The 20 students participated in the Kentucky-Princeton Undergraduate Summer Institute on Inequality, sponsored by the Princeton University Center for Human Values. Through academic study, field study and service learning, the participants explored various theories of what inequality is and why it matters and examined how inequality affects people across sectors of society and aspects of their lives such as housing, justice and health.

Carmen Mitchell, a UofL School of Public Health and Information Sciences doctoral student, helped with the institute, serving as a local resource and residing with the group in Kurz Hall. She was impressed by the conversations, listening to “the participants connecting what they are learning with their own experiences. That’s one of the best parts, actually – them getting to interact freely, not being graded, building relationships and friendships as well.”

Mitchell also presented to the group on her focus area of health policy, particularly in health disparities. In giving a public health overview, she wanted to identify some of the barriers such as provider access, rural care and a history of racism and sexism. “It’s very complicated.”

“More than memorizing facts, I want the students to have a framework for how to talk about the issues,” Mitchell said.

After morning seminars in the Overseers House on Belknap Campus, the students ventured out to various sites in Louisville, including Churchill Downs and the Backside Learning Center, an environmental justice tour, a meeting with the mayor and a civil rights history driving tour developed by UofL’s Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research. Central Kentucky tours took them to a Pathways Inc. health clinic, a horse farm and a distillery. Capping off the week was a Saturday service learning project to participate in New Directions Housing Corp.’s Repair Affair on a Louisville house.

Micah Castanon, a UofL philosophy and sociology major and Pan-African studies minor, was looking forward to the hands-on nature of the service project after the week of an institute he described as “really good and super relevant.”

The Glasgow student was interested in the experience because of “the prospect of gathering practical learning of equality and inequality – who it affects – and being able to carry it away from here and implement it in actions and everyday decisions.”

UofL philosophy professor Avery Kolers and Anna Stilz, Princeton professor of politics with the University Center for Human Values, coordinated the institute. Additional faculty participants were from several UofL departments as well as Western Kentucky University, Eastern Kentucky University and University of Kentucky. The faculty volunteered their time, and the students had an all-expenses-paid educational experience.

In October, the students will go to Princeton for a weekend to learn from faculty presenters there and to work on op-ed writing projects together, as well as visit Trenton, New Jersey, Stilz said.

The institute “brings a lot of depth” to an academic experience, she said. “It adds a lot to your understanding. The students are fantastic.”

The summer institute was the first of its kind; organizers plan to gauge its impact and possibly offer future seminars, varying the topics annually to look at other questions about values in public life.

Six outstanding nurses who have excelled in providing patient care, impacted the profession of nursing and improved the health of Kentuckians have been chosen to receive the 4th annual University of Louisville School of Nursing Florence Nightingale Awards in Nursing.

The 2017 Nightingale Awards recipients are:

Kristin Ashford, PhD, WHNP-BC, FAAN, and Gwen Moreland, DNP, RN, NE-BC. Ashford, associate dean of undergraduate faculty and interprofessional education affairs at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing, and Moreland, assistant chief nurse executive at Kentucky Children’s Hospital, developed PATHways (Perinatal Assistance and Treatment Home) to address the needs of opioid-addicted pregnant women. Using a group model with peer-support and life skills training, the program empowers women to take an active role in their pregnancy, participate in group counseling and develop relationships with peers and health care providers before and after their babies are born. As a result, UK HealthCare has reduced the average intensive care stay for babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome from 29 to 23 days, with the average infant stay for moms in the PATHways program at 5.8 days.

Mary Beth Hurley, RN, ASN. Hurley has dedicated her career and personal life to improving the lives of low-income families in Owensboro. She goes beyond her duties as a nurse at Hager Preschool to mentor young mothers, accompany children to dental surgeries and check on students during weekends and school breaks. The Mary Beth Hurley Medical Trust Fund was established to provide funding for Hager Preschool students’ medical, dental and vision services. She collaborates with the UofL School of Nursing bachelor of science in nursing degree program in Owensboro to coordinate students’ clinical observations of the school nurse role.

Susan Jones, PhD, RN, CNE, ANEF. Jones has championed health care for rural populations and underserved areas. In her role at Western Kentucky University’s Institute for Rural Health, Jones coordinates a monthly visit with interdisciplinary students and faculty to present culturally sensitive health education and provide clinical services to the Old Order Mennonite community in south central Kentucky. In 1992, she led the formation of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation-funded Kentucky Partnership for Farm Health and Safety, a nonprofit organization that has established multiple community partnerships to promote health and safety for farmers and their families.

Linda Weston Kramer Tuttle, MSN, RN, CCRN-K, SCRN. At Norton Brownsboro Hospital, Tuttle works in the trenches as a critical care nurse and provides education and mentorship to nurses new to critical care. She was instrumental in developing “The Partners in Critical Care łÉČËÖ±˛Ą,” a program that brings a network of nurse educators from several hospitals together and allows them to pool resources. 

Carol Wright, BSN, RN. Wright has dedicated her career to improving care for trauma patients, especially children who have suffered abuse. Wright, trauma program manager and pediatric trauma coordinator at UK HealthCare, helped develop a comprehensive evaluation process for non-accidental trauma in pediatric patients, transforming the way these cases are identified and managed. Wright was an inaugural member of the Kentucky Trauma Advisory Committee, where she serves as a trauma expert to guide quality, education and injury prevention initiatives.

Honorable mentions are Megan Boone, MSN, RN, CCRN, nurse consultant at Norton Children’s Hospital Just for Kids Critical Care Center, and Rhonda Scott, MSN, RN, MSA, health promotion disease prevention program manager at the Robley Rex VA Medical Center.

The winners will be celebrated on Nov. 2, at the Mellwood Art & Entertainment Center, 1860 Mellwood Ave. A reception will start at 5:30 p.m. with dinner and the awards program at 6:15 p.m. Tickets are $75 per person and can be ordered . Proceeds support the UofL School of Nursing and a portion of the ticket purchase is tax deductible.