A Shenandoah University nursing professor received an impressive honor from her alma mater, the University of Florida College of Nursing in Gainesville, Florida, on Sept. 9.
Assistant Dean for Advising, Retention and Progression, Director of the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program and Professor of Nursing Marian Newton, Ph.D., is one of the University of Florida’s 60 Gator Nurse Greats, named in honor of the nursing school’s 60th anniversary.
The University of Florida College of Nursing has more than 10,000 alumni around the world, according to The Gator Nurse alumni magazine, which is profiling 20 of the Gator Nurse Greats in each of its issues this year. The selected nurses exemplify the college’s motto: “Care. Lead. Inspire.” Dr. Newton is being featured in the magazine issue focusing those nurse greats who personify the motto’s “Lead” ideal.
“I was humbled and honored to receive such recognition for the school that provided me such an outstanding education,” said Newton, who earned both her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and Master of Science in Nursing (psychiatric nursing) at the University of Florida.
The BSN provided her entrance into professional nursing “and the program infused students with the belief that a nurse could do anything in the profession with determination and relationship-building skills,” she said. A few years later, she earned her master’s, “which inspired me to do all I could to practice and care for our vulnerable psychiatric patient population and teach psychiatric nursing to inspire others to care for the needs of the psychiatric patient. I also got my start in the honor society of nursing Sigma Theta Tau, and later, helped found our Shenandoah chapter, Rho Pi.”