From the Dean: State of the School

*Excerpted from Dean Berkowitz's state of the School address at Alumni Reunion 2015

I have the privilege of speaking to many different audiences throughout the year; but I always look forward to our school reunion because I enjoy the opportunity to reconnect with long-standing friends as well as make new ones.

I also enjoy the opportunity to reflect on Columbia Nursing’s tradition of excellence and its 123 years of leadership in advancing our profession of nursing.  Naturally, our distinguished faculties – past and present – have played an enormous part in establishing our school’s preeminence.  Equally important, our graduates have made a profound difference in the lives of countless individuals, families, and communities.

And last but not least, I look forward to today’s reunion because it provides the opportunity to share with you what we’ve been up to.

It has been a busy year!

This year we received a record number of applicants to our ETP program and accepted the largest class in our history. This year’s class also distinguishes itself as our academically strongest ever, with record-high GRE scores and grade point averages.

In the area of diversity and cultural affairs, this year, I’m proud to report that 42 percent of our incoming class of post-baccalaureate students comes from diverse communities. We have established programs that cultivate self-awareness and cultural competency among our faculty, staff and students, and have also partnered with a number of community organizations to develop “pipeline” projects that introduce secondary school students from under-represented groups to the field of nursing.  

These dedicated and enthusiastic students require an equally energetic and accommodating learning environment. We have created an enhanced program of activities and services in support of student life and anticipate  a new program for continuing nursing education.

We have taken new steps to ensure that our doctoral students and faculty are well supported in all phases of their research careers. Our Reach for Research Excellence program provides opportunities for students and faculty to excel at grant writing, the preparation of manuscripts for publication in top tier journals, and presentation skills. All of these activities increase the opportunities for success in securing research funding and success in publication.

Our faculty practice continues to thrive. We have increased our patient population in our midtown practice on W51st and are close to opening a new practice here in Washington Heights.

At last year’s reunion, I introduced our intention to refresh our curriculum, and I am pleased to report that it will be ready to launch in 2016.  We have created an innovative program of study that we believe will be a trendsetter for the field. The backbone of our curriculum is the Masters Direct Entry program. With the completion of this course of study, our students will be ready to be licensed as an RN and enter either the Doctor of Nursing Practice program for an advanced clinical practice role, or the PhD program for a career in nursing research.

Throughout our 123-year history we have emphasized the principles and values of nursing while preparing successive generations of nurses for the changing realities of the environment in which they practice. This is as true today as at any point in our history. People are living longer with multiple chronic conditions requiring care over their lifetimes in settings across diverse care environments, from high-tech hospitals to the home. Caring for these individuals and their families will involve a special kind of skill and expertise in order to ensure safe transitions to various care environments, while at the same time ensuring high quality care.  Clinicians will be required to provide expert care coordination and care management and that is the role that our master’s degree is geared toward.

We have also introduced advanced education in such areas as bioinformatics, health care policy, and expanded our offerings in research methodology.

I am proud of how well we have done to secure federal research grants in an intensely competitive funding environment. Our ranking of support from the National Institutes of Health is 17th, compared against all schools of nursing. This ranking is higher than last year and in the very top tier of all schools of nursing in the US. In addition, our school is among the 10 percent of doctoral programs nationwide receiving federal training grants to support pre- and post-doctoral scholars.

Our faculty and students continue to achieve national and international recognition for their research, exemplary teaching, and scholarly publications.  Three of our faculty were inducted into the American Academy of Nursing this year and we are enormously proud of Dr. Elaine Larson who was awarded the John Stearns Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Clinical Practice by the New York Academy of Medicine. She is the first nurse ever to receive this prestigious award.

We received re-designation as a World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Advanced Practice Nursing and  our Office of Global Initiatives has built relationships around the world including academic nursing institutions in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. As an awardee of the President of Columbia University’s Global Initiative Fund, we are expanding the capacity of nurses and midwives across the globe to prioritize and conduct clinical research in southern and eastern Africa. 

In the Dominican Republic, our students and faculty continue a longstanding relationship to provide care at the Clinica de la Familia in La Romana to adults and children with HIV. And, for the first time this year, a group of our students are participating in a clinical rotation at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain.  Through these and other activities, Columbia Nursing is deepening our commitment to address population health needs and inequities on a global scale.

This year marks the completion of my fifth year as your Dean. Those years have passed so quickly.  I now understand the term “a New York minute”!  As we complete the fifth year of our first Strategic Plan, I am pleased to share with you that we excelled in each of our stated goals. We are currently in the process of identifying phase two of our Strategic Plan, and looking ahead to the next five years; our overall goal remains the same: enhancing our capacity for preparing expert nurse clinicians and researchers. 

I invite you to think back at what we have accomplished together: we expanded and enhanced our academic programs, realized strong and influential research initiatives, developed new partnerships with nurse educators around the world, launched our 25 million dollar capital campaign to create a learning environment equal to our vision for Columbia Nursing’s future. You can feel the energy and excitement in our classrooms, hallways, conference rooms, and offices.

We’re not the only ones who have noticed. This year our school rose from 21st to 11th in the US News and World Reports ranking for the best nursing schools in the nation. While we view these rankings with care, we are nevertheless pleased to be recognized for our academic and research excellence by our peers. As I move into my sixth year, I am eyeing that number one spot!

Today is a day of looking back with pride at our school and its contribution to our profession. But it is also a day to look forward in anticipation that the best is yet to come.

A very big item on that list is our new building and all the new programming enabled by that space for our students and faculty. As you know, last October we broke ground for our new home and we are scheduled to occupy the new building in the spring, 2017.

I’m pleased to report two important new commitments that support our new building. The first is a generous pledge from Mary Dickey Lindsay ’45 and her family.  Their $1 million commitment is connected to the building’s second floor skills lab which will be named for both Mary Lindsay and her daughter, the late Louise Lindsay Read, Class of ‘74.  We thank her for her generosity and her years of service on behalf of our school.

The second is another generous pledge, this one from the Helene Fuld Health Trust for $6.5 million dollars, representing the largest single commitment ever made to the school. This funding will support the Helene Fuld Simulation Center which will comprise much of the second and third floors of our new building.  It will also underwrite an Institute for Excellence in Simulation, as well as augment the Helene Fuld Scholarship Fund by providing increased financial aid for our students.

In closing, let me express what a privilege it is to serve as dean of this outstanding school of nursing. There is no greater pleasure than being a part of an institution whose mission is a commitment to prepare expert clinicians and scholars who will improve the lives of our fellow human beings. Columbia Nursing has a commitment to excellence that sets us apart. It started 123 years ago and continues today.