River Forest, IL  – Dominican University’s focus on multicultural education within its nursing program has earned the university an award from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN).

Dominican is the recipient of the 2022 Lectureship Award for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Sustainability in Nursing Education for small/liberal arts colleges. The award is one of AACN’s most prestigious honors.

“It is an honor for AACN to recognize schools for their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in our individual learning environments,” said Dr. Tamara Bland, interim dean of Dominican University’s Borra College of Health Sciences and author of the award application. “It’s important because it says to the community that we are actively working to move the needle within our program to impact the profession of nursing and ensure students are diverse within our classrooms so they can represent patients that are not homogeneous.”

AACN noted the following achievements in announcing Dominican’s selection for the award:

• The university’s development of faculty programming aimed at closing the gap in educational access and completion rates for Latinx nursing students.

• The creation of courses aimed at culturally competent patient care, including the Multicultural and Global Perspectives in Healthcare course, that challenges students to understand disparities in health and critically think about and discuss healthcare within a global environment. Dominican also offers a course entitled Transcultural Nursing, which teaches nursing students about the culture, belief systems, values and practices that are specific to identified cultures in order for students to better care for diverse patients.

“As a diverse university and in keeping with our mission to provide culturally competent care, it was important to design courses that reflect the mission of Dominican University,” Bland wrote in her application.

• The April 2021 presentation of a Health Disparity Symposium with Borra College of Health Sciences and the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation committee aimed at addressing the need to advance health equity.

“It was our goal to engage in efforts to provide educational opportunities centered on health disparities, the impact of advocacy for Black and Brown communities, the disparate impact of COVID-19, and other related factors which increasingly encompass a focus on social factors and their direct influence on health,” Bland wrote.

In April 2022, a second symposium, offered in partnership with Mission and Ministry and the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, focused on racism as a public health crisis.

Bland is scheduled to accept the 2022 Lectureship Award for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Sustainability in Nursing Education on behalf of Dominican University during AACN’s Diversity Symposium, scheduled to take place virtually in November.

 

About Dominican University  

Founded in 1901, Dominican University is a comprehensive, coeducational Catholic institution offering bachelor’s and master’s degrees through the Rosary College of Arts and Sciences, the Borra College of Health Sciences, the Brennan School of Business and the College of Applied Social Sciences. The university also offers a doctoral degree in information studies. U.S. News & World Report ranks Dominican University #10 of all Midwest regional master’s level universities, the #1 best value in Illinois, and #2 in the state for ensuring the social mobility of its graduates.