On an upward trajectory
Welcome to our 2023 edition of Tribute. It is my pleasure to serve as dean of your School of Nursing after joining the faculty in June 2022.
Like our university, the School of Nursing is on an amazing upward trajectory!
Our clinical practice, Wellness 360, is now under the leadership of Cindy Sickora, DNP, RN, FAAN, vice dean of practice and engagement. In addition to our on-campus clinic for faculty, staff, students and their families, our network now provides nurse-led clinics for the Alamo Colleges District, The University of Texas at San Antonio and rural communities through our mobile health unit.
Thanks to the work of Karen Schwab, PhD, APRN, CPNP-PC, PMHS, director of pediatric services, our newest patient group is foster children. Her $4 million grant expands services to foster care families in 28 South and Central Texas counties. In fact, several of our newest nursing students are former foster children. We are privileged to have them join us.
Our research program also is expanding with the appointment of Lixen (Lee) Song, PhD, RN, FAAN. As vice dean for research and scholarship, she is establishing the new Center for Holistic Care of Cancer Patients and Families — a collaboration involving multiple clinical and research areas of the university.
No one knows the nursing shortage better than our alumni. Three of our faculty leaders are working to grow our teaching faculty so that we can graduate more nurses. This trio’s $425,000 grant will finance the retraining of non-teaching faculty, recruit new adjunct faculty into education roles and increase the number of graduate teaching assistants. All these projects are in preparation for the thousands of new nurses needed for several new hospitals that are expanding or being built in San Antonio, including the UT Health San Antonio Multispecialty and Research Hospital.
Thanks to our amazing alumni and friends
Our magazine would only be complete with paying tribute to our many alumni working throughout the U.S. and internationally. If you are curious about where your nursing friends are working, look at the alumni map on page 30, which provides a geographical snapshot of where our graduates reside.
And speaking of graduates, don’t miss the moving alumni profile of Julie Fohn Mize, BSN, RN, a 1993 graduate who says, “being a school nurse is not just Band-Aids and bonbons” on page 32. She is the lead nurse in the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, which experienced an active shooter in May 2022.
As always, we depend on our friends and alumni to help us advance our initiatives. If you are interested in supporting our efforts, please contact Anna Chowdhury, director of development, at chowdhurya@uthscsa.edu or 210-450-7308.
Sonya Renae Hardin, PhD, MBA/MHA, APRN, FAAN
Dean, School of Nursing
