The past year at the UW Oshkosh College of Nursing (CON) has been full of wondrous things, not the least of which is my own enlightenment. I have learned so much about the University and our programs that has made me even prouder to be here.

I am thrilled to report that we had a successful Grand Opening and dedication of our new spaces in the Clow Complex. The beautiful state-of-the-art spaces and equipment, along with our fabulous history wall, provide the ideal environment for planning the future. Thanks to a very successful Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) accreditation visit, our programs continue to be accredited for years to come.

Our devoted and exceptional clinical partners and alumni continue to support our students with placements and generous scholarships. The Nightingale Awards dinner had an unprecedented turn out. Our clinical partners enabled us to expand the Traditional BSN and Accelerated BSN cohort numbers and support our pursuit of a nurse anesthetist emphasis.

We developed a new CON strategic plan that is consistent with the new University plan. In part, we plan to strengthen our publication and grant-writing success. We turned our nursing research office into a Center for Nursing Research staffed part-time with our statistician, librarian colleagues and a grant specialist. We look forward to welcoming our first associate dean for research and scholarship. We anticipate offering a DNP nurse anesthetist program emphasis starting in summer 2017.

We have worked hard to create a Simulation Training Center that will provide opportunities to people both within and outside the University to make use of our high-fidelity simulation mannequins and rooms. We also are exploring inter-professional education and new study-abroad experiences.

Finally, we are starting to plan our 50th anniversary gala for Oct. 22, 2016. We want it to be a celebration that does justice to the glorious history and amazing work of our colleagues and predecessors. We plan to install a time capsule that will contain items that will tell our story to those who come after us. Please join us in planning and consider contributing something to the time capsule. Here’s to another wonderful year!

Best regards, Leslie Neal-Boylan Ph.D., CRRN, APNP, FAAN Dean and Professor