A Hope College student and professor each received individual recognition for excellence during the recent induction and installation ceremony of the Kappa Epsilon Chapter-at-Large of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.
The chapter presented senior Kalin TerHaar of Zeeland with its "Excellence in Student Performance Award" and Vicki Voskuil, assistant professor of nursing, with its "Excellence in Nursing Education Award."
The event was held on Saturday, Nov. 15, at Calvin College in Grand Rapids. The chapter includes the Calvin College, Ferris State University, Grand Valley State University and Hope nursing programs.
In addition, Dr. Nancy Barnum, assistant professor of nursing, received a Sigma Theta Tau International Research Grant to support her project, "Why Do Nurses Need So Much Education? The Social, Political, Practice, Educational, and Gender Issues That Influenced Nursing Education's Move from the Hospital to Collegiate Setting."
Also during the ceremony on November 15, students from each of the four schools were inducted into the society. The students from Hope who were inducted included TerHaar as well as: Kristi Dannenberg, Roxanne Fishnick, Eden Jager, Susan Kioko, Elise Regula, Jami Rubin, Shannon Schamback, Kara Tabor, Kalin Terhaar, Mallory VanderKooi, Sara Warner, Katie Wieringa, Dan Wood and Michelle Zeitter.
The Hope faculty who nominated TerHaar praised her for her strong academic, clinical, research and leadership skills. After graduation she plans to work in a hospital specializing in pediatrics with the hope of eventually attending graduate school to become a nursing professor.
In addition to her academic work, she is active as a volunteer, her activities including participating in the student-organized Dance Marathon on behalf of Helen DeVos Children's Hospital; assisting patients at Holland Hospital with transportation; serving as a youth leader and Sunday school teacher at her church, First Reformed of Zeeland; and the college's spring break mission trip program. She is a 2005 graduate of Zeeland East High School and the daughter of Cliff and Cindy TerHaar of Zeeland.
Voskuil has taught at Hope since 2004. Her colleagues who nominated her praised her for embodying excellence in teaching, scholarship and service. They applauded her in particular for emphasizing hands-on, interactive classroom activities; adding clinical lessons to the beginning-level Health Assessment course; increasing cultural-care awareness in the Family Health Nursing course; and co-curricular involvement, such as her service as faculty advisor for the Nurses Christian Fellowship student group.
Her specializations are pediatric nursing and pediatric primary care, and she joined the college's faculty with 15 years of experience as a pediatric nurse or nurse practitioner. Immediately prior to coming to Hope, she was a pediatric nurse practitioner at the N.E.W. Community Clinic in Green Bay, Wis. She had also been a pediatric nurse practitioner with Pediatric Associates in San Jose, Calif., and University of Michigan Hospitals in Ann Arbor; and a pediatric staff nurse with C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor.
Voskuil graduated from Calvin College in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree through what was then a program offered jointly by Hope and Calvin colleges, and completed her Master of Science through the Parent-Child Nursing Program of the University of Michigan in 1994. In addition to Sigma Theta Tau, she is a member of professional associations including the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP), the NAPNAP Child Care Special Interest Group, and the Michigan Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners.
Founded in 1922, Sigma Theta Tau International seeks to support the learning, knowledge and professional development of nurses committed to making a difference in health worldwide. The society's activities include contributing funds for nursing research; producing publications including the peer-reviewed "Journal of Nursing Scholarship"; and supporting education and research conferences, and continuing-education and career-development programs. The society has some 463 chapters on college campuses around the world, and more than 130,000 active members in 86 countries.
The college joined the Kappa Epsilon Chapter-at-Large in 1996. In April 2007, then-senior Ashley Bainbridge and faculty member Catherine Clarey-Sanford received the "Excellence in Undergraduate Student Performance Award" and the "Excellence in Nursing Education Award" respectively.