Pediatric expert appointed to first SON endowed chair

(6-21-2000) The Boston College School of Nursing has announced the appointment of Judith Vessey, a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, to the Lelia Holden Carroll Professorship in Nursing. Vessey will begin her five-year renewable term as inaugural holder of SON's first endowed professorship in July.

A faculty associate in the schools of Professional Studies and Medicine at Johns Hopkins, Vessey is a certified pediatric nurse practitioner and a leading nurse researcher in the field of developmental pediatrics with a specialty in childhood pain.

"We are delighted to welcome Judy to the School of Nursing," said SON Dean Barbara Hazard Munro. "She has a national reputation as a great teacher and researcher and superb clinician. Her research into childhood pain -- both physical and emotional -- is important work given what is happening in our nation's schools and it fits in nicely with our other research projects."

The Carroll professorship was established in 1996 by a gift from Lelia Holden Carroll, who graduated from the Morton Hospital School of Nursing and worked as a registered nurse. The Carroll family has long been committed to, and involved with, Boston College. Carroll's late husband, Wallace E. Carroll '28, a former University trustee and benefactor, is the namesake of the Carroll School of Management. Three of the Carrolls' four children and several grandchildren have attended BC.

"Mrs. Carroll is still loyal, faithful and interested in the nursing profession, and wanted to endow this professorship to benefit the School of Nursing in perpetuity," said Senior Vice President James P. McIntyre. "We are grateful to the Carroll family for their gift which enables us to attract someone of Judy's caliber," Munro said.

Vessey is a contributor to, and co-editor of, the award-winning book Primary Care of the Child with a Chronic Condition and has published dozens of book chapters and journal articles. She served as associate editor of the esteemed journal Nursing Research and currently serves on its editorial board and the editorial boards of Journal of Pediatric Nursing, Journal of Child and Family Research and Pediatric Nursing. She has recently been awarded a three-year grant from the National Institute for Nursing Research for her study of teasing and bullying among 11 to 14 year-olds.

Vessey said the position appealed to her for a variety of reasons. "The Boston College School of Nursing has always been highly regarded," she said. "I have the highest respect for Barbara [Munro] and BC nursing students. In my encounters with School of Nursing graduates, I have been impressed with their thinking skills and the way they synthesize information."

Munro said Vessey will conduct research, teach pediatric nursing and guest lecture, among other duties. "All levels of students will have exposure to her," said Munro.

Vessey received a bachelor's degree in nursing from Goshen College in Indiana and a developmental pediatric nurse practitioner certificate from the University of Miami School of Nursing. She also earned a master of science degree in nursing and a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, Vessey holds a business of medicine certificate from Johns Hopkins and is an MBA candidate in the university's School of Professional Studies.

Before joining Johns Hopkins in 1995, Vessey was a member of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences faculty. She served as an associate professor and full professor in the UAMS College of Nursing, and as an assistant professor in the College of Medicine Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry. She also worked as a pediatric nursing research facilitator at the Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock.

Her honors include a 1995 Award for Excellence in Fostering Professional Standards from Sigma Theta Tau, the nursing honor society, and the Ten Year Service Award from the American Red Cross. Her book Primary Care of the Child with a Chronic Condition was named a Best Book of 1996 by Nurse Practitioner and Book of the Year by Pediatric Nursing.