Stay in the Know - Update your information with the College of Nursing
Welcome Wildcat Nursing Alumni
The UA College of Nursing Alumni Council is comprised of proud Wildcat Nurses.
All graduates of the College automatically become members of its Alumni Council. There are no dues but many opportunities to get involved and stay connected to your fellow alums, nursing colleagues, faculty and students.
Mission
Actively support the College of Nursing in its commitment to excellence in teaching, research, scholarship and service.
Vision
Sustain college pride in past, present and future excellence.
Purpose
Support and promote the University of Arizona College of Nursing, further the interests of graduates of the College of Nursing and provide a means for alumni involvement.
Alumni Council Homecoming Awards
Through the University of Arizona Alumni Association, we honor several outstanding Wildcat Nursing alumni each year. Consider nominating an outstanding alum for their contributions. Past awardees have been honored for Professional Achievement, Wildcat spirit and Public Service, to name just a few. We also identify nominees for our annual Alumnus of the Year through this process.
Recent Alumni News
UArizona MEPN Alumnus’ Health Literacy Project Reaches New Heights
Last year, we profiled University of Arizona College of Nursing alumnus Michael Dow, who earned a Master of Science for Entry into the Profession of Nursing (MEPN) from the college in 2020. A Renaissance man who has also earned advanced degrees in biology, psychology, management, and health administration, Dow parlayed his nursing skills – and his desire to be a writer -- into an instructional kid’s book series intended to address the deficiencies in our country’s health literacy levels.
His fictional instructor, Nurse Florence – whose first book debuted the week Dow received his RN license -- teaches kids and their parents about human science and the human body. Since then, the Nurse Florence series has expanded to 57 books and won multiple awards, including the 2022 Independent Press Award, a Next Generation Indie Book Award, and a National Indie Excellence Award. Most recently, Nurse Florence won the Independent Press Award for Best Children’s Educational series. As if that’s not enough, Dow is currently developing a new series, Nurse Dorothea, that will cover mental health topics.
We caught up with Dow recently to find out more about the exciting developments in his literary endeavors.
What’s new in the world of Nurse Florence?
For one thing, we’ve increased production. We publish a new book about every 10 days. We’ve also created other lines of Nurse Florence books, including coloring books. We’ve published the first half of the series into Latin American Spanish, and the first 20 into French. We’re on book number five for Russian, and book number two for Korean. We’ll be publishing Spain Spanish next. We have the trademark for Enfermera Florence -- Spanish for Nurse Florence -- which was just registered in the European Union. We’re also doing Nurse Florence for the visually impaired, and we just started a Nurse Florence series for beginning readers.
Interestingly, our “Nurse Florence, What is Cancer?” book won finalist with two different book award programs in the Adult Health category. Our kids’ book has won an adult book award! It makes sense since some feedback we’ve gotten from parents is that as they read the Nurse Florence books with their kids that they’re learning new stuff along with the kids. So, we’re really helping out families, not just elementary kids.
“The mental health series is timely, considering the challenges kids are facing today. My 10-year-old daughter tells me and my wife every week about the anxiety at school surrounding the fear of active shooters. That bothers me. I want to do something like this to educate her and help her and to help others," ~ Michael Dow, UArizona Nursing MEPN alumnus
You’ve accomplished a lot of work this year!
I actually wish we’d do books a little faster because it’s so much fun for me. But now I have close to 50 illustrators. I think when we talked last time I only had about 15. Everybody draws at their own speed. I have a retired AP high school art teacher and we’re doing a book a month because she has so much free time and has a big belief in the project.
Can you tell us about the new series that’s in the works?
We’re trying to raise funding for the next series, which will be about mental health. It’s called Nurse Dorothea after Dorothea Dix, the legendary 20th Century nurse who advocated for better treatment of people with mental illness. We started a Kickstarter campaign to help raise $10,000 to pay an illustrator.
Do you envision the Nurse Dorothea series being as long running as Nurse Florence series?
For Nurse Florence, we’re projecting around 500 books because we’re going to cover all the diseases. But we think Nurse Dorothea will only be around 50 books because mental health topics are not as unending as medical topics. The first book is going to be about mental well-being. Just like I started Nurse Florence to help supplement my kid’s science education, the idea was similar for Nurse Dorothea. So far, my kids really like them. The mental health series is timely, considering the challenges kids are facing today. My 10-year-old daughter tells me and my wife every week about the anxiety at school surrounding the fear of active shooters. That bothers me. I want to do something like this to educate her and help her and to help others.
When will Nurse Dorothea debut?
July 2024. We’re going to do this one a little bit differently. Nurse Florence is a different nurse in every book to represent all races and ethnicities but in Nurse Dorothea, the characters will be the same in every book. It’ll be like a traditional series.
Any other plans for the future?
I do have plans for other kid’s book series, but I really need either Nurse Florence or Nurse Dorothea to take off first. Nursing is a third career for me, but if I get a fourth career, I can easily see it as being a children’s book author doing all these other books ideas I’ve got.
I have a couple more nursing storylines that I want to do. And I’ve actually started the process to reach out to Hollywood literary agents because I would love to see Nurse Florence as an animated TV series and maybe a live-action movie series. I envision them honoring the nursing profession and really highlighting the different roles and responsibilities that nurses have so that there’s more understanding of the hard work that nurses do.
Melissa M Goldsmith, PhD, RNC
Alumni Council President
Taking the reins from Margie Pazzi, Melissa Goldsmith, class of 2004, accepted a two-year term as Alumni Council President beginning July 1, 2022. Melissa currently serves as an Associate Clinical Professor in Tucson. In taking on leadership for the Alumni Council, Melissa shared: “I look forward to representing the alumni council and really getting the word out about what we do, and also being involved with events like homecoming that engage our alumni, students, and potentially faculty at the College of Nursing. This is a great opportunity to become involved again with a really great organization.”
Becoming active in the Alumni Council is easy
The Alumni Council is led by a Board that meets monthly. All are welcome to join in meetings in person on the Tucson campus or via zoom. Meetings focus on event planning including homecoming, student engagement events, and social events for alumni.
View CON Alumni Council Bylaws
Do you have questions, would like to attend the next meeting, or be included on the alumni council mailing list? Contact:
Ashley Hammarstrom, MA
Director of Development
520-626-6022 or ahammarstrom@arizona.edu(link sends e-mail)
Alumni Council Board of Directors
Alumni Council Board of Directors (clockwise): Melissa Goldsmith, Helena Morrison, Rosemary Bolza, Juliann Arnold, Anne Rosenfeld, Hanne Dolan, Susan Schweitzer, Lois Loescher, Marjorie Pazzi, Chloe Littzen-Brown, and Coco Grant (not pictured).
Let's Connect!
Sign up for the Wildcat Nursing News and the Bear Down Network
Stay connected: Don’t forget to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or connect with us on LinkedIn
Check out the photos from our 2023 Homecoming
Spirit of Caring, Wonder of Nursing, November 4th, 2023
Share your alumni news
Do you have news about yourself or a fellow College of Nursing alumnus/alumna? Please tell us about it, and give us a way to contact you. We love to hear your stories, and to share them with the college and UA community. Have a Wildcat Nursing memory or class picture you would like to share? Email Tanya Welch at tanyawelch@arizona.edu or call at 520-334-0109.