Dean Hern, Batscha, Polivka selected for University of Cincinnati College of Nursing Legacy Award
Congratulations to Dean Marcia Hern, Dr. Catherine Batscha and Dr. Barbara Polivka. They will receive a University of Cincinnati College of Nursing 125th Anniversary Alumni Legacy Award in April 2015. This award honors and acknowledges graduates who have demonstrated leadership and/or philanthropy in practice, research, education and/or service in the community and health care.
Dr. Marcia Hearn thoroughly embodies the award criteria as well as the vision, mission, and core values of the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing. She received the MSN degree in Parent/Child Nursing followed by an EdD in Education Administration with cognates in education/business/nursing. Dr. Hern has been in higher education in nursing since 1980 as a faculty member and as an administrator since 1998. From 1983 to 2004, she was on the faculty at the UC College of Nursing and served in a variety of leadership capacities. She then moved into deanships, first at the Texas Women’s University and now at the University of Louisville. Dean Hern was a champion in assisting all three schools to achieve high quality outcomes. She led the growth and expansion of innovative educational programs to enhance workforce development and was a strong supportive force in moving to the use of state-of-the-art technologies to achieve these outcomes.
Dr. Catherine Batscha embraced the concept of life-long learning after leaving the University of Cincinnati by earning a doctorate of nursing practice, a post-master’s certificate as a family psychiatric mental-health nurse practitioner, and advanced training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis and Motivational Interviewing. She worked as an advanced practice nurse, taught nursing at both the undergraduate and graduate level, and precepted graduate students in her clinical practice. Her primary area of focus is people with psychosis, including those with first episode psychosis. She has worked as a research clinician on an NIMH funded study of medication adherence in early schizophrenia. She has written a manual for use in providing time-limited cognitive behavioral therapy to mothers with symptoms of depression. In the past 3 years, she has published two book chapters and three peer-reviewed articles and been part of two poster presentations. She contributes to the community through helping undergraduate students gain experience in presenting at conferences, serving as the counselor for the Iota Zeta chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, and as a reviewer for the Journal of Psychosocial Nursing. She led the workgroup that updated the American Psychiatric Nurses Association’s position statement on seclusion and restraint. She has consistently contributed to UC fund drives because she values the education that she received there and wants to support the future generation of nurse leaders.
Dr. Barbara Polivka is the Shirley B. Powers Endowed Chair and Professor at the School of Nursing at the University of Louisville. She received her PhD in Nursing from The Ohio State University (OSU). She has authored more than 65 peer-reviewed publications, and presented at more than 100 conferences. She is the recipient of funding from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), National Institute of Nursing Research, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the state of Ohio, and private foundations. She is currently funded by NIOSH to develop an empirically based virtual simulation to train home healthcare workers to address hazards they encounter in client’s homes. She has served on review boards for CDC, NIH, and the state of Ohio. She was a member and president of the Delaware Ohio Board of Health and served on multiple advisory boards for ODH. Her passions, which began with her undergraduate education at UC, include reducing environmental health exposures and public health nursing.
