UVA Nursing Dean Dorrie Fontaine to Ring NASDAQ Closing Bell May 8
Date released: 28 Apr 2009
Whatever the market forces prove to be on Friday, May 8, there will be celebration at NASDAQ as the economic power of the nursing profession is recognized along with all its other positive values. National Nurses Week (May 6-12) includes National Student Nurses Day on May 8 and ends on Florence Nightingale’s birthday. Hospitals, nursing schools and many other healthcare facilities will use the week to honor nursing clinicians, researchers, educators and students nationwide.
Dorrie Fontaine, RN, PhD, FAAN, Sadie Heath Cabaniss Professor of Nursing and Dean of the University of Virginia School of Nursing, has been invited to ring the closing bell at 4 p.m. She will be joined by nursing students, faculty and staff, alumni and special friends at the NASDAQ MarketSite on Times Square.
Fontaine’s brief remarks will recognize the many contributions of nurses, including at the bedside, in patient education, providing primary care, conducting research, teaching the next generations of nurses, and engaging in policy decisions. She will highlight nursing’s economic impact and the leadership role nurses will play in health care reform.
In addition to the dean’s remarks, a video designed to celebrate nursing will play on the NASDAQ MarketSite Tower at Times Square, the world’s largest stationary video screen. Beginning at 3:50 p.m., a live webcast will show the closing ceremonies at www.nasdaq.com/about/marketsitetowervideo.asx.
Fontaine enjoys a national reputation based on her distinguished career as clinician, scholar, researcher, educator and professional leader. Prior to assuming her role as Dean at UVA, Fontaine was associate dean for academic programs and clinical professor at the University of California San Francisco. Before coming to UCSF, Dr. Fontaine held associate dean positions and taught at Georgetown University School of Nursing and the University of Maryland. In 2003-2004, she served as president of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN), the largest specialty nursing organization in the world. That association recognized her contributions with its Lifetime Member Award. She was inducted as a Fellow into the prestigious American Academy of Nursing in 1995.
About the School of Nursing The University of Virginia School of Nursing stands among the top 5% in the nation, ranked 19th by US News & World Report; two of its graduate programs are currently listed in the U.S. News Top Ten and two others within the top twenty. With a vigorous research program that includes studies in rural health care and disparities, oncology, gerontology, complementary therapies and nursing history, the School has implemented new programs and strategies to address the national nursing shortage and the concurrent need for more highly educated nurses to deliver increasingly complex health care. The newly opened Claude Moore Nursing Education Building and upcoming renovation of McLeod Hall allow for an enrollment increase and expansion of the Clinical Simulation Learning Center and the Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry. For more information about the UVA School of Nursing and its programs, visit www.nursing.virginia.edu.