Bernice Christopherson Yates, Ph.D., has been appointed to associate dean for research at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing. Dr. Yates, who has been serving in the interim position since January 2000, succeeds Mara Baun, Ph.D., who took a position at a University of Texas-Houston School of Nursing.
Dr. Yates will be responsible for faculty research development, including locating funding sources, as well as providing faculty support for grant preparation. She also is responsible for the administration of the Niedfelt Nursing Research Center. As an associate professor of nursing, she will continue teaching and doing research at the college.
The college is at a crossroads for obtaining some major research funding, Dr. Yates said. In the last year, we submitted 10 very large research projects to sources like the National Institutes of Health. Our goal is to get nursing faculty funded.
Theres a lot of talent and very good research ideas. We will provide support in this very time-consuming process so faculty, who also are teaching and sometimes involved in patient care, can get their research recognized and published.
Ada Lindsey, Ph.D., dean of the UNMC College of Nursing, said the national search committee was pleased to find someone right here at UNMC who can lead this charge. This position is particularly significant at this time because of the emphasis on research development at UNMC, Dr. Lindsey said. Faculty engaged in research provide the environment that is absolutely necessary for our graduate nursing education and this position signifies the importance that research has in our college.
Dr. Yates joined the UNMC College of Nursing Kearney Division in 1994 as an assistant professor. In 1995, she was named a graduate faculty fellow and in 1997 was named associate professor. In 1999 she accepted a position at the colleges Omaha campus.
Prior to serving at UNMC, she was an assistant professor from 1988 to 1994 at the University of Oklahoma College of Nursing in Oklahoma City. She earned her bachelors degree in nursing in 1971 from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D. In 1979, she earned a masters degree in nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and in 1989 earned a doctoral degree in nursing from the University of Washington in Seattle.
Yates has been involved in research for 15 years. Her interests lie in cardiac rehabilitation programs to deliver home-based services for recovery, social support systems and ways to improve recovery outcomes. She teaches research courses in the doctoral program and does guest lectures in doctoral courses on cardiac rehabilitation research.
She holds memberships in a variety of nursing and academic organizations and has received a number of honors and awards, including: American Academy of Nursing 2000 Media Award; UNMC 1999 UNMC Outstanding Teaching Award; 1999 Xi Phi Chapter Mortar Board recognition of scholarship, leadership and service; 1993 Midwest Nursing Research Society Honor a Researcher Award for Meritorious Achievement in Nursing Research; and in 1990, the Sigma Theta Tau, Beta Delta Chapters Presidents Pillar Award.