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NEWS
| September 11, 2003
Nursing
Ceremony launches nursing Ph.D.
Nursing Dean Elizabeth Poster
says the program is one of 6 in the state and 84 in the country.
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| The Shorthorn: Awais Ikram |
| Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck, left,
and Forth Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief talk with nursing
dean Elizabeth Poster during the nursing doctoral program
kickoff Wednesday afternoon in the Bluebonnet Ballroom. |
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By Mindy
Hutchison
Contributor to The Shorthorn
Nursing faculty, administrators and community leaders gathered to
celebrate the School of Nursing’s new doctoral program.
Nursing officials decorated the Bluebonnet Ballroom where a reception
was held. Nursing Dean Elizabeth Poster introduced interim President
Charles Sorber to speak about the new program.
“It truly is an important day in the life of UT-Arlington,”
Dr. Sorber said.
So far, there are 15 students working on a doctorate.
The program will help the health care system improve in Texas and
eventually the nation, Sorber said.
Poster said the doctoral program is one of six in Texas and 84 in
the United States and that the nursing facility here is the largest
on a single campus in the state.
“Nurses are the heart of medicine,” said Arlington Mayor
Robert Cluck.
A former physician with 40 years of experience, Cluck said he prefers
working with nurses who graduated from the university. The program
is outstanding, and the quality is second to none, he said.
Cluck is a part of the Dreammaker scholarship program for the school
of nursing along with Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief.
“Nursing in Texas is on life support,” Moncrief said.
Moncrief told doctorate students Gina Thames, a clinical instructor
for the university, and Jack Miller that the “dangerous trends”
in nursing led him to get involved politically. Texas is short 26,000
acute care nurses, he said. He commended Miller and Thames for their
decision to further their education. They all laughed as he said
he knew they weren’t going into nursing for the money. He
gave them high fives and told them they would make a difference
in future generations.
He said the funding for the program was justified because of the
critical need for nurses.
“There’s not a big long line of people waiting to support
this issue,” Moncrief said.
Lana Montgomery, Couch of the United Service Association for Health
Care said doctoral programs are limited and, it speaks volumes that
UTA was able to establish one. The Department of Health and Human
Services granted the university $740,000 to fund the program.
Nancy Williams of the Dallas/Fort Worth Health Industry Council
said nurses are an integral part of the health system. Nurses are
in the business field helping architects design hospitals and do
strategic planning, Williams added.
Former Nursing Dean Myrna Pickard compared the struggle to establish
the doctoral program to a series of failed pregnancies. The school
attempted to establish programs three times in the past —
in 1983, 1989 and 1995.
“The faculty and community worked hard to have this,”
Dr. Pickard said.
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