International Nursing Honor Society

Sigma Theta Tau

Alpha Iota Chapter

President's Message -- October 18, 2007

Greeting Alpha Iota members!

We are on our way to having a good group of new members to induct. Mark your calendars to attend Sunday, November 11 th from 2-4pm in S261 School of Nursing Building. This will be one of two inductions, as we have split inductions now so that we have a spring induction as well as a fall. We hope this change will encourage more students to commit to Alpha Iota as well as have more opportunity for Nurse Leaders to be nominated by our members.

A lot is happening here at our school. We are starting a search for a new dean to replace Dr. Rose Porter this coming summer. Although, no one can replace her, we hope to find another dean as dynamic as she has been. I plan to ask around at the Biennial Convention next month. If any member has suggestions, please let me (I am on the search committee) or Linda Bullock (co-chair of the search committee) know.

Planning continues for the Evidence-Based Practice conference. Shirley Farrah continues to direct active planning sessions with lots of multi-level nursing input! This should be a good, informative conference, so mark it on your calendar to attend: April 10 , 2008. Alpha Iota continues to be a strong supporter of this conference, both in member participation on the planning board and monetarily by paying for the luncheon that day.

Our new archivist, Val Bader, is starting to collect pictures and artifacts of our activities for the next 2 years. We hope to be able to apply for the Key Award and must start our data collection now. We are asking that any member who wants Alpha Iota to support their fund-raising efforts (e.g. sponsor a walk) to take at least one picture of themselves in the event for us to use as evidence of our member activities. So remember to take pictures! She plans to put together a “story-board” to advertise our chapter and your picture may become a part of it!

Our board is getting excited about looking for ways to improve our chapter. For example, we are trying to decide if we want to increase the number of general meetings next year so that we can have more evidence-based and research presentations for our members. You may receive a survey from the board inquiring about this issue. Your input is important for our growth!

I will keep you posted about new happenings in the next newsletter. Please take a moment to review the Awards and Board nominations needed for next spring. Now is the time to think about rewarding members who have been good examples of nursing leaders in our chapter. If you want to be a new member on our board, Becky Rahmoeller would like to know! Also, we have money for research endeavors, so please consider applying to Cindy Russell for consideration of money to support your research work. Go to our website to find contact numbers and emails. See you all in November!

Denice Mendenhall

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