The University of Maryland School of Nursing (UMSON) commemorated its 130th anniversary on September 21 with a gala honoring its impact on nursing education and its continued leadership in Maryland and around the world.
At the gala, the school inducted five new alumni Visionary Pioneers, who are selected for their significant impact on, and contribution to, the field of nursing based on their leadership, innovation or entrepreneurship.
The new Visionary Pioneers join the 25 alumni recognized on the occasion of UMSON’s 125th anniversary in 2014. Every five years, UMSON names an additional five Visionary Pioneers to this esteemed group composed of alumni who have rendered distinctive service to nursing and health care through clinical practice, education or scholarship and research.
The newly inducted Visionary Pioneers include: Bertha L. Davis, PhD, MS ’77; Robin Newhouse, PhD ’00; Rear Adm. Sylvia Trent-Adams, PhD, MS ’99; Margaret Chamberlain Wilmoth, PhD, MS ’79; and local Lithia resident Kathleen Milholland Hunter, PhD ’89, MS ’81, BSN ’76, FAAN, former professor, Chamberlain University College of Nursing, who was recognized posthumously.
Hunter was instrumental in the development of the American Nursing Association publication Nursing Informatics: Scope and Standards of Practice and was one of the original designers of the TIGER-based Assessment of Nursing Informatics Competencies© (TANIC), an online assessment tool now used globally.
In the informatics field, she advocated for adopting inclusionary language, such as “health care informatics,” that reflected nursing’s role. She was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing just prior to her death in 2018.
Hunter’s brother, Arthur J. Milholland, MD, accepted the award on the family’s behalf.
“It takes considerable fortitude and resiliency to reach 130 years, and the School of Nursing has an enviable record of accomplishments and ‘firsts’ over the course of these years,” said Dean Jane Kirschling, PhD, RN, FAAN, in a welcome letter included in the gala program. “No institution—particularly one with a compelling history such as ours—can rest on legacy alone…”
The University of Maryland School of Nursing, founded in 1889, is one of the oldest and largest nursing schools in the nation and is ranked among the top nursing schools nationwide. Visit https://www.nursing.umaryland.edu/.
