September 4, 2019 | NLN CEO Update on 2019 NLN Summit and NLN Foundation

Makerspaces — I mentioned them a few weeks ago in my June 12 Member Update, with a discussion of how our new Center for Innovation in Education Excellence will involve NLN members in the process of identifying roadblocks affecting nursing education and developing cutting-edge solutions. Well, colleagues, our first opportunity for makerspaces is about to happen, with two distinct sessions at our upcoming Summit, three weeks from now at National Harbor, just outside Washington, DC.

Are you intrigued? I hope so. And I hope you will have a pair of sneakers with you, for each session is limited to the 35 individuals who get there first. Makerspace Brown Bag: Creating Solutions for the New Career Educator will take place during the lunch break, Friday, September 27, followed by Makerspace Brown Bag: Next Gen Education on Saturday, September 28. Both sessions are 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in Chesapeake ABC. Grab your lunch and join Center Director Dr. Susan Forneris and Manager of Program Innovation Amy Kline for a fun and freewheeling conversation. Your input will help the NLN develop education and programming that you and your colleagues will find innovative and useful in your work. These sessions are open to all attendees but will close once maximum capacity of 35 has been reached.

If you miss the deadline to get into the makerspace dialogue, not to worry — your lunch time can be filled with an exciting walk through our exhibits with mysteries and prizes unveiled. At the Summit there will be something for everyone.

Excitement about the Summit is building here at the NLN, along with a wonderful feeling of satisfaction, and dare I say it, pride among staff as we prepare for the big show. We are, as you know, a mission-driven organization, founded on the core values of Caring, Excellence, Integrity, and Diversity, and these qualities are more than words for our staff. Each year at the Summit attendees comment on the dedication of staff members and their willingness to go above and beyond. That will be even more apparent at this Summit, which takes place in our own backyard. All staff members in our Washington, DC, office will have the opportunity to be there, at least part of the time. And that experience — working toward our mission and seeing it expressed in real time through member engagement — is not readily forgotten.

Membership engagement is well on display throughout the Summit, but never more than during the time period 11 a.m. to noon on Friday, September 27. That is when we call to the stage a number of individuals who are being recognized for one reason or another — the recipients of research grant awards, Constituent League honorees, our Jonas Scholars, NLN Foundation for Nursing Education Scholarship winners, and this year, for the very first time, the authors of articles recognized as the best articles in the three sections of the NLN research journal, Nursing Education Perspectives — Research Briefs, the Innovation Center, and featured research articles.

Did you know that one of our centers focuses on nursing education research? It's the NLN/Chamberlain University College of Nursing Center for the Advancement of the Science of Nursing Education, and it is led by Distinguished Scholar Dr. Barbara Patterson. Our Board of Governors is so committed to nursing education research that the advancement of the science of nursing education remains a major goal in our newly developed Strategic Plan 2019–2021.

Now I am excited to tell you about our scholarship program and how you can be involved in supporting this program, which is clearly essential to the future of our profession. This year, the NLN Foundation for Nursing Education, along with Home Instead Senior Care, will distribute 15 scholarships for a total of $52,000 to be awarded for the upcoming academic year to advance nursing education. For the second consecutive year, the NLN Foundation and Home Instead Senior Care have teamed up to foster and promote geriatric nursing education through a $10,000 scholarship fund for seven nursing students, with the acknowledgement that nurse graduates must be better prepared to deliver outstanding, culturally aware care to the growing population of older adults in hospital, clinical, and outpatient community settings.

In addition, the NLN Foundation provides scholarships to support seasoned and ethnically diverse nurses committed to careers in academic nursing education. These scholarships are awarded to nurses pursuing advanced degrees, either master’s or doctorates, who have completed at least half of their academic studies toward their degrees, and there are eight recipients this year. When we announce in winter 2020 that the application period is once again open, I hope you will not only help spread the word but will work with your students in navigating the process of putting their names forward.

And where do we get the funds for these scholarship awards? I'm very glad you asked, as if I need an excuse to expound on the work of the NLN Foundation for Nursing Education chaired by Dr. Cole Edmonson. First, let me tell you about the recent expansion of the NLN Foundation Advisory Council, which was established in 2016 as a network of seven leaders from nursing education and other health care sectors committed to the NLN and our mission. Our group of seven has now grown to 11 members, who bring critical perspectives to how we approach the challenges facing our profession. I work with the council as a member as well as staff, and can attest to its effectiveness in addressing the persistent national nursing faculty shortage through recommendations for increasing resources to support the NLN mission — the promotion of excellence in nursing education to provide a strong and diverse nursing workforce to advance the health of the nation and the global community. Members of the NLN Foundation Advisory Council meet twice annually, and if you are interested in joining our numbers, please contact me or Tatiana Nin, MPA, at the NLN Foundation.

At the Summit you will be reminded of the NLN Foundation in many ways, from the Thank You Wall to opportunities to contribute during the Saturday evening Gala. The Gala planners are working to live up to the reputation clearly established during last year's NLN 125^th Anniversary celebration. NLN leadership will be wearing our best suits and ties or evening and cocktail dresses. Spoiler Alert: wearing comfortable shoes throughout the Summit, but especially at the Gala (for dancing), is a strong recommendation from those of us whose feet speak from experience.

You can even help the NLN Foundation support our profession through the purchase of jewelry. Once again, A Fashion Hayvin, Inc. will contribute a portion of sales of its very appealing jewelry to our collective effort. I purchased several items last year and I have no regrets a year later. To get a good sense of how the NLN Foundation supports nursing education, and how you can help, take a look at the Ways to Give page on the Foundation website where you will find a list of endowment funds for scholarships and research grants, information about our legacy program, as well as moving tributes from some of our most generous donors.

By the way, the NLN Foundation has met our yearly goal of $25,000 for the matching grant to build the NLN Archive at the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania (thank you, Independence Foundation), and we now have a History of the NLN page on our website that includes materials developed for our 125^th Anniversary. If you click on the NLN Archives Collection button, this will take you to a link for the NLN Collection on the Bates Center website. It's in the early stages, but so far, the staff at the Bates Center has added clips from historic NLN videos as well as annual reports from our earliest conventions. More is on its way, and I will keep you apprised. We know that when we acknowledge and honor our past, we pave a successful pathway to our future, following our North Star with purpose, power, and passion.

Finally, speaking of money, I recently had the opportunity to speak with Nurse.com about nurse pay and the pay gap that continues to exist between women and men, even in our female-dominated profession. My recommendation, as you may have guessed, is more education and additional certifications, as well as cultural and policy changes that will provide an environment where all know it's not acceptable to have a gender-based pay gap. A survey by Nurse.com found that earning certification helped women close the gender pay gap in nursing to about $1,000 instead of about $6,000 a year. This is an important issue to discuss with our nursing students, and I hope you will find this conversation useful.

I'll close now with best wishes for our friends in the Bahamas as well as all those in the path of Hurricane Dorian. Consider supporting groups like the Red Cross and Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN), a national network of volunteer disaster-relief nurses, that are providing direct assistance to those affected by this terrible tragedy. Let us hope Dorian quickly finds a path out to the ocean and that you recover, without too much difficulty, from the downpours that will be associated with a storm this immense. We also extend our deepest sympathies to the victims of the shooting in Odessa, Texas, and those whose lives will never be the same following this senseless violence. I think none of us will ever be the same.