Connell School Pinnacle Lecture hosts Holly Powell Kennedy

Holly Powell Kennedy, the Helen Varney Professor Emerita of Midwifery at the Yale University School of Nursing, will address how nurses and midwives can ensure accessible, high-quality care in the face of fewer resources and increasingly complex health care financing at the Connell School of Nursing’s fall Pinnacle Lecture on October 20 at 5 p.m. in the Yawkey Center’s Murray Room.

Each semester, the Connell School brings an inspiring leader to campus to speak on an issue at the forefront of health care. Kennedy’s lecture is free and open to all Boston College students, faculty, staff, and alumni, as well as preceptors, practitioners, and scholars.

As the Dr. Maureen P. McCausland Pinnacle Keynote Speaker, Kennedy will present “Meeting the Moment: Delivering Excellence in an Era of Health Care Scarcity.” The past president of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), she was honored in 2016 with the prestigious Hattie Hemschemeyer Award, ACNM’s highest honor. The choice of a nurse-midwife as the invited speaker coincides with the Connell School’s launch earlier this year of its M.S. in Nurse-Midwifery program, which welcomed its first students in May.

Kennedy is an accomplished practitioner, educator, and researcher whose career has spanned multiple nursing disciplines—from nurse-midwifery to family health to critical care. Her research is focused on a greater understanding of the effectiveness and outcomes of specific models of care during the childbearing years, especially in support of childbearing physiology. She was awarded a Fulbright Distinguished Fellowship to King’s College London in 2008 and is a Fulbright Specialist. She also is a retired colonel in the United States Army Nurse Corps Reserve.

In her talk, Kennedy will share practical strategies for enhancing clinical practice, advancing nursing education, and driving meaningful research, all while sustaining professional fulfillment in demanding times. Her lecture will be followed by an audience Q&A.

To register for the event, or learn more about the lecture series, visit CSON's Pinnacle webpage.