June 4, 2010
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Nursing is hosting the 19th Dr. Jean A. Kelley Endowed Lectureship Thursday, June 10, with guest lecturer May L. Wykle, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., F.G.S.A., dean of the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing and Marvin E. and Ruth Durr Denekas Professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
Wykle's presentation, "Age-Old Health Disparities," examines health disparities among elders, including racial minorities and the poor, and she advocates several solutions, including nursing research and evidence-based practice. The lecture will be held in the School of Nursing Auditorium from 3 to 4 p.m., and a reception will follow in the lobby.
Wykle is the first African-American dean of the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, and the professorship that bears her name is the first named for an African-American at Case Western Reserve University. She is recognized nationally as an expert in the field of aging adults and has received international recognition for her extensive research in geriatric mental health, family and minority care-giving and dementia. She also has initiated nursing educational programs in Europe, Africa and Asia, and she has helped start a Master of Science in Nursing program at the University of Zimbabwe in Africa.
Wykle is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and the Gerontological Society of America and a member of the National Institute on Aging Research Review Committee. She recently was appointed by the National Institutes of Health to the Advisory Board of the Fogarty International Center.
She is a past president of Sigma Theta Tau International, Honor Society for Nursing, and has received numerous honors and awards, including the 2009 Isabel Hampton Robb Award from the National League for Nursing, 2009 American Academy of Nursing/Hartford Nurse Leader Award in Aging and 2010 Mary Mahoney Award from the American Nurses Association.
The Dr. Jean A. Kelley Endowed Lecture was established at the UAB School of Nursing in 1989 to honor the significant influence Kelley had in nursing. Kelley, a UAB alumna, chaired the school's Department of Administration, and she spent 19 years as the associate dean for graduate programs. She provided leadership for the master's program and developed an outreach program that served as the basis for many of Alabama's current master of nursing degree programs. While she was associate dean, the doctor of science in nursing program was started - the first doctoral nursing program in the Southeast and the 13th in the nation. She was inducted into the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame in 1998.
About the UAB School of Nursing
Building on a century of nursing education on the UAB campus, the UAB School of Nursing prepares nurse leaders to excel as clinicians, researchers and educators and advances knowledge and delivery of high-quality health care in Alabama and worldwide. The school offers leading-edge bachelor, graduate and doctoral programs and offers students the opportunity to learn with faculty and student teams across health disciplines at UAB.