The University Record, October 21, 1998
School of Nursing enhances its global outreach through WHO
By Amy Reyes
News and Information Services
The School of Nursing officially recognized the opening of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Research and Clinical Training in Health Promotion Nursing on Oct. 8 with a conference attended by dignitaries of the Chinese Nurses Association and representatives from other U.S. nursing schools.
Although the Center was created officially in August 1997 by the director general of the World Health Organization, the Oct. 8 conference was called to celebrate the start of the Center, its accomplishments during the past year and the work that lies before it in years to come.
“This is an important moment and milestone in the history of the School of Nursing,’’ said Shaké Ketefian, director of the School’s Office for International Affairs and the WHO Collaborating Center.
“While the School has been involved in a variety of international activities, the Collaborating Center opens new opportunities for us around the world; it enables us to embrace a global mission in all of our activities,’’ she said.
The School has a long history in, and is well known for its international health promotion and research. However, the establishment of the Office of International Affairs and the Collaborating Center creates a means by which to strengthen the School’s ongoing efforts with colleagues overseas. Researchers currently are collaborating on projects with colleagues in China, Japan, Armenia, Lithuania and some Caribbean nations, among other countries. Ketefian stressed that the School’s goal is not to impose its own perspective on others, but to enhance the education and training nurses and health advocates overseas already receive.
The Center, one of 35 worldwide, is a milestone because it reinforces the School’s commitment to promoting healthy living in a global context.
“This is the culmination of a dream, as well as the beginning of new, exciting challenges and opportunities,” said Dean Ada Sue Hinshaw, who addressed the conference attendees.
“We have much to learn from a global perspective. The Collaborating Center will enhance our ability to address diversity of cultural backgrounds in our educational programs. We are committed to enhancing the opportunities of Schools of Nursing in other countries as well as broadening our horizons through the interactions that are possible with the collaborating center networks,” Hinshaw said.
The Center continues to make inroads in the arena of health promotion. This year it will co-sponsor an international conference with the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. In 1999, it will organize a conference for the International Network on Doctoral Education in London.
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