UNMC College of Nursing Professor Susan Noble Walker, Ed.D., has been appointed as the Dorothy Hodges Olson Chair in Nursing. Dr. Walker is professor and chairwoman of the UNMC College of Nursing Department of Gerontological, Psychosocial and Community Health Nursing. The appointment was effective April 1.
The endowed chair position supports a distinguished nurse scholar with research and teaching expertise and is expected to enhance the quality of the research, teaching and practice efforts of the college to foster leadership in health care. The chair, which was established in 1995, is a three-year term, with potential for reappointment.
The Dorothy Hodges Olson Chair in Nursing, the first fully endowed chair in the UNMC College of Nursing, was established through a contribution from Dorothy and Leland J. Olson, M.D. Dorothy Hodges Olson is a graduate of the UNMC College of Nursing Class of 1943. She received a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1967.
“Dr. Walker’s distinguished career in nursing education and nursing science — and her nationally recognized program of research focused on women’s health, health promotion, and community health — amply qualify her for this honor,” said Virginia Tilden, D.N.Sc., dean of the UNMC College of Nursing. “We are deeply grateful to Dr. and Mrs. Leland Olson for their generous endowment to the college for this purpose.”
Responsibilities of the chair include assisting faculty in building distinguished programs of collaborative, interdisciplinary research in health promotion and disease prevention, acute and chronic illness, and health systems; mentoring students and serving as a role model for faculty in related scholarly, teaching and service activities; and enhancing the transfer and utilization of research-based knowledge in community-based practice settings and curricular offerings.
“I look forward to the opportunity to help the college achieve its strategic and long-range goals through building my team and others’ programs of research related to health promotion and disease prevention with women in the community,” Dr. Noble Walker said. “I anticipate enhanced opportunities to provide leadership for collaborative projects with faculty across disciplines at UNMC and the University of Nebraska system.”
Dr. Noble Walker’s research is aimed at improving the health of women in the community. She and an interdisciplinary team are conducting a study to help rural midlife and older women adopt and maintain lifestyle patterns of healthy eating and physical activity, in an effort to promote health, sustain function and prevent the chronic diseases associated with aging.
She has been widely published in regional, national and international publications. She has written or contributed to more than 50 articles, abstracts, chapters in books and papers, and, has presented more than 90 research presentations and research-related activities. She has research grants totaling $3.1 million.
Dr. Noble Walker joined UNMC in 1990 as associate professor of nursing and chairperson of the UNMC College of Nursing Department of Gerontological, Psychosocial and Community Health Nursing. Prior to that, she worked as a staff nurse from 1960 to 1963, then began teaching nursing in 1964 and since has held nursing faculty positions at various colleges and universities.
She has held leadership roles in a variety of organizations, including recently serving as chair of the International Research Committee of Sigma Theta Tau International, an honor society of nursing. She has received numerous awards and honors. One of the most recent awards is the 2002 UNMC College of Nursing Pennie Z. Davis Faculty Research Award for an established investigator.
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Leland J. Olson, M.D. and Dorothy Hodges Olson. |
Leland J. and Dorothy H. Olson have been associated with UNMC for half a century. Dr. Olson also is an alumnus of the University of Nebraska, as are their three children. He received his medical degree from UNMC in 1944 and completed his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at UNMC in 1949. Following military service, he was appointed to UNMC’s volunteer faculty in 1952, a capacity in which he continues to serve. He retired from private practice in 1986.
Dyanne Affonso, Ph.D., former UNMC professor of nursing, was first appointed to the chair in 1999.