Welcome Back Fall 2024: A Message from Dean Villarruel (2024)

At the start of this fall semester, I welcome you—not just to the hustle of a new semester, but to a renewed chance to be part of our vibrant Penn Nursing community. We talk a lot about what we want our culture to be at the School, and for me the thing that makes the biggest difference is being deliberate about connecting with people. We need to understand how connecting reinforces our community and our health—and wards off isolation that can lead to loneliness.

August 27, 2024

Penn Nursing Dean Antonia M. Villarruel

I attended Aspen Health this summer and had the opportunity to hear U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy speak about the epidemic of loneliness in this country, and the forces at work that make us feel less whole. He notes that there are simple and deliberate things we can do to combat loneliness—for ourselves and each other: fostering kindness, empathy, and genuine human connection. This translates into simple acts of kindness, building connections with intention—picking up the phone or using Teams rather than email to communicate complex requests, limiting distractions when talking with someone, demonstrating empathy—even something as simple as asking how someone’s day is going. Another key thing we can do for ourselves is refusing to give in to doomscrolling online as a way to avoid negativity and, again, the things that make us feel less whole. Limiting your social media use in general is a healthy choice.

“–every one of us has the power to create the culture we want…”

Whether you are faculty, staff, or student at Penn Nursing, you are part of our commitment to developing leaders and healers, and we are all, together, a force for wellness. That includes your own wellness. But we need to do more than just talk about our culture—every one of us has the power to create the culture we want. It starts with individual actions, so let’s each be the leaders in building the kind of culture that binds our community together.

Our Community Grows

As we begin this academic year with an eye toward kindness and connection, we welcome many new students to our community. As of August 7, we are joined by 103 BSN, 121 MPN, 162 MSN, 11 MSNS, 42 Post-Graduate APRN Certificate, 9 PhD, 27 Nurse Anesthesia DNP, 20 Post-Master’s DNP, 18 Executive Leadership DNP, and 38 certificate and non-degree students. This includes all new students who started or are starting in Spring, Summer, or Fall of this year. Congratulations and welcome to everyone! I know all of you—our faculty and staff—have done a tremendous amount of work to ensure these students have an extraordinary educational experience and feel a part of our School.

I’d like to give a special welcome to the students in our inaugural MPN program. It’s one of my greatest joys as Dean to know that we’re responding not just to what the nursing workforce needs, but what our students need. The MPN program is truly a pioneering effort, and I’m grateful to our faculty and staff who had a hand in making it a reality.

Faculty Appointments and News

It isn’t just new students we have to welcome! Please extend a warm welcome to new Penn Nursing associated and standing faculty starting this semester:

• Marissa DeCesaris, Practice Assistant Professor, Family & Community Health
• Derek Griffith, Professor, Family & Community Health
• Patricia Griffith, Practice Associate Professor, Behavior Health Sciences
• Nia Josiah, Practice Assistant Professor, Family & Community Health
• Jeannette Kates, Assistant Professor, Behavioral Health Sciences
• Se Hee Min, Assistant Professor, Family & Community Health
• Jane Muir, Assistant Professor, Family & Community Health
• Alexa Watach, Assistant Professor, Behavioral Health Sciences
• Effy Zhiyuan Yu, Assistant Professor, Family & Community Health

New Staff

Additionally, I’m pleased to announce new staff who started with us since the beginning of spring semester:

Welcome to our community!

Opportunities to Connect

Dr. Murthy calls connecting a radical act of defiance in today’s culture—and if you like that idea as much as I do, there’s good news: many Penn Nursing events are happening over the next several months, giving us many opportunities to connect, so do keep an eye on the School calendar. In the spirit of starting the academic year off right, our annual fall semester welcome back event is scheduled for Wednesday, September 4 from 1-3PM. I hope you’ll be able to take a break from your work or studies to celebrate and strengthen our community.

In October, we’re hosting a webinar—a chance to highlight Outstanding Alumni Award winner Roberta Waite, EdD, RN. She and I will be in conversation about her work. The Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing is hosting several events this fall, including a special exhibit titled, “Through Nursing’s Lens: The Nurse in Wartime Imagery and Photographs” that you don’t want to miss. And in November we have Homecoming Weekend, something I always enjoy.

We also have an important election in the U.S. coming up on November 5. I know it’s preaching to the choir, so to speak, to say that voting is important. The Penn Nursing community is full of poll workers, elections officials, campaign volunteers, and voter registration activists. I encourage you to get involved in whatever way you can—nursing and health care are inherently political, and we must make our voices heard to have a future that supports positive health and wellness. One upcoming option is Nurses For The Vote, Chart The Future, an initiative that Penn Nursing is spearheading with Penn’s Office of Government and Community Affairs to connect our students with special nonpartisan training—you’ll find out how to register friends, fellow students, and family to vote, as well as those you may see in clinical settings. Look for that effort to launch in mid-September, and stay tuned for other opportunities.

In closing, I want to say we are going to need our connections to each other more than ever. Whether you scroll on social media or watch network news, it is all formulated to spark a reaction, feed us a constant dose of rage and despair, and keep us in an echo chamber. Just as we need to be deliberate about connecting with each other, we all need to be deliberate about creating safe spaces for diverse voices and perspectives—and learning to listen to understand rather than to react.

Thank you for being a crucial part of the Penn Nursing community—and for your acts of kindness. They do not go unnoticed. Welcome to the new academic year!

Warmly,

- Toni