Dominican Cooperator Brother named Academic Fellow

 

Aquinas College School of Nursing, in Nashville, TN, announced today that Br. Ignatius Perkins, OP, a cooperator brother of St. Joseph’s Province, was named a fellow of the Academy of nursing Education.  Br. Ignatius will be joining the other 2012 inductees.  This award is given in recognition of the great contribution Br. Ignatius has made to the field of Nursing education.  Br. Ignatius currently serves as the Dean of the School of Nursing at Aquinas College.  Below is the news release issued by Aquinas College. May 31, 2012: Nashville, TN – Aquinas College School of Nursing is pleased to announce that Brother Ignatius Perkins, O.P. has been inducted into the National League for Nursing’s Academy of Nursing Education, with the credential of “Fellow.” He joins the academy’s 117 fellows representing nursing schools and programs throughout the United States. The NLN established the Academy of Nursing Education in 2007 to foster excellence in nursing education by recognizing and capitalizing on the wisdom of nurse educators who have made sustained and significant contributions to nursing education. Fellows provide visionary leadership in nursing education. The Academy of Nursing Education supports the vision of the NLN to promote standards of excellence in nursing education that will increase the number and quality of graduates from all types of nursing programs. Fellows serve as important role models and resources for new educators and for those who aspire to become nurse educators. Said Dr. Beverly A. Malone, NLN CEO, “The National League for Nursing relies on these accomplished individuals as allies in our efforts to prepare the numbers of excellent nurse educators we need if we are to eliminate the shortage of nurses plaguing America’s health care institutions. Nurse faculty and colleagues from other fields who contribute to excellence in nursing education and to the preparation of a nursing workforce that meets the needs of our ever-changing health care environment deserve this public recognition and the gratitude of all who are eager to elevate the status of the profession.” As a newly named fellow, Brother Ignatius has been lauded for his innovative teaching/learning strategies; faculty development; academic leadership; promotion of public policy that advances nursing education; and collaborative educational, practice and community partnerships. Brother Ignatius has been recognized for his contributions to the nursing education community that arises from the unity of his life as a Dominican Friar and his life as a nurse educator. This unity is grounded in the natural law and the first principle of the Catholic moral tradition: protecting and defending the dignity, freedom and promoting flourishing of the human person. His contributions to nursing education span forty years as an educator, administrator, researcher, clinician and ethicist in schools of nursing and among many diverse clinical partners who bring healing, hope and human flourishing to the sick, each one a masterpiece of God’s creative genius. He has influenced the transformation of schools of nursing into cultures of learning and caring so that students, faculty and staff develop a new set of virtuous characteristics and embrace a new vision that he defines as the Perkins Transformation Nursing Model (TNM) that emphasizes dignity, vulnerability, compassion and presence, all leading toward human flourishing in the healing relationship in nursing. The fellowships have been awarded by the NLN Board of Governors, the oversight body of the Academy of Nursing Education. The induction of new fellows and a meeting of fellows in the Academy of Nursing Education will be held in conjunction with the NLN’s annual Education Summit in the fall. When asked what the Fellowship meant to him Brother Ignatius responded, “For me it is a special privilege to be honored by the National League for Nursing, my trusted and admired colleagues, who work at the same bench I do called nursing. These colleagues, with whom I have worked these many years, are also similarly honored by this Fellowship. The privileged work of caring for others, affirming their dignity and promoting their flourishing, can never be accomplished alone. Nursing, in all of its many domains, is a noble symphony always expressed with the belief that the centerpiece of this dynamic encounter is the human person in need of healing and hope.”