The University of Kentucky College of Nursing is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and in honor of this significant milestone, the college honored outstanding alumni for their countless accomplishments and contributions within the Commonwealth and across the nation, at a brunch in their honor held at the Lansdowne Signature Club over UK's Homecoming weekend.
For the more than 5,000 alumni who have graduated from the College of Nursing since the first graduating class in 1964, their connection to the college has had both personal and institutional dimensions. Alumni have built rewarding careers and in doing so, have helped to advance the college's reputation through their contributions to the profession as well as to meeting the health care needs of Kentuckians and others.
“It is very exciting to recognize the contributions of College of Nursing alumni as part of our 50th anniversary year long celebration," said Jane Kirschling, dean of the College of Nursing. "Each of the alumni who were honored are an important part of the College’s legacy. Their contributions over the years exemplify that UK nursing alumni are committed to nursing excellence and that individually and collectively they make a difference in the lives of those they serve. To each, I send my heartfelt appreciation for proving, year after year, that partnership and collaboration are still the most powerful tools in health care.”
Among the fifty outstanding alumni honored at the alumni brunch was IU School of Nursing faculty member Janet S. Carpenter. Carpenter completed her bachelors’ degree in nursing from Oakland University, Rochester, Mich. in 1988, her masters in nursing from the University of Kentucky in 1992, and her doctorate from UK in 1996. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Behavioral Sciences at the University of Kentucky School of Medicine in 1998. Carpenter’s research focuses on menopausal symptom management including: description of incidence and impact of symptoms, discovering physiological mechanisms, addressing measurement issues, and evaluating effects of behavioral and pharmacological interventions. She developed a measure of vasomotor symptom interference on daily life that is widely requested by international colleagues and is being used in national and international clinical trials of behavioral and pharmacological therapies. She was the first nurse to evaluate a fully ambulatory objective hot flash monitor and has partnered with industry to improve its hardware and software. Requests from international colleagues have resulted in her training nine different organizations in three countries on its use in clinical studies. Her work has been funded by the American Cancer Society, the Oncology Nursing Society Foundation, the Department of Defense, and the National Institutes of Health. She has received several honors and awards and has presented her work nationally and internationally.
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