Although things may look good from the outside, there are problems looming deep within the School of Nursing. At the center of the problem is new dean Mary "No Discussion" Graham, R.N., Ed.D. We understand, Ms. Graham's leadership style mirrors that of Cast-hell's --- divisive and ineffective.
We are told, Ms. Graham has breached and re-written policies without faculty input. Further, where she has sought faculty input, if the desired conclusions aren't made the faculty is overruled. The associate dean of the school has choosen to resign and return to the School's faculty rather than force a faculty committee to arrive at a predetermined conclusion.
Graduation and pass rate on the state exam have fallen off as well.
ReplyDeleteRumor is Casthell will name the School of Nursing after her and in her honor for restoring FAMU to its glory days.
Can't do that if certain powerful Nursing alumni will not back her move.
We all know when anyone that takes on a job under an interim administration and moves from another state is "touched in the head". Any and all those coming to FAMU into this "unstable environment" is a want-to-be. It is quite clear that all of these unheard of deans and new on the block administrators have significant issues.
ReplyDeleteCan you say tha new Dean had to leave Tennessee State in a hurry?
ReplyDeleteHow fast did she have to leave TN St?
ReplyDeletePass rate on the state exam has increased not decreased. Percent passing for the last report was 91.6%
ReplyDeleteQuestion, did the administration negotiate tenure application in the first year with all of the other deans provided by the Hollins Group who came without tenure?
ReplyDeletePercent passing for the last report was 91.6%.
ReplyDeleteThe nursing program used to have a 100% pass rate, not too long ago.
Since this is Ms. Graham's first semester at FAM, I doubt anyone is trying to pin the state exam passing rate on her
I think it is too early to call this one. There seems to be a resentment to anything new at FAMU these days. Her resume is stronger than the past deans of nursing, but of course no one compared this. Right now, any one who doesn't come in with the mindset of business as usual is booed at FAMU which is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteCertainly we had some very nice people as deans, probably decent administrators, but most of our deans are not respected in the research world, because they don't do adequate research in peer reviewed journals.
I can state for a fact that the nursing school needs improvement.
One of my alums works for an organization that received a large grant for nursing schools last year. When my friend suggested that FAMU be one of the schools that the organization collaborate with, they were excited about the idea. When they checked the credentials of the then Dean, they said no because her research capabilities and performance were very low. Therefore, thousands of dollars were lost.
Whether we care to admit it or not, many of the faculty and deans at FAMU could not hold a candle to their peers as researchers. We have said we want to be a major university and when we bring in people with credentials (this woman worked at Columbia University in New York prior to her stint at TSU and there are no lightweights at Columbia University when it comes to health care) we start attacking them.
I think what happens is people who have experience at majority institutions where they are used to operating a certain way come to an HBCU and see a different standard and operations. When they try to implement changes we resist because "this is how we have always done it."
If a person does not come into a new environment and experience some resistance, then that suggests that person is not trying to do anything, but is trying to maintain the status quo. Status quo is never good enough because what was good 5 years ago, may be obsolete today. Are you still using your cell phone from 5 years ago?
Please the lady came from Tenn St. Enough said with that. She is no Mary Carneige or Margaret Lewis.
ReplyDeleteThe lady came from TSU after she did a stint at Columbia. I imagine she left Columbia to become a dean probably knowing she would not get it at Columbia where I believe she was either an associate or asst dean.
ReplyDeleteDo your research before commenting
Well if she is as good as you proclaim, she should have been able to become dean at any of the other Ivy Leaque schools that have a nursing program. Better yet, why not one of the top 50 programs in the country.
ReplyDeleteWhy did she go to Tennessee State and for such a short period, and then come here in the mist of interim hell?
Breaching policies may be grounds for legal action. Can someone share some light on this and why the faculty are being left out of the loop?
ReplyDeleteGraham's experience in nursing education spans more than 30 years. She has held several leadership positions in her field, including dean and professor of the School of Nursing at State University of New York Downstate and assistant dean and chair at City College of New York.
ReplyDeleteGraham is an accomplished fundraiser and has served as the principal investigator of several important projects. Her list of fundraising efforts includes securing more than $1 million in federal, state grants and $700,000 from the Hospital Corporation of America.
Graham earned a doctorate in 1982 in curriculum and instruction in nursing education and a master's of education in nursing with a concentration in adult health and illness in 1975, both from Teachers College Columbia University ; she received her bachelor's degree in nursing from Long Island University.
Dr. Graham comes to FAMU from TSU.
Let's give it a rest. Not to say any one is perfect. The woman is not a lightweight and she should be given a chance. Unfortunately, anyone that is hired under the current president is maligned for no reason.
Pass rate on the state exam has increased not decreased. Percent passing for the last report was 91.6%
ReplyDelete11/01/2006 6:37 AM
Let me get this straight. FAMU's School of Nursing (the oldest BS program in FL) The passing rate was 100% and it is now 91.6%. This sounds like fuzzy math.
Leadership style and respect are critical to the success of any organization. Credentials and educational experiences are certainly important but .... it takes more than that to be a strong successful leader.
ReplyDeleteTo be disrespectful, divisive, and insulting to faculty has to do with leadership style not qualifications.
ReplyDeleteMuch can be lost by "giving it a rest", because it looks good on paper. Have you ever heard the saying all that glitters is not gold?
It has been reported that the vision of the new dean is that the "clinical nurse" will "replace" the B.S. educated nurse. Maybe that is why she is not saying anything positive about the undergraduate program. It would be a shame for the new dean, after three months at FAMU, to close the oldest BSN program in Florida.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that every one of the new hires think they know what's best for FAMU after one day on the job, but never tried any of this crazy crap with their former employers?
ReplyDeleteI would suggest that a Dean with her credentials would not want to come to a FAMU under the current "Civil Disorder". Has anyone checked out her resume?
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a deliberate plan "vision" to destroy the historical undergraduate Nursing Program at FAMU. Hopefully, adminstration nor alumni will support this plan.
ReplyDeleteAll over the country nursing is moving towards advanced degrees and clinical nursing. Nothing in health care these days stops at the BS degree. Pharmacy moved from a BS program to a PharmD only, Physical Therapy has moved from a BS to an MS and very soon will be only a Doctorate in Physical Therapy. Why do we think nursing should not change with the new requirements for health care and focus on disease state management.
ReplyDeleteNo one wants to admit that in so many cases we are resistant to change. In many cases the resistance is out of fear for how it will impact us personally and not what is best for the university. We must become more progressive and state of the art in our offerings.
Let's stop believing that the faculty is right on everything. Sometimes people have their personal agenda to save their job, their title, etc.
I dont think enough of us know about the subject of nursing and the in-house discussions to determine the merit of people's protest.
In regards to her trying it with her former employers, maybe she did not need to. Both schools are very repected health care entities. Maybe they already have these programs in place and did not need to be pulled into the 21st century.
ReplyDeleteHeard new dean used word fluke to describe 90% pass rate on nursing exam. Can you believe that?
ReplyDeleteWell we don't know whether "fluke" was meant in a positive or negative manner. I believe someone reported that we would have a 100% passing rate in nursing. So if we havea year where it drops for no known explanation it can be viewed as an outlier or fluke. If it continues to go down or hover around 90%, then we have a downward trend. Since we do not know the context in which she was using the word fluke, how can we decide what she meant?
ReplyDeleteHeard students that had failed out of program because of failing several nursing courses are being allowed to return back to the program by the new Dean. Heard one from Jax was laughing and bragging about how she was so convincing and managed to get over on the new Dean. If true, this is sad.
ReplyDeleteLet the real truth be heard loud and clear. It is ALL true.
ReplyDelete11/06 6:15
ReplyDeleteIt looks like she was given a chance and she blew it. I do hope she turns her life over to the Lord and repents.