Reflections Magazine Issue #72 - Summer 2010 | Page 5

Campus News from the heights Siena Heights Professor Receives Nursing Honor Siena Heights University Associate Professor of Nursing Sister Sharon McGuire, OP, PhD, was one of the new Fellows inducted at the annual clinical conference of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners on June 23 in Phoenix, Ariz. Sister Sharon has been a board certified Family Nurse Practitioner since 1989. She has worked with a Latino population on the US-Mexico border, developed the Family Nurse Practitioner program at the University of Texas at El Paso, and has participated in international health service trips with nursing and nurse practitioner students. She currently teaches in the RN-to-BSN and the Pre-Licensure nursing programs at SHU. The FAANP program was established in 2000 to recognize nurse practitioner (NP) leaders who have made outstanding contributions to health care through NP clinical practice, research, education or policy. Nursing Program Gets Five-Year Accreditation This spring the Siena Heights Nursing program recently received a five-year accreditation— the best a new program in baccalaureate or graduate nursing education can receive— from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. In fact, the program was found in “perfect compliance” with all elements relating to accreditation. “I am unbelievably humbled and honored that Siena Heights University Nursing is fully accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education,” said SHU Director of Nursing Dr. Sue Idczak. “This organization represents the highest standards required in baccalaureate and graduate nursing education.” Siena Heights Nursing met all four standards, including 26 key elements, with no compliance issues. “This is a remarkable accomplishment for Sue and Siena Nursing,” said SHU President Sister Peg Albert, OP, PhD. “To receive this level of accreditation shows the amount of hard work and dedication involved in completing this process. Sue and her faculty, as well as Sister Sharon Weber, our vice president of Academic Affairs, should be commended for their efforts.” SHU Nursing offers both the BSN pre-licensure program and the RN to BSN degree completion program. Siena Heights was approved in 2008 to educate licensed registered nurses to complete the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree, with the first prelicensure BSN students beginning classes in January 2010. All SHU Nursing faculty hold Master of Science in Nursing degrees, and two faculty are PhD prepared. “A five-year accreditation is exceptional for the first ev