Friday, May 01, 2009
Commencement special for graduate student
 Semise Harrison-Gary will be one of more than 1,500 University of Southern Indiana students eligible to participate in 2009 Commencement at 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 10, 2009 at Roberts Stadium. Honorary, graduate, undergraduate, and associate degrees will be awarded during the ceremony. USI President H. Ray Hoops will deliver the Commencement address.Harrison-Gary is receiving a master’s degree in nursing in the family nurse practitioner track. She has received national recognition from two minority nursing associations. She got her first glimpse of Evansville in late summer 2005, rolling into town in a Dodge Grand Caravan with her mother, four children, two dogs, and a cat. Back home, Hurricane Katrina made living conditions in New Orleans unbearable. A close family friend had delivered a trailer load of donated goods from Evansville to the stricken area. She decided to follow him back, not knowing then how long she would stay. Before leaving for Evansville, Harrison-Gary spent 10 days at a shelter in Eunice, Louisiana. “This shelter was unlike the ones you saw on television,” she said. “It was at a church. Parishioners manned it 24 hours a day, and the community poured in support. “I went into nursing mode. Before we left, people were calling me Dr. Quinn.” In New Orleans, Harrison-Gary was a patient care coordinator for the advanced heart failure clinic in the heart transplant department at Ochsner Clinic Foundation. She also has experience as a parish nurse. At the shelter, she and another nurse did a health assessment. They identified and met needs, including caring for pregnant women, isolating a kidney-transplant patient to keep him safe from infection, accompanying patients to the emergency room, and sanitizing the sleeping gear. Harrison-Gary’s connection to the USI nursing program began with a phone conversation. Representatives of Governor Mitch Daniels’ office called her regularly in the first weeks following evacuation. Already a registered nurse with an associate degree, she indicated an interest in remaining in Evansville to advance her education. The governor’s office put her in touch with Dr. Ann White, assistant dean for nursing. Harrison-Gary enrolled in the RN-MSN program in January 2006. At the same time she took a job as a cardiology staff nurse at The Heart Hospital at Deaconess Gateway Hospital. She completed a bachelor’s degree in nursing in 2007. She is a member of USI’s Omicron Psi chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International, a nursing honor society. Upon graduation from the master’s program, she wants to work in primary care as a family nurse practitioner with the underserved and uninsured. “Many illnesses can be minimized or even prevented with early consideration, detection, education, and treatment,” she said. “It is my experience that when people are equipped with education and competent medical advice tailored to their level of understanding, they make appropriate decisions, adjust modifiable risk factors, and comply with prescribed therapy.” On the path to a graduate degree, Harrison-Gary received scholarships from national nursing organizations. In 2006 and 2007, she was awarded scholarships from the National Black Nurses Association (NBNA). In 2007, she was selected to represent the NBNA in the Aetna Scholars/National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Associations (NCEMNA) program. Its goal is to increase the number of ethnic minority nurses and focus their attention on eliminating health disparities. This year Harrison-Gary received another honor. The Aetna Scholars/NCEMNA program selected her as one of 10 scholars for a mentoring program. Her mentor is Dr. Hilda Richards, a past NBNA president. Harrison-Gary’s mother has returned to New Orleans to live. Her two older children (Arvell, 23, and Wayne, 20) have moved to other cities. She and her two younger children (Oliska, 16, and Caleb, 11) expect a family gathering in Evansville for USI Commencement on May 10. Betty Vawter News and Information Services bvawter@usi.edu |
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