Tucson Nurses Week Foundation Honors Dr. Pamela Reed with ‘Most Inspirational Mentor’ Award
Next week, the Tucson Nurses Week Foundation will recognize University of Arizona Nursing professor Pamela Reed, PhD, RN, FAAN, with the organization’s Most Inspirational Mentor Award for her efforts serving as a role model, advocate and motivator in support of new nurses.
“It’s an award that I will especially cherish,” says Dr. Reed, “but it’s not about me as much as it is a reflection of the superb students who have come to the College of Nursing and the faculty and staff who have supported me in my teaching,”
“I approach this responsibility with a sense of respect and awe and appreciation of students, with a commitment to my own continued learning about what I teach students, and with an openness to questioning the status quo," ~ Pamela Reed, PhD, RN, FAAN
Author and co-author of more than 100 publications, Dr. Reed has a wealth of experience with which to guide her mentees. Her research has focused on well-being and mental health across the lifespan, spirituality at end-of-life, and moral distress and ethical concerns of frontline caregivers and terminally ill individuals. Her current scholarship focuses on nursing theory, philosophy, and scientific knowledge development, and work on intermodernism as a philosophy of nursing science. A Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, she has also been a Visiting Scholar at several institutions, including New York University and Duke University.
Earlier in life, she thought she wanted to become a band conductor, but the sexism inherent in the concert world led her shift her focus to nursing. “It was a choice in higher education that was very available to women, when other choices were less so, and I was also very interested in learning about human health and well-being and the sciences behind this,” Dr. Reed says. “Later I discovered something called nursing science that motivated me further to pursue a career in nursing.”
Desiring a work environment where new knowledge is being developed and taught – and fueled by the enjoyment of helping others understand the rationale behind nursing practice – she saw academic nursing as an opportunity to go beyond the daily practices of nursing to explore questions and new ways of thinking about nursing and healthcare.
Dr. Reed’s philosophy of teaching is eminently suited to providing pivotal guidance to students seeking successful role models. She explains, “I have a lifespan developmental perspective of the learning process, where teaching is a process of educing, or bringing out ideas and abilities inherent in the student, along with providing resources, guidance, and encouragement for students to learn certain content – yes, but mostly to acquire tools for thinking, for inquiry, and for seeing the world in new ways.”
Of paramount importance to her is her ability to help students clarify and develop their particular area of inquiry that contributes knowledge for practice. Her goal is “to do all this in a way that stimulates their curiosity and brings joy if not excitement to their learning process.”
At the end of the day, it’s a mission that brings Dr. Reed joy as well as meaning. “I approach this responsibility with a sense of respect and awe and appreciation of students,” she says, “with a commitment to my own continued learning about what I teach students, and with an openness to questioning the status quo.”
The 2022 Nurses Week Gala will be held on Saturday, May 7, at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort. Click here for details and registration.