This publication debuted in March 1975 as a one-color, four-page newsletter called Reflections. It eventually evolved to a four-color, 56-page magazine called Reflections on Nursing Leadership and, in 2005, migrated from print to online, with new content now posted virtually every day. No matter what its format and mode of delivery, RNL has played a key role in keeping members of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) informed about their organization and the contributions its members make to the health of people worldwide.
One of the pleasures I have as editor of RNL is communicating with STTI members around the world. Two of them are Shannon E. Perry, PhD, RN, FAAN, and Jan Lamarche Zdanuk, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, CNS, CWS, FACCWS, FAANP.
In 1975, the same year Reflections debuted, Zdanuk graduated with a BSN from Arizona State University (ASU) School of Nursing—now ASU College of Nursing & Health Innovation. In 2007, with 32 years of clinical practice behind her, she was ready to take another major step. She asked Perry, her former professor and mentor at ASU, to recommend her for the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program at Texas Woman’s University (TWU) College of Nursing in Dallas, Texas, USA.
Perry, professor emerita at San Francisco State University School of Nursing in San Francisco, California, USA, did recommend her former student for the DNP program. Zdanuk expressed her appreciation in a letter to Perry, who passed the letter on to me in an e-mail: “It touched me deeply,” Perry wrote. “I asked her permission to forward it, since it is a marvelous tribute to the influence of STTI on career and personal development. … I don’t know if you can use this in any way but at least share it with those who might be interested.”
I share it here, in condensed form, with readers of Reflections on Nursing Leadership. It is a tribute to STTI. It is also a tribute to a caring professor and a very determined student.
Hello, Shannon,
When you reviewed my academic and community service record at ASU and invited me to apply for induction into STTI under your guidance, I had reservations. I was 20 years old, a transfer student from a community college in Southern California and living in the old Grady Gammage Hall. I was destitute, but that was all I could afford. It was viewed by some on campus as living on the other side of the tracks.
I worked every job I could get to pay for the out-of-state tuition, books and room at ASU. I worked as a resident advisor in the dorm, a medical assistant at the student health center and weekends as a waitress at the Plankhouse Restaurant—while taking a full course load. There was no money in my budget for a college meal plan, so I cooked on a hot plate in my room. I seriously could not afford the STTI induction fee, but was too embarrassed to tell you, so I ate hot pot tomato soup (ketchup and water) instead of buying food and used that money to pay the fee. Cooking in my room was against university rules and probably an infraction of fire and safety codes, but it was my means of survival at the time. You were very persistent and kept reminding me to get the money in before the deadline.
My room was so tiny there was space only for a desk, and not much more. All the dormitory residents had to sleep in a large room called a sleeping porch that had swamp coolers with fans to circulate the air. Over the course of the semester, I developed a cough, and I was banned from the sleeping porch because my cough kept everyone awake at night. I ended up on a sleeping bag and beanbag pillow in my tiny room.
The health center saw me multiple times for the cough and I was told it was an allergy, since I was new to the desert. I was given a prescription for Drixoral and sent on my way. After graduating from ASU, I took a physical for the Air Force and was told that my screening X-ray showed a lesion the size of a 50-cent coin in my lung. That was subsequently diagnosed as coccidiomycosis. I later learned it was endemic to the Valley of the Sun. My cough was just my body trying to expel what I had newly been exposed to in Tempe, Arizona. Grady Gammage Hall was later condemned as student living quarters, due to black mold and asbestos.
Besides the gentle prodding, unconditional support and encouragement you gave me, Shannon, you also found me a child development class at Mesa Community College at a less expensive tuition rate than the university, which saved me considerable money. I don’t ever remember telling you I was poor, but I guess you sensed it. Many professors would not have taken the extra time to help me figure it out or go the extra mile, but you did.
I graduated from ASU just before Christmas in 1975. I was later nominated by the faculty for the Most Outstanding Graduating Nurse Award at ASU. I know that you and your colleagues recommended me to receive this honor. I was very involved in community service through Angel Flight and the ASU Associates Program. My mom and dad instilled in us that it was more important to give than to receive, and I have carried that with me wherever I go. My first nursing job was at Maricopa County Medical Center on 24th Street in Phoenix on the pediatrics unit. The rest is history.
Over the years, I have mentored nursing students, two of whom are my younger sisters, Mary and Fran. I also mentored my niece, Katie; a friend, Jessica; and many more nursing students. The kindnesses you bestowed upon me, Shannon, I have joyfully been able to extend to other nurses here and in Africa, as well. Your acts of kindness live on through the lives and good works of other nurses you have never met and, hopefully, this will continue on forever.
Being able to affiliate with and be a part of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International has been a real honor for me. This particular achievement and recognition has influenced my being offered various clinical nursing positions throughout my career, admission to graduate school and nurse practitioner school as well. So, as I apply to the TWU DNP program, it seems we have come full circle together. I still have to write my admissions essay and go for a formal interview. I have the usual anxieties and curriculum questions, since this is the first DNP class at Texas Woman’s University. My collaborating physician and colleague NPs think I am certifiable for the locked mental unit for even thinking about enrolling in a doctoral program while working a full-time practice.
My answer is: I will never know if I don’t at least try. I am not content to rest on my laurels waiting to be grandfathered in as an NP in the future, when the need exists now for more advanced practice nurses at the doctoral level. My strength has always been in clinical practice and, after 32 years, I feel very blessed to still have a passion for nursing.
I owe much of my success to your careful mentoring, kindness and, most of all, unconditional support. I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Shannon.
Your friend and former student at ASU,
Jan Lamarche Zdanuk
The rest of the story
Reflections on Nursing Leadership has evolved dramatically from the four-page, black-and-white newsletter that first appeared in 1975. Jan Lamarche Zdanuk, a member of ASU School of Nursing’s Class of 1975, has also evolved, both educationally and professionally. She has now earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree and, in August 2010, was inducted as a fellow into the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. She presently works in a community clinic, caring for the medically underserved and teaching in a graduate nursing program. She has made more than 25 medical mission trips to Africa and Central America, teaching nurses and health care workers how to prevent illness and improve population health.
The mission of Reflections on Nursing Leadership is “to communicate nurses’ contributions and relevance to the health of people worldwide.” As that mission is fulfilled, the vision for the honor society—“to create a global community of nurses who lead in using knowledge, scholarship, service and learning to improve the health of the world’s people”—is also fulfilled. A 36-year member of STTI, Jan Lamarche Zdanuk continues to help fulfill that vision, improving health globally through leadership, scholarship, service and translation of knowledge. RNL
Note: In addition to Perry, other STTI members have also mentored Zdanuk along her educational path. At Northwestern State University of Louisiana, where she attended graduate school, Zdanuk was mentored by Patricia E. Thompson, EdD, RN, FAAN, now chief executive officer of STTI. At Texas Woman’s University, she was mentored by Susan E. Chaney, EdD, RN, FNP-C, FAANP, and Peggy Mancuso, PhD, RN, CNM.
