of nursing has grown substantially since 2004, when only four programs existed nationally. Now, there are 91 doctorate of nursing practice programs nationwide.
"All of us are very proud," McBreen said. "It's quite a jump for Winona State and our partnering universities."
In photo from right to left: Sue Sullivan, Kirsten Wyffels, Nona Thackeray, Penny Messner, Carole Jensen, Deb Groath
Last Modified: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 16:04 by Kelly Hahn
