University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing Rachel Z. Booth Endowed Chair in Nursing and Professor Patricia A. Patrician, PhD, RN, FAAN, has been honored by the UAB Graduate School with 2018 Graduate Dean’s Excellence in Mentorship Award.
The Graduate Dean's Excellence in Mentorship Award recognizes UAB faculty members who have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments as mentors of graduate students and/or postdoctoral fellows.
Among those who work with her, Patrician is known as a mentor who provides exemplary intellectual leadership and actively guides her mentees research and training while always seeking to respect their academic goals and how to successfully accomplish them.
“Any recognition or award that comes from students is an incredible honor,” Patrician said. “This award was a surprise. I had no idea four of my students and two of my former students (pre- and post-doc) were colluding to make this happen. However humbled I am by this, it does not compare with the incredible personal and professional growth one gains as a result of mentoring. A Hindu proverb states: To learn, read; to know, write; to master, teach. This award from my students is an inkling that I may be on the path to mastery.”
Patrician was among 10 who were honored with the 2018 mentorship award. A recognition ceremony was held April 2 at the UAB National Alumni Society House and award winners were presented with a handcrafted, glass-blown green and gold candy dish, as well as a framed certificate and a copy of the letters their mentees and colleagues wrote to nominate them for the honor.
“As a mentor, I hope my mentees know-how deeply I care about them,” Patrician added. “I joyfully treasure my mentees’ first successful abstracts, posters, presentations, publications, and/or grants and I anguish over their rejections, disappointments and frustrations. Mentorship is all about walking with another human being on their journey of discovery, sharing both joy and suffering, so they do not have to travel alone . . . until they are ready to find their own path.”
Patrician joins seven other current faculty members, Professor and Marie L. O’Koren Endowed Chair Marie Bakitas, DNSC, CRPN, NP-C, AOCN, ACHPN, FAAN (2017); Associate Professor and Coordinator of the School’s Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (PhD) Program Karen Heaton, PhD, CRNP, FNP-BC, FAAN (2017); Professor Marti Rice, PhD, RN, FAAN (2017); Professor Jacqueline Moss, PhD, RN, FAAN (2016), Assistant Professor Martha Dawson, DNP, RN, FACHE (2014), Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Linda Moneyham, PhD, RN, FAAN (2011); and Professor David Vance, PhD, MGS, MS (2010); and retired faculty member, former Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Program Director and Professor Linda Roussel, PhD, RN, CNL, CCRN, NEA-BC, FAAN (2017), as those from the School to receive the award since its inception in 2009.
Patrician joined the UAB faculty in August 2008 after having served 26 years in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, where she held clinical, administrative, educational and research positions. At UAB, she has an active program of funded research, teaches at the masters and PhD levels, and serves as mentor for many faculty members, PhD and DNP students. In addition, Patrician is a leader and senior scholar for the VA National Quality Scholars Program (VAQS) at the Birmingham VA. As one of 8 sites in the U.S., the VAQS offers fellowships to pre- and postdoctoral nurses and promotes leadership in quality improvement research and interprofessional learning. She is a nationally recognized leader in patient safety, quality care and nursing practice environments she generously shares her expertise with her mentees. Many of those she has mentored, continue to collaborate and publish with her.
