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Oct. 19, 2006 • Volume 15 Number 4
Patricia Tabloski, left, and Catherine Read. (Photo by Chad Minnich)
CSON Fills Dean Positions with Tabloski and Read
By Kathleen Sullivan
Staff Writer
Connell School of Nursing faculty members Catherine Read and Patricia Tabloski have been appointed to fill key leadership positions in the school's academic programs, CSON announced recently.
Read, an associate professor in the Adult Health Department, will serve as associate dean for undergraduate programs, while Tabloski - an associate professor and former chair in the Adult Health Department - is associate dean of CSON graduate studies.
Read, who joined Boston College in 2001 as an assistant professor, is a researcher in the field of health promotion and psychological adaptation in persons with, or at risk for, genetic disease, and last year co-chaired a National Institute on Aging-sponsored conference on aging and genetic technology.
A CSON faculty member since 1998, Tabloski has focused her nursing care and research in the areas of hospice and long-term care, care of the elderly, and sleep improvement in those with Alzheimer's disease. In addition, Tabloski is director of a newly established graduate program in palliative care at the Connell School [see story].
CSON Dean Barbara Hazard hailed the appointments as a boon to the school's academic, professional and outreach missions.
"Cathy brings extraordinary knowledge of the core curriculum, as well as the School of Nursing curriculum to the job. She has an amazing ability to relate to students, parents, faculty, and staff," said Hazard. "She hears them and finds creative solutions to their issues. Cathy is playing a major role with our partners in clinical settings to devise new models for the education of nurses.
"Pat is recognized nationally for her expertise in the care of the elderly, and her research has resulted in new strategies for improving the care of aged clients.
"Pat has been a leader in advancing our graduate programs. Our new palliative care program is a testament to Pat's determination and commitment to current societal needs. This expands the focus on end of life care, which has been of interest to ethicists, social workers, and others at BC."
Read is a senior nurse scientist at the Center for Nursing Excellence at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and a member of a research team at Boston University School of Medicine. She also serves on the Burlington Board of Health.
A graduate of the University of Illinois-Chicago, Read also holds a master of science in physiology from the University of Illinois-Urbana, a master of science in nursing from Salem State College and a doctorate from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. In 2002, UMass-Lowell honored Read with the Francis Cabot Lowell Young Alumni Award for Health Professions.
"This is my 30th year as a nurse and I have to say it is the most exciting time for the nursing profession," she said. "Job prospects are great for nurses. I have fielded a lot of calls from those interested in our undergrad program. We had 25 internal transfers into CSON last year."
Discussing this increased interest in nursing, Read said, "When I sit and talk with students they speak about their desire to go to work every day and help people. Nursing is such a personally rewarding career.
"There is no better place to teach or study nursing than Boston College."
Read said her goals include fostering partnerships with the Romance Languages Department to bolster foreign language proficiency among nursing students and attracting more men into nursing. On another front, Read noted that in January, eight CSON undergrads will join two CSON master's students and two faculty members for a community health for-credit trip to a camp in Nicaragua.
Tabloski is a fellow in the Gerontological Society of America and a senior nurse scientist at the Center for Nursing Excellence. She earned a bachelor's degree from Purdue University, a master of science in nursing from Seton Hall University and a doctorate from the University of Rochester.
Offering a brief overview of the state of graduate studies at CSON, Tabloski said, "Our most popular program is the master's reentry program, where non-nurses with bachelor's degree complete two years of full time study to earn a master's degree in advanced practice nursing. The nurse anesthetist program has been highly successful. Our recent graduation class achieved 100 percent certification.
"It is a great time to be in nursing. I've worked a lot of places and BC is the best."
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