UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing has announced its newest lecture series for the University community and beyond. The Gunter – Gooding Lecture Series will center on challenges and opportunities in nursing and heath care related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. Delivered in-person and virtually, the lecture is free and open to the public with registration required.
The event will be held on Oct. 5 beginning at 10 a.m. with opening remarks by the Multicultural Student Nursing Association and lecture beginning at 11 a.m. in the Freeman Auditorium at the HUB. The event will also be livestreamed via Zoom, both requiring registration that can be completed here. For nurses attending and seeking CEUs, they will be available, with RN number required.
The first lecture of the series will feature G. Rumay Alexander, where she will examine racial disparities found in nursing through a talk titled, “From the Hall to the Walls: A Racial Reckoning in Nursing." Alexander is a professor in the School of Nursing, assistant dean of relational excellence at the Adams School of Dentistry and formerly the associate vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion / chief diversity officer of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Alexander has a wide range of experience contributing to transformative initiatives across healthcare and nursing. She served as the American Nurses Association’s scholar in-residence and advised the development of the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing. She holds a bachelor of science in nursing from the University of Tennessee – Knoxville, a master of science in nursing and family nurse practitioner from Vanderbilt University, and a doctorate in education, administration and supervision from Tennessee State University.
“We are fortunate to have a scholar of the caliber of Dr. Alexander as our premier speaker in the inaugural launching of the Gunter-Gooding DEI Lecture series. With this series Penn State Nursing reaffirms its commitment to do all that it can to educate a diverse and inclusive future nursing workforce that will better serve all those in our multicultural society.” stated Sheldon Fields, research professor and associate dean for equity and inclusion at the Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing.
History of Gunter – Gooding
The Gunter – Gooding Lecture series is named in honor of two African American women who served as head of the Department of nursing at Penn State. Laurie Martin Gunter served as head of the Department of Nursing from 1971 to 1976, and again as interim department head from 1984 to 1985. She retired as professor emerita in 1987 after 16 years of University service. She was a well-respected researcher with a focus on nursing care of the elderly. She held Fellow status in the Gerontological Society of America and the American Academy of Nursing and was an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Gunter held a nursing diploma from Meharry Medical College, a bachelor of science in home economics from Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial University, a master of arts in education from Fisk University and a doctorate in human development from the University of Chicago. She passed away on June 15, 2015.
Marion Gooding was the fifth head of the department of nursing at Penn State and served from 1985 to 1987 when the department was part of the then College of Human Development. She also served as the dean of the School of Nursing at Tennessee State University prior to her arrival at Penn State. Gooding received her diploma in nursing from Saint Mary’s school of nursing, a bachelors and master’s in nursing from Teachers College – Columbia University, and doctorate in educational administration in higher education from Vanderbilt University.
Penn State Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing is approved with distinction as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association Approver Unit, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.