Fitzpatrick resigns

Fitzpatrick to exit as nursing dean

by Kathleen McDermott

Joyce Fitzpatrick, dean of CWRU's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing for the past 15 years, has announced plans to leave the deanship effective December 31, 1997. She will be on leave from January 1 through August 31, 1998. Following that she will return to the faculty as the Elizabeth Brooks Ford Professor of Nursing.

A leader in nursing education, Fitzpatrick has been dean longer than any current dean at CWRU and longer than any dean in the nursing school's history.

In November, Fitzpatrick will become president of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN) for a two-year term. She has been president-elect of AAN since 1995. Fitzpatrick also plans to begin a writing project focusing on women, their careers, and how they support each other.

The Bolton School remains one of the top nursing schools in research funding. It ranks among the top five in the nation in research grant awards from the National Institutes of Health. The school is consistently ranked as one of the top five nursing schools in the country according to U.S. News & World Report.

Its endowment has increased from $8.7 million to $40 million during Fitzpatrick's deanship, becoming the largest endowment for any nursing school in the country. In addition, the school now has nine endowed professorships, more than any other U.S. nursing school. Since 1982, annual research funding has increased from $600,000 to $3.1 million. Enrollment has risen from 260 to 1,018. Of these students, 284 are in the B.S.N. program, which did not exist when Fitzpatrick became dean in 1982.

"Joyce Fitzpatrick has provided truly remarkable leadership for the School of Nursing during her 15-year tenure as dean, a period that saw explosive change in health care both nationally and regionally," said CWRU President Agnar Pytte. "She has initiated partnerships with other institutions that strengthen the school's teaching and research programs, and has pioneered new and exciting roles for nurses. She has served the school and the University with distinction, and I am delighted that she will remain a member of the faculty."

Innovation is the hallmark of Fitzpatrick's tenure as dean. In recent years, the school has embarked on new clinical education programs with other institutions. In 1986, the Bolton School joined in a cooperative program to improve the education of nurse-midwives with the Frontier Nursing Service. Two years later, the school began a joint degree program in nursing and anthropology.

Nursing is a clinical discipline and must be responsive to today's health care needs, Fitzpatrick believes. In recognition of this, the nursing school initiated several important partnerships with other CWRU professional schools and area hospitals.

In 1990, the school teamed with CWRU's Weatherhead School of Management to offer an M.S.N./M.B.A. degree. The following year, a nurse-anesthetist program was started with Mt. Sinai Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. The Bolton School and CWRU's School of Medicine began offering a joint graduate program in bioethics in 1995. Recently, the school began collaborating with CCF Health Care Ventures, a subsidiary of the Cleveland Clinic, on a program to prepare nurses as adult nurse practitioners.

CWRU's nursing school drew national attention from the New York Times and the Chronicle of Higher Education, when it launched a B.S.N. program in acute and critical care nursing in the 1990-91 academic year. Three area hospitals -- the Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth Medical Center, and University Hospitals of Cleveland -- provided special tuition support for students enrolled in the program. The B.S.N. program was also the first in the country to require a nursing informatics sequence in the curriculum.

The Bolton School's emphasis on international health care has been another feature of Fitzpatrick's administration. In 1993, the school became a designated WHO Collaborating Center for Nursing, establishing the school as a global leader in nursing.

Through formal education programs and continuing education initiatives including conferences held throughout the world, the school explores ways to form global research and education partnerships. Under Fitzpatrick's leadership, the school has forged collaborative relationships with universities in Egypt, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Lebanon, Slovenia, Thailand, Uganda, and Zimbabwe and continues to develop partnerships with other countries.

Many of the school's programs were made possible through funding from private foundations, which has averaged $1.5 million annually in the last seven years.

"The Bolton School is in a wonderful position to provide nursing leadership for the future," Fitzpatrick said. "Next year (1998) will be the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Bolton School. This will be the perfect opportunity for a new era and new leadership."

Before joining CWRU as dean in 1982, Fitzpatrick was on the faculty of Wayne State University for seven years. She has held teaching positions at New York University, Ohio State University, and Capital University, and she has been a consultant to many other colleges and universities throughout the world.

Fitzpatrick received the B.S.N. from Georgetown University, the M.S.N. from Ohio State University, the Ph.D. from New York University, and the M.B.A. from CWRU. She received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Georgetown University. in 1990.

A fellow of the AAN, Fitzpatrick has received distinguished alumni awards from both NYU and OSU. Sigma Theta Tau International honored her with its Elizabeth McWilliams Miller Founders Award for Excellence in Nursing Research in 1989. The Midwest Nursing Research Society also presented her with its Award for Distinguished Contribution to Nursing Research.

In 1994 Fitzpatrick was appointed a Distinguished Scholar in Residence by the Institute of Medicine, the AAN, and the American Nurses' Foundation. The following year, she was appointed U.S. Public Health Service Primary Care Policy Fellow. Fitzpatrick has received the American Journal of Nursing Award eight times. She is co-editor of the Annual Review of Nursing Research series, editor of Applied Nursing Research, and is currently editing an Encyclopedia of Nursing Research to be published in 1998. She was recognized this year as a distinguished practitioner by the National Academies of Practice.