History, Mission & Goals
Texas Woman’s University College of Nursing Center for Global Nursing Scholarship embarked upon the global arena back in 2001. At that time, Dr. Ruth Grubesic, a nursing faculty professor on the TWU Houston campus, formulated what was called the PanAmerican Committee for the purpose of offering a summer nursing study abroad program in Mexico with UPE Universidad PanAmericana, Mexico City. This program was offered annually from 2001-2004.
In 2004, Dr. Ruth Grubesic was named Coordinator of International Nursing Affairs and the committee was expanded to include all three campuses of Texas Woman’s University College of Nursing. Student exchange programs continued with UPE Universidad PanAmericana in Mexico City and also in Toshi. Preliminary discussions were begun in 2008 with Monterrey Tech in Monterrey, Mexico; however, further development of collaboration was cancelled with all three of these sites in 2010 due to US State Department travel warnings for Mexico. Additional global involvement from 2004 to 2008 included:
- TWU College of Nursing faculty presentation at the 2007 Panama conference “First International (Primer Encuentro) Internacional de Enfermeria”
- Collaborative MOU with the University of Rotterdam graduate nursing program in Rotterdam, Netherlands
- Exploration of a collaborative agreement for establishment of a nursing program in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
- In 2005, TWU also hosted our first nursing visiting scholar, Awatef Ell Sayed, from the country of Egypt.
In 2008, Dr. Joan Edwards, Associate Professor on the Houston campus, was asked to take over the responsibilities of Director for International Nursing Affairs. At that time, the majority of faculty involvement was still on the TWU Houston campus. Over the next few years, efforts were targeted on expanding faculty participation in the global arena to all three campuses, changing the focus of the group from international to global, and formalizing the structure to that of a ‘Center’ with a mission statement and goals along with strategic planning for the future. The name of the Center was unanimously changed to the Center for Global Nursing Scholarship (CGNS). In Summer 2012, the TWU Board of Regents gave formal approval to recognize CGNS as an official Center of Texas Woman’s University. In Spring 2017, the name of the Center was shortened to the Center for Global Nursing (CGN). TWU College of Nursing currently has faculty involvement in CGN from all three campuses with global activities in at least 12 countries around the world.
Mission
TWU College of Nursing Center for Global Nursing facilitates nursing students, faculty, alumni and community partners to become exceptional citizens in a global society.
Goals
- Establish collaborative relationships with countries and/or with health-related entities to develop and sustain baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral programs in nursing.
- Contribute to the knowledge base for nursing practice to promote global health.
- Collaborate with international partners toward educating nurses in the conduct of scholarly activities and application of research findings.
- Provide global service-learning and cultural awareness opportunities for nursing students, faculty, alumni and community partners.
- Promote interdisciplinary collaboration to facilitate achievement of the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Page last updated 12:46 PM, September 22, 2017