When given the opportunity, people will run on and on about themselves. Not so with Professor Jacqueline Fawcett, who explained how much she enjoys being a nurse and professor, and how she takes pride in being part of such a capable and diverse faculty.
UMass Boston’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences is known for offering quality education for future health care professionals. The way the health care industry is shaping up, such an education is in high demand. The faculty at UMass is comprised of professors with doctoral degrees from various universities, including New York University, Boston College, Boston University, among others.
Nursing and Health professors found their educational base with a bachelor’s degree in nursing. While gaining credit toward their bachelor’s degree, they study both academically and clinically, in the classroom and in a healthcare environment, most often in hospitals and the community.
Moving forward, they can join the workforce and begin to specialize by focusing at the master’s level in fields like critical care, acute care, maternity, pediatrics, long-term care, community care, etc. They can continue on in doctoral study if they choose to, which opens the way to research and professorship, as well as managerial positions in the hospitals, community agencies, and public and private organizations.
Professor Fawcett and her colleagues are not only professors but also clinicians who have extensive experience as care givers in clinical settings. With the fullness of experience and education, they are able to engage in research projects that will hopefully expand understanding and promote better health. Some of the faculty’s research projects include “looking at the quality of nursing care in a culturally diverse population of cancer patients,” as well as “women’s experiences with childbearing and how they adapt to motherhood.”
Greer Glazer, dean of the college and former professor at Kent State University who joined the faculty in September, is involved in research on domestic violence. Beyond research, since she joined the faculty, Fawcett says, “We are rapidly progressing from a very, very good College of Nursing and Health Sciences to a great College of Nursing and Health Sciences.”
The College of Nursing and Health Sciences maintains an excellent advising system for students, officials say. With the faculty teaching and active in research, their advising sessions are bound to be substantive and helpful for students who are genuinely interested in progressing in their education. Most of the faculty has undergraduate advisees, and some have masters and doctoral student advisees. The faculty offer open hours as well as individual appointments for students who want advice or need direction moving forward in their education.
Within the health care industry there is a wide spectrum of settings where a nurse can find a niche. There are not only myriad opportunities in clinical care where nurses have direct contact with patients, but also open opportunities at all levels. As with other professions, hard work and persistence are the omnipotent keys to success.
Often people who already have a bachelor’s degree or even a master’s degree in another discipline become nurses. They decide to be nurses because with an aging population there is almost never a shortage of jobs and the work can be very rewarding. “In hospitals and other clinical areas, we’re finally seeing that group (clinical nurses) receiving good pay.” Also, the constant advancement of medical technology opens the field to new possibilities.
When asked what attracted her to nursing, Professor Fawcett responded, “I wanted to take care of people. I am passionate about nursing. And my students really want to be nurses, because there’s not a lot of things I think in life that are better than trying to help people get well and to stay well.”