Columbus State University celebrated the 50th anniversary of its School of Nursing with a series of events Friday, including honoring seven distinguished alumni among the more than 2,700 graduates.
During the alumni association’s recognition luncheon in CSU’s Cunningham Center, the School of Nursing honored the following alumni for significant achievements in academic and clinical settings: Christi Deaton, Jean Hartin, Amanda Hawkins, Aleta Henderson, Brian Holland, Barbara McKnight and Geneva Turner.
As part of CSU’s Homecoming Week, the School of Nursing also scheduled for Friday a free open house at its new downtown home, Frank D. Brown Hall, 1127 Broadway, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., followed by a rooftop celebration at the city’s parking garage, 1028 Front Ave., where for $50 guests could enjoy a buffet dinner and be entertained by the DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) Band, comprising a dozen local doctors.
According to their bios supplied by CSU, here are highlights of the honorees’ achievements:
Christi Deaton
After earning an associate’s degree in nursing from Columbus College in 1977, Deaton obtained her bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University, her master’s degree from Emory University and her doctorate from Georgia State. She has extensive clinical practice experience in acute and cardiovascular patient care.
From 2004 to 2013 in Britain, she held a joint Chair in Nursing at the University of Manchester and an Acute Care Trust. In 2013, she began working as head of the Clinical Nursing Research Group in the Primary Care Unit at the University of Cambridge.
Deaton’s research focused on exercise and physical activity as therapy for patients with heart failure and other long-term conditions, adherence to physical activity, management and self-management of heart failure and comorbid heart disease and diabetes, palliative care in long-term conditions, cardiovascular prevention and nurse-led services.
She is an elected fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, the European Society of Cardiology and the American Heart Association.
Jean Hartin
After earning her associate’s degree in nursing from Columbus College in 1972, Hartin worked for seven years at St. Francis Hospital in Columbus, where she managed the hospital’s Critical Care Unit and Clinical Education Department. She then worked for 25 years in the Columbus Regional Healthcare System, serving in leadership and clinical roles, managing all clinical areas of nursing, including the critical care unit, respiratory therapy, housekeeping, the emergency department and the surgical department, as well as having oversight of nursing and clinical education.
Hartin retired from Columbus Regional as vice president of clinical services. Each year since, the company has recognized a registered nurse, licensed practical nurse and nursing manager as recipients of the Jean Hartin Excellence in Nursing Awards. The awards recognize “high levels of professionalism, respect, innovation, dedication and excellence.”
She has served on several Georgia Board of Nursing committees and participated in task forces and state boards that established standards of nursing practice still used today. She has served on the CSU Foundation Board of Trustees since 1991 and has been a member of several CSU advisory boards.
Amanda Hawkins
After earning her associate’s degree in nursing from CSU in 1982, Hawkins has practiced nursing in a variety of settings for 35 years. Now, she is an associate professor of nursing and coordinator of the RN-BSN program at CSU.
Hawkins has presented internationally, nationally and at the state and local level on a variety of educational topics, including online course design, quality assurance in online instruction and retention of minority students. She is a published author of book chapters and articles and has been awarded several university grants.
In 2013, she received the Dean’s Innovative Award for growing the RN-BSN program by more than 500 percent in three years. Also in 2013, she was named one of the Top 20 Medical and Health Professors in Georgia.
She earned her bachelor’s degree from George Mason University and her master’s degree from Troy State University.
Aleta Henderson
After beginning her career as a teacher and working at Columbus College, a personal health care experience motivated her to become a nurse. She earned her associate’s degree in nursing from Columbus College in 1984, she progressed in her career to become director of nursing at Doctor’s Hospital, whose owner, Hospital Corporation of America, named her its Outstanding Chief Nursing Officer.
Henderson died in July while in hospice care. She was 69 and resided in Phenix City.
Brian Holland
He was a firefighter/EMT with the Phenix City Fire Department before becoming a nurse. After earning his bachelor’s degree in nursing from CSU, Holland worked as a critical care, emergency and flight nurse for several years. He earned his master’s degree from Lubbock Christian University and his doctorate from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Now, he is the assistant dean of undergraduate studies at Texas A&M University’s College of Nursing.
Holland’s publications and funded grants have explored innovative strategies in simulation. He has presented at national and international conferences on topics such as quality of life with multiple sclerosis, effect of self-selected music on anxiety and simulation performance in baccalaureate nursing students, and improving transition to practice by strengthening community partnerships.
Barbara McKnight
After graduating from Columbus College in 1977 with an associate’s degree in nursing, McKnight earned a bachelor’s degree then a few years later a master’s degree from the University of Phoenix.
During her more than 30 years in nursing, McKnight worked for the Columbus Regional Healthcare System as a pediatric nurse and served as director of women’s and children’s services for Columbus Regional’s Medical Center and Phenix Regional Hospital. She developed a statewide annual lactation conference and pediatric nursing conference.
She became Columbus Regional’s chief nursing officer, with responsibilities in emergency and trauma, women’s and children’s services and intensive care units. She maintained a close association with nine schools of nursing in the region for clinical placement of students.
McKnight was a member of the Governor’s Task Force for Maternal and Child Care and published work on incentives for employee reward and recognition. In 2013, she retired from Columbus Regional to work as a case manager at St. Francis Hospital.
Geneva Turner
After earning her associate’s degree in nursing from Columbus College in 1971, Turner practiced in a variety of clinical settings, including pediatrics, newborn intensive care, medical-surgical and psychiatric nursing. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Georgia Southwestern University, her master’s degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and her doctorate from Texas Woman’s University.
Turner served in the U.S Army and retired as a lieutenant colonel. She has been a faculty member at CSU, Albany State University and Tuskegee University.
Her publications include a book titled “What if Our Father Were Not a Man: Change the Outcome of Your Children’s Lives and Change How Your Story Ends.” She has written about high-risk behaviors in black adolescents, folk health medicine benefits and grief experiences of fathers. Her funded grants relate to education, veterans, rural health and homelessness.
Mark Rice: 706-576-6272, @markricele