Report to Community

Welcome to our latest Report to Community! This is a wrap-up, of sorts, to our final year of our 2017 - 2024 strategic plan. Later this summer, we will share our vision for UCalgary Nursing, launching us into the next six years (2024 – 2030) and I am truly excited about the direction we are headed. It has been shaped by the goals we set out over seven years ago and I am proud to say that our faculty not only anticipated many trends in nursing education, but has been at the forefront in Canada of implementing positive change.   

As you will read in this summary, we have advanced our leadership in scholarship, innovation and educational initiatives. Community-based projects like The Health Systems Transformation Initiative (HIVE), which kicked off with its first event in January, will continue as a place to engage academic colleagues, community and industry partners in the co-creation of digital health solutions. Development in our research portfolios moved forward when our second Canada Research Chair was announced in March. And as we move forward into 2025, we will see our Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree welcome 250 undergraduate students this fall while the intake in our graduate certificate program will top 150.  

This marks my last Report to Community message as UCalgary Nursing dean. I moved to my new role as provost and vice-president (academic) of the university on July 1, but I will be watching the progress of this amazing faculty of dedicated individuals from that position. 

I have been honoured to work alongside so many brilliant minds as together we have shaped a strong community of health-care professionals innovating change for our future. Onward! 

Dr. Sandra Davidson 
Former Dean, UCalgary Nursing 

Dr. Nicole Letourneau received grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) totalling almost $5 million for two of her flagship programs of research. 

Her team’s Alliance against Violence & Adversity Training Hub is a health research platform training scholars to work with community-based organizations to improve the lives of girls and women affected by gender-based violence and early childhood adversity. The Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition study, which began 15 years ago, is a long-term pregnancy cohort study examining what predicts mental health in mothers and best outcomes in children and what predicts depression and resilience in youth.

Research has shown that, for a critically ill newborns, routinely receiving hands-on care from their family is good for their brain development, among other benefits. Dr. Karen Benzies and her team’s Alberta FICare model, now implemented in all 14 NICUs across Alberta, invites parents to be in the NICU up to 24 hours a day with their baby, changing diapers, feeding them, having skin-to-skin contact and participating in bedside rounds with the medical team. 

The Faculty of Nursing's Rural Community Route is a distinctive pathway within our nursing program designed for those passionate about making a difference in rural and underserved communities. 

This specialized route offers a unique blend of hands-on experience, community-focused education, and personalized support for nursing students to tackle unique challenges faced in rural health-care settings.

Thanks to a 525 per cent increase in gift amounts for this year’s Giving Day, UCalgary Nursing’s Advancement Team received 2024’s Advancing Impact Award from UCalgary Advancement. Most funds will be directed to Power in Numbers, an initiative created over seven years ago to support undergraduate nursing students experiencing short-term financial stress.