Helen O’Shea RN PhD will receive the 2011 Distinguished Emeritus Award this fall. She is one of four health sciences faculty members who are being honored by the Emory University Emeritus College (EUEC). When O’Shea retired in 2003, she had served 32 years with the School of Nursing, where she chaired adult and elder health nursing and directed the BSN program. To honor her commitment to teaching, the school established the Helen O’Shea Scholarship Fund for BSN students.
O’Shea did not stop teaching after retiring. She inaugurated the Emory Summer Nursing Teaching Institute, a fast-track program to help master’s-prepared nurses become skilled educators. She also instructed four female physicians from Tblisi, Georgia, on how to teach nursing and worked with them to develop the nation’s first baccalaureate nursing program. Their collaboration resulted in a mission statement, program outcomes, a curriculum, and syllabi for 28 nursing courses.