Two nursing faculty nationally recognized

Bethany Hall-Long	Lisa Ann Plowfield

Two members of the nursing faculty have recently received national recognition. Bethany Hall-Long, associate professor of nursing with a joint appointment with the Health Services Policy Research Group in the College of Human Services, Education and Public Policy, has been named a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN) for her "outstanding contributions and achievements in nursing," and Lisa Ann Plowfield, chairperson and associate professor of nursing, was selected as a Scholar in the 2002 Geriatric Research Scholars and Fellows Program of the John A. Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing, part of the New York University Division of Nursing.

Hall-Long was inducted at ANN's November annual meeting in Naples, Fla.

Involved in academic-community partnerships, she has focused on the health problems of vulnerable populations. Initiatives include a nationally funded diabetes home health program, a model youth injury and substance education program.?

While teaching at George Mason University, Hall-Long founded Student Nurses in Action, a federally funded student public health nursing workforce program, which she brought to UD. Working with community organizations and businesses, student nurses gain experience in non-traditional settings such as senior centers, mobile health units and public health settings. They also help write grant applications for funding for these organizations.

Hall-Long also has been involved in health policy and serves as the only nurse on Delaware's Health Fund Advisory Board, where she has been influential in securing funding for nurse-directed health programs, such as smoking cessation among pregnant teens and substance abuse care. She also chaired a committee that created a draft for the governor's Cancer Control Plan for Delaware.?

During her career, Hall-Long has received many honors and awards. At UD, she has received the University-wide and the nursing department's excellence-in-teaching awards. She also received a Nurse Scientist Training Award from the National Institute of Nursing Research.

Hall-Long, who joined the UD faculty in 1996, received her bachelor's degree from Thomas Jefferson University, her master's degree from the medical University of South Carolina where her specialty was community health nursing and her doctorate from George Mason University, where her research focus was nursing administration and health policy.

In November, she was elected to the Delaware General Assembly as a representative of the eighth district.

One of 11 nurses from the Northeast region chosen for the Geriatric Research Program, Plowfield was selected for "having conducted significant research in gerontologic nursing and for her strong leadership potential." She was cited for being "the director and principal investigator of several major grants related to program evaluation of geriatric health programs and nursing education, including demands of family care giving as well as the socialization of the marital couple after a spouse's stroke," and for a research study on Promoting Healthy Lifestyles in Delaware among elderly and underserved populations.

The scholars and fellows attended an intensive week-long seminar at New York University in June, meeting with nationally recognized experts in geriatric nursing. .

Plowfield's research interests include families in crisis, social networking and family caregiving. She is the program director of the Health Center, which provides care to older adults and families and also is the director of the Center for Academic Practice in the College of Health and Nursing Sciences. She serves on UD's Human Subjects Review Board.

A graduate of Thomas Jefferson University with a master's degree in trauma/critical care from the University of Mayland and her doctorate from the University of Virginia, Plowfield joined the UD faculty in 1993.

SUE MONCURE