Spring 08
Vol. 15/ No. 1

The epitome of a fiery, independent red-head, Rose Porter has almost always taken the road less travelled in her life.

Known as the dean who balances her organizational pyramid on the point, she has never been afraid of expressing her true feelings, taking a risk or reaching out to create something new. Her life has been one fantastic roadtrip.

The 1957 International Travelall

Built for maximum capacity, speed and solid as a tank, the International Travelall summed up Porter's young adulthood. Just as the red and black SUV precursor could seat eight or nine friends, Porter's life has always been inclusive.

Growing up in the little river town of LaCrosse, Wisconsin, she was surrounded quite literally by family. Her father was one of 16 children and her mother was one of nine. As the middle child of five siblings plus a plethora of cousins, aunts and uncles, Porter's childhood was a safe, warm environment.

“Most of my life's philosophies were formed early on by my parents,” she says. “I would definitely count them as two of my most influential mentors.”

Her teenage years were a mixture of the Mississippi River, her father's International Harvester Trucking Company and school. Her dad knew everyone's first name from the drivers to the mechanics at the family-owned company. Reflectively she understands his greatest asset was his ability to build strong relationships with people of all economic and employment status.

Her mother was also one to give back 100 fold to their community. “My mother was always taking care of people who needed it. For me, her role modeling was that of giving to others as well as treating people with full respect,” Porter says. “She also instilled in me that there is always a solution to your problem.”

She and her friends spent the other half of their growing up years pushing life to the edge on the Mississippi River. They skied all day and then slept on the sand banks just to wake up and start again, recalls Rosie the River Rat, a nickname Porter picked up as a teenager due to the time she spent on the river. That oversized company vehicle she drove was essential in transporting all their gear. Of course, Porter points out, there were many times she was required to walk or take the city bus where she needed to go.

Growing up, her parents focused on education. Porter's parents only obtained an 8 th -grade education, however her father was a self-taught business man. They both knew the importance of a secondary and higher education and pushed their children to do well in school. As a result, Porter didn't learn how to cook but she learned how to clean up. This was another life-long lesson taught at a young age that didn't become clear until later in life. She only touches a paper, or email, once, she states, and that was instrumental in forming her do-it-now philosophy.

Just like the family car she drove as a teenager, Porter realizes that life is a combination of recognizing your own and other's strengths, setting solid goals and speeding toward them as well as a risk element that make the ordinary extraordinary.

The 1959 Chevy Impala

As was the norm for girls back before the 60s, Porter's educational options were somewhat limited — teaching or nursing.

Her propensity for nursing guided her career focus, even though it wasn't a straight path. So one summer she became a nanny in Milwaukee and found a mentor in her boss.

“Dr. Schmidt introduced me to individuals in the St. Mary's School of Nursing diploma program and it was then that I decided that I would going there to study nursing,” Porter says. “Even though I was accepted to Mayo in their four-year program, I chose to go to St. Mary's because I felt as though I had another family in Milwaukee .”

The importance of family has also been a continuous thread in her life and the way she has handled all her administrative roles. “Taking care of and being supportive of family is very important to me, and I have tried to make that very apparent to those I work with and supervise,” she says.

As she walked off the graduation stage, she headed to the parking lot looking for the Ford Mustang she had been longing for. However she found a red Chevy Impala with huge horizontal fins parked there instead.

“I really wanted a Mustang,” Porter recalls, “but my dad found this red Chevy with low mileage that had been driven by an elderly school teacher. He loved it, so I paid my parents $50 a month for three years to repay them.”

Despite a recession, consumers made Chevrolet the number one make of automobile in 1958 and the Impala was at the core of Chevy's popularity, states Wikipedia. No matter how “ugly” Porter thought the car was, she figured her father knew best. It was roomy, fuel-efficient with lots of chrome, in fact, this was the car that started Porter on her road trip through life.

So at 22 years of age, Porter packed the Chevy with her few possessions and her 16-year-old brother and headed to California .

“I remember my mom crying for days on end after I announced I was moving,” Porter recalls. “She would be in sewing or baking and I would hear her. My family didn't leave LaCrosse and move halfway across the United States .”

Gas tank full and V8 engine revved the Porters headed out for a California apartment she would share with a high school friend. Once there she started her nursing career at St. Jude's Hospital in Fullerton , Ca., 25 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles .

She travelled to every sight seeing event possible in that red car — the Rose Bowl parade, Disneyland , the beaches. Not long after her move her father died in a car wreck. His memorial service taught her another life lesson that became one of her leadership philosophies.

“The funeral home couldn't hold all the people who came to pay their last respects,” she says. “I knew everyone there until two homeless men walked through the doors. That's when I learned about how honorable my dad was.”

Every winter, her father unlocked the company trucks so the homeless would have a warm place to sleep. To this day, tears still fall as she remembers how her father respected all individuals no matter their position in life. “This very powerful lesson taught me that people all have the same needs,” Porter states. “Something I have tried to remember and incorporate into every role I've had to assume.”

After the funeral, she went back to California for several more years before driving back home non-stop with another LaCrosse friend. But not too many years went by before Porter decided to get her baccalaureate degree and once again left LaCrosse to head to Iowa City , Iowa . However, this time she left in a car she bought herself.

The 1970 Ford Maverick

This pale yellow sports-styled car with a black-and-white checked interior was more like the car she had envisioned in her youth. It was also the first car she bought herself. According to Wikipedia, this car was to replace the Mustang — Porter's teenage and future dreams embodied in one vehicle.

During her life's road trip, this two-door with pop-out rear windows was packed many times to get her where she needed to go. The first stop she earned her baccalaureate degree in 1971.

It was here that a faculty member encouraged her to go into teaching. “I just loved it,” Porter recalls. “The students and I just clicked and I knew it was the direction I was suppose to go with my career.”

A thousand miles away in Colorado , Porter had been accepted into a master's program. She invited a friend, Mike Porter, to a breakfast with her mom, who was in town to take some of her belonging back home for storage.

She and Mike hadn't dated up to that time, but that breakfast changed everything. “We started dating like crazy,” she says, “and three months later we were married — 36 years later we are still together.”

This sudden change in plans didn't fluster the newly wed Porters too much. A firm believer in divine order since her Catholic upbringing, she explained her situation to the master's faculty at the University of Iowa and with one spot open she started the program in the fall. Both she and Mike completed their master's and then she started teaching and he started his PhD program.

Porter was still driving her much loved Maverick; Mike had a Volkswagen Bug, which died on one of their many trips to Wisconsin . So in 1974, the sporty car became the family car when Ben, their oldest son, came into the world. Porter is pretty sure they had air conditioning installed when the small family headed to Texas where Mike accepted a job in Houston.

The hot, humid Texas air didn't slow Porter down in her quest to have both family and career. After the move, she became an instructor and then an assistant professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston 's School of Nursing. She also gave birth to Matt, their second child, in 1977.

Their family had about outgrown the little yellow car with the stylish interior, so they traded it in for a blue Toyota van.

The 1980s Toyota Van

Designed for personal use, the “minivan” term was coined in North America, deriving from the fact that these vehicles were considerably smaller and more streamlined than traditional North American passenger vans, says Wikipedia.

It was exactly what the growing Porter family needed. In fact, they immediately tested its passenger capabilities with a family vacation to Disney World and on the way picked up both grandmas at the airport. Porter vividly remembers the mini refrigerator that was installed in the console because it was perfect for keeping snacks and sodas cold for two growing boys.

Inclusivity had woven its way back in from her International Travelall days. The squat, medium blue vehicle kept her family safe and transported them reliably through the baby years. It even brought them on the last leg of their road trip — to Columbia , Missouri.

They arrived just in time for Ben to start kindergarten, and even though the two boys grew up and moved far away, the Porters knew they had found home. “We have loved our journey here at Mizzou,” Porter says enthusiastically. “The whole picture — curriculum, athletics, students and academics.”

In 1979, Porter became an instructor at Mizzou's School of Nursing which was under the direction of Gladys Courtney. It was during the next 20 years she honed her academic and educational career while balancing the demands of two growing boys.

As an instructor, she taught introductory classes such as Nursing as a Profession and Exploring a Career in Nursing for honor students. Within a couple of years she started overseeing senior-level courses and then coordinator for the undergraduate program. This entails being actively involved in curriculum, faculty management and policy committees. She was also balancing the budget for the Daniel Boone Little League Board and serving as president of the Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Council. And if her plate wasn't full enough, she took on obtaining her PhD at Mizzou in higher and adult education.

And she accomplished that in her first six years with the University. With mini van full of sports equipment (and the boys to accompany it), she managed to teach graduate courses, became associate dean of student affairs as well as director of both graduate and undergraduate studies. She was also involved with the health care of the Columbia community as well — a commissioned member of the city/county board of health, president of the first board of directors for the Hospice Foundation of Mid-Missouri and an advisory board member for home health care at Columbia Regional Hospital.

For 29 years, she held various positions that influenced the future of the School and it was during her time as interim dean that a group of faculty approached her about taking over the helm.

Her love for the University and the School created her passion for making it the best it could be. So she took for her shot at the top leadership position in 2000.

2000 Toyota Highlander

Her first task as dean was to outline her own operational chart. Her immediate response was to turn it on end and place the University president at the bottom and students and patients at the top. “We are here for the students and, ultimately, for the patients they are going to care for,” says the out-of-the-box thinker.

She considers herself a reader, observer and listener. Skills she honed throughout the first part of her career served her well as she listened to and observed chancellors, provosts and other deans to see what they did well and not so well. Porter realizes that she's learned just as much from the positive as from the negative experiences she's had.

This is when she bought her first SUV. As many other car buyers who were use to having the flexibility and size of a mini van, she wanted something a little more sporty yet able to withstand a Wisconsin winter. She also wanted something that would be a comfortable ride, and not make her so stiff, during the long trips.

Some of the SUV's popularity can be attributed to it “utilitarian” image, states Wikipedia, which could explain its popularity among women. It is a vehicle that gets things done, much like Porter during her role as dean.

In four-wheel drive, like her Toyota Highlander, Porter has always been a
catalyst for change. She has an innate
ability to get agendas and individuals organized, which she attributes to lessons she learned from watching her parents. “I'm also very persistent,” smiles the red-head, “in a good way.”

A new philosophy she picked up in her mini van days was one of continuous quality improvement. This viewpoint gave her strength to trust in those she worked with to propel the School to greater heights in all areas –— academics, research and service.

“Our academic role in regards to the University has always been strong,” the 64-year-old leader says. “So I started with turning the culture around in the research area. As part of Association of American Universities, we needed to have both teaching and research excellence.”

Much like the car industry building design upon design, Porter looked at the steps taken by previous leaders and started to build. Through the right combination of faculty and administration, the School's research excellence didn't just take baby steps in improvement – it took leaps and bounds.

With a relatively small group of faculty researchers, Porter moved the School's focus on gerontology forward, said Associate Dean for Research Vicki Conn. Conn believes this type of focus was good for such a small group because it gave them something to aim at and achieve.

Officially taking the helm of the Office of Research in 2002, Conn followed through on her vision of being nationally recognized in the research arena with the full support of Porter. In fiscal year 2000, the beginning of Porter's tenure as dean, the school's grant expenditures were just over 2.3 million. By fiscal year 2006 those expenditures are have reached more than 3.5 million, a 56 percent increase in six years. In fact, her guidance has consistently kept the School over 3 million in grant funding for six years.

The combination of researchers, staff and administration propelled the School at one point to 15 th in the nation in National Institutes of Health rankings during Porter's tenure as well. Her belief in getting the right individuals in the mix and then staying out of their way also brought the Western Journal of Nursing Research to the School through Conn agreeing to take over the editor's position in 2007.

Women constitute more than half of SUV drivers, and SUVs are one of the most popular vehicles of choice for women in the United States . This statistics is very similar to the profession of nursing, which is still predominately women.

Whatever the statistics on gender, Porter has made a point of trying to accommodate as many individuals as possible into the Mizzou nursing program. She has seen the national trends for the profession rise and fall, but the School has never faced a shortage of applicants. She believes this is due the strong academic role that was established early on and is still maintained by faculty today.

With federal and state laws mandating the student-instructor ratio, Porter has been forced to think outside the box to meet expectations and demands with the help of Roxanne McDaniel, associate dean for undergraduate and master's programs, and Kay Libbus, director of the doctoral program. With the internet becoming a strong influence in today's society, the School grabbed on to the technology and has held on tight.

“Our RN to BSN program was the first nursing educational option to be on-line at the School,” Porter says. “Its huge success is due to students being able to increase their nursing knowledge without leaving their communities.”

This success was followed by the Master's programs gradually going on-line with the final program available in 2006. The number of students going to Mizzou without having to be on campus daily has increased enrollment tremendously. This is just one way Porter and faculty members have been able to keep up with demand and still meet federal and state laws.

The out-of-the-box thinking continued with the creation of the accelerated nursing program. This 15-month intense clinical experience was developed for individuals who had already obtained an undergraduate degree. The program uses the physical and instructional resources already available by taking advantage of times and days that were not being currently used during the semesters and summer months.

“This program started with 10 students in the spring of 2003,” Porter says. “Today we have quadrupled the number of students without additional classroom space or hiring additional faculty members.”

Another pride point for Porter is the Nursing Outreach and Distance Education component. “Life-long learning is essential in health care,” she says. “Shirley Farrah's entrepreneurial spirit has successfully guided NODE in reaching as many Missouri nurses as they can during the year for CE credit. She plays an essential role in our academic achievements.”

The service component in the University's land-grant mission has also been taken to a new level with Porter's leadership. Building on

projects set forth by previous deans, Porter saw the upstart of Senior Care, the School's health care agency. This piece of the puzzle allowed for the connection of the next piece –— TigerPlace.

TigerPlace is a unique independent living, apartment-style eldercare facility designed by the School in partnership with Americare Systems, Inc. Porter's ability to make a connection with Americare's CEO Richard Montgomery, pushed the project into the realization. With the completion of this facility in 2004, doors were opened for a tremendous amount of collaborative and interdisciplinary research and educational opportunities.

“I've always been aware that you can't create in a vacuum,” Porter says. “By interacting with other disciplines, we are able to do more than each could do individually. I've been quite impressed with who our faculty have collaborated with and the great results they've achieved.”

Many times as cars move down the assembly line they are equipped with extras. As Porter has moved through her years as dean, she too has added amenities to her portfolio. She has learned about the world of development and how to work with donors and corporations to meet needs within the School.

With the development staff, Porter has seen two original goals set for the capital campaign surpassed due to the support of its alumni. They understand the need for scholarship, professorships and equipment to keep the School competitive. She has met alums through development and alumni events who haven't had contact with the School since they had graduated.

“I am so delighted that I have met the individuals I have during my tenure as dean,” Porter says. “Many of those I now call friend.”

However, as the dean she hasn't been able to bring about these accomplishments alone. As a community of individuals we have elevated the School to a new level of excellences, she says.

"Each and every past and current dean, faculty, staff, student, alumni and friend has contributed in some way to our successes during my last nine years as dean,” Porter states. “I have planted the seeds of a new building or major renovation along with a new clinical simulation lab for the next dean and it will be nice to see them sprout
and grow.”

The Car of the Future

With the addition of a new grandson in January, Porter and her husband plan on catching up on some much awaited travel plans. Her oldest son Ben, his wife Melissa, and her new grandson Kai currently live in Seattle , but are moving to Perth , Australia , in April. Her youngest son Matt, his wife Lucy and their two children, Clemmie and Toby, live in England.

Porter says she also will become more involved with her book club. “The first six months of retirement you'll find me cleaning closets,” Porter laughs, “There is so much I want to do, I'm just going have to find my passion.”