News and Information

Contact: Jim Newman
503 494-8231
newmanj@ohsu.edu

OHSU ANNOUNCES AWARDS

SCHOOL OF NURSING DEAN ELECTED TO NATIONAL POST
Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing Dean Kathleen Potempa, D.N.Sc., R.N., F.A.A.N., was elected secretary of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Board. Potempa previously has chaired the association's task force on distance technology in education, served on its nominating committee, and has been a member of its task force on the professional nursing practice environment.

Potempa has been an educator in professional nursing programs for more than 25 years and recently was promoted to vice president of OHSU. Prior to her current deanship, she was interim dean and associate dean at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center in Nursing and Midwifery.

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing is the national voice for university and four-year-college education programs in nursing, representing more than 575 member schools of nursing at public and private institutions nationwide. The association's educational, research, governmental advocacy, data collection, publications and other programs work to establish quality standards for bachelor's and graduate degree nursing education; assist deans and directors to implement those standards; influence the nursing profession to improve health care; and promote public support of baccalaureate and graduate nursing education, research and practice.

PRIMATE CENTER SCIENTIST HONORED WITH SPECIAL DEGREE
Oregon National Primate Research Center scientist Henryk Urbanski, Ph.D., joined a very exclusive group of scientists when the University of Edinburgh bestowed its Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) degree on him July 10 in Edinburgh. The D.Sc. degree is a prestigious and rare honor recognizing published and original contributions of special excellence. Awards are determined following a year-long review process of the scientist-candidate's work. Well-known scientists with D.Sc. degrees include Colin Blakemore, chief executive of the Medical Research Council in England, and Ian Wilmut, the Scottish scientist famous for cloning Dolly the sheep.

Urbanski also was recently asked to become a member of the Integrative and Clinical Endocrinology and Reproduction study section at the National Institutes of Health. His research focuses on brain mechanisms responsible for maintaining rhythmic biological functions, such as hormone rhythms and the 24-hour sleep-wake cycle. Other research includes the brain circuits responsible for maintaining normal reproductive function. His primary goal is to better understand these mechanisms and learn how they are influenced by changes in the external and internal environments.