Linda Aiken

• Linda Aiken, Ph.D., FAAN, RN, was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) of the United Kingdom in October. Aiken, the Claire M. Fagin Leadersip Professor of Nursing, professor of sociology, and director of the Center for Health Services and Policy Research, was honored for her outstanding international contributions in nursing research and health policy analysis. She is now directing a study with researchers in the United States, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom on the impact of hospital restructuring on health outcomes and the health-care workforce. The RCN is the world's largest professional union of nurses.

  Wanda Mohr

  Photo by Reade

• Wanda Mohr, Ph.D., FAAN, RN, and Julie Sochalski, Ph.D., FAAN, RN, faculty members of the School of Nursing, were inducted into the American Academy of Nursing in October, one of the highest honors a professional nurse can receive. Mohr is an assistant professor of psychiatric mental health nursing. Sochalski is associate director of the Center for Health Services and Policy Research, and assistant professor of health services research and nursing.
     Mohr's current research focuses on children who witness domestic violence. Sochalski's focuses on the impact of geriatric rehabilitation for frail elders on functional status and health-service use, Medicare payment policy for nursing education programs and the outcomes of hospital care in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany.
  
• Anthony Garito, Ph.D., Professor of Physics, and Arjun Yodh, Ph.D., Professor of Physics and Astronomy, were both elected Fellows of the American Physical Society (APS). Garito was cited for his contribution to the understanding of enhancement mechanisms for second- and third-order non-linear optical processes in organic and polymer structures. The APS noted Yodh's use of diffusing light fields and studies of the structural, dynamical and spectroscopic properties of highly scattering materials.

• The School of Nursing, with Genesis ElderCare, won a three-year grant of $450,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to evaluate a palliative care program for nursing home residents in the last stages of life. Genesis is the nation's third-largest long-term care provider.
     "Nearly 20 percent of American deaths occur in nursing homes each year, and we know very little about these deaths," said Neville Strumpf, Ph.D., FAAN, RN, who will oversee the study at Penn. The goals of the study are to understand how people die in nursing homes and to evaluate the benefits of palliative care programs, which emphasize physical comfort as well as emotional, social and spiritual well-being, she said.
     The Penn-Genesis collaboration is part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's efforts to improve care for dying patients and their families.

• David Wallace, Ph.D., the Judith Rodin Professor of English, was awarded the James Russell Lowell Prize for his book "Chaucerian Polity: Absolutist Lineages and Associational Forms in England and Italy." The Lowell Prize is granted by the Modern Language Association to an outstanding book penned by a member of the association. Wallace's work was noted for weaving English and Italian political and ideological realities into his rendering of Chaucer's work. Trustee Professor of Romance Languages Joan DeJean, Ph.D., was an award finalist for her work "Ancients against Moderns: Culture Wars and the Making of a Fin de Sicle."

• Christopher Hasty, Ph.D., Graduate Chair and Associate Professor of Music, was awarded the Wallace Berry Prize by the Society for Music Theory. The prize recognized Hasty's book "Meter as Rhythm" as the year's best in the field of music theory.

• Evelyn Wiener, M.D., Associate Director of Clinical Medicine at the Student Health Service, was chosen as the President-elect of the Mid-Atlantic College Health Association at their annual meeting this fall. Wiener will serve as president for the 1999-2000 term, as well as the Program Chair for the association's annual meeting. MACHA is the regional arm of the American College Health Association, the professional organization of college and university health and wellness services.

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