As June 1st draws near, I wanted to share some of my thoughts with you. Being a dean at UTA in the College of Nursing for almost 18 years, has been an honor and joy for me. Working with thousands of students, hundreds of faculty, staff and members of our internal and external communities has been a great privilege.

Working collaboratively in an environment of support and collegiality, has allowed us to expand our national and international stature and reputation for innovation and excellence. I believe we can all be proud to be at one of this country’s finest nursing programs. Like you, I would not have been able to imagine or predict in 1995 that we would have 8000 nursing students and expand our research, academic and non-academic programs and global reach as we have done.

I look forward to the fall of 2014, when after a year on leave, I will join the ranks of my esteemed faculty colleagues in the College of Nursing as a professor.

Until then, I can still be reached at poster@uta.edu and will be following all the news of the College and the University. I have full confidence in Dr Jennifer Gray, as the Interim Dean, to provide a seamless transition in leadership and in all of you to do what is best for our students.

Nancy Loera, UT Arlington nursing graduate from Grand Prairie, was featured in a story about Hispanic graduation trends as reported in Al Dia. "Many times I wanted to give up and questioned if I was made for this race. By doing my practice in the emergency room, I helped many patients feel better and realized that all my hard work paid off."

Approximately 1,000 degree-seeking nursing students reached their goal and celebrated their success at Nursing's Commencement May 11. Congratulations, Graduates!

Amy Hailey, Director of Women's Services and Kim Williams, Mother/Baby Nurse Manager at the THR facility in downtown Fort Worth were delighted to accept hand-knit baby hats from the Senior I OB class. Knit by Ellen Wagner, she and her student group (Mirenda Jones, Nga Le, Brianna Monks, Tam Nguyen, Mary Pacheco, Paige Phillips, Eden Rodgers, Elizabeth Rose and Lauren Saenz) are excited that these baby hats will be distributed by staff to new mothers on Mother's Day.

Each hat has a tag saying: Congratulations from the UTA College of Nursing Class of December 2013.

Congratulations to Dr. Wendy Donnell on her accomplishment. She successful defended her dissertation on April 19, with Dr. Barbara Raudonis serving as her chair. Her committee members were Dr. Lauri John and Dr. Daisha Cipher. The title of her dissertation was A Correlational Study of a Reading Comprehension Program and Attrition Rates of ESL Nursing Students in Texas.

Provost’s Luncheon honoring advisement at the University This annual event recognizes the work that both professional advisors and faculty provide. Each year three graduate and undergraduate faculty advisors and three professional staff advisors are honored. Nursing swept all three Professional Advisor awards!! In addition to the three advisors who were honored today, several other advisors also received nominations.

Reggie Hendricks – Professional Staff Advisor of the Year Reggie received the most nominations ever received by a nominee! Reggie will also be honored at the national meeting of NACADA having been awarded a Certificate of Merit for the Outstanding New Advising Award – Primary Advising Role. The NACADA Annual Awards Program for Academic Advising honors individuals and institutions making significant contributions to the improvement of academic advising.

Candice Calhoun-Butts – Honorable Mention – Professional Staff Advisor

LaKayla Cooper - Honorable Mention – Professional Staff Advisor

The University of Texas at Arlington will offer five certification programs to college students in Latin America. The first of these to be offered is a new continuing education Certificate in Public Health. The (not for degree credit)curricula will be delivered in Spanish, in partnership with Ilumno Network.

"Our certification program in Public Health is specifically designed to be culturally relevant and address the health needs of the community in Latin America," said Elizabeth Poster, dean of the UT Arlington College of Nursing.

The Ilumno Network is composed of 10 higher education institutions in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Paraguay and Peru, with more than 260,000 students and alumni.

Dr. Margarita Trevino, recently appointed director of certificate programs in Latin America, is heading up this initiative for the College of Nursing.