Rho Omega Chapter Receives Key Award
Members of the Rho Omega Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing gather with several members of the Sigma Theta Tau Board of Directors. Pictured left to right: Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) Director Tim Porter O’Grady, Stephanie Powelson, Brinda Geisbuhler, Stephen Hadwiger, STTI CEO Nancy Dickenson-Hazard, STTI President Dan Pesut, Mariquit “Kit” Hadwiger, Martha Smith, Rebecca McClanahan and Sharon McGahan.
Rho Omega Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing received the Chapter Key Award from Sigma Theta Tau International during the 38th Biennial Convention on Nov. 15, in Indianapolis, Ind.
The Chapter Key Award was established by Sigma Theta Tau in 1991 to honor chapters who excel in membership recruitment and retention, publicity and programming, and professional and leadership development. Application for the Chapter Key Award requires rigorous planning and monitoring of chapter activities during a two-year period for each award cycle. Rho Omega chapter received its charter into Sigma Theta Tau International two years ago at the 37th Biennial Convention in Toronto, Canada.
To receive the Chapter Key Award during the first two years of chapter status was a special honor. When notification of the award was received on Sept. 15, one comment from the judges stated, “This entry is so professionally well-done that it can serve as a model for other young chapters.” Members of Rho Omega were supported in their efforts to achieve the Chapter Key Award by members of Pi Pi Chapter in Blessing-Rieman School of Nursing, Quincy, Ill.
Rho Omega contributed to the 38th Biennial Convention in other ways in addition to receiving the Chapter Key Award. Stephanie Powelson, associate professor of nursing; Mariquit “Kit” Hadwiger, assistant professor of nursing; and Stephen Hadwiger, associate professor of nursing, moderated international research sessions.
Several Truman faculty were oral presenters from Rho Omega at the 38th Biennial Convention. Stephen Hadwiger presented “Issues in Conducting Ethnography: A Confessional Tale of an Anglo American Researcher and a Hispanic Woman with Diabetes.” “Kit” Hadwiger presented “International Learning Represented by Nursing Students during Study Abroad in the Philippines.”
Rebecca McClanahan, assistant professor of nursing, presented “Metaphors and Musings: Nursing Students’ Understanding of the Lived Experience of Mental Illness.”
McClanahan also presented the poster “Making Meaning: Aesthetic Expression and Nursing Students’ Understanding of the Lived Experience of Mental Illness.” Powelson and Sharon McGahan, assistant professor of nursing, presented a poster session titled, “Digital Storytelling: Blending Creativity and Technology.”
The 38th Biennial Convention was attended by 1,993 people from 27 different countries and 387 chapters. Sigma Theta Tau International represents more than 360,000 nurses from more than 90 countries. Its mission is to provide leadership and scholarship in practice, education and research to enhance the health of all people.
