Some of you already have experience with a totally web-based course, while for some this may be the first time. Since there will be no face to face interactions, we hopefully can find new ways to communicate with each other in this exciting educational modality. I have provided a link to our School of Nursing Homepage so that you can feel more connected by viewing the campus, the new school of nursing building, and read other information about the school.

Before we begin, I want to tell you a bit about myself. I grew up in Kansas City with my other four siblings. I began my nursing career in 1973 after graduating with a BSN from Avila College. My MSN was received at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1978, and I was granted a PhD in Cultural Anthropology in 1998 from the University of Kansas-Lawrence.

My practice background is primarily in adolescent and women's health care with diverse populations. I have also had the opportunity of setting up several community health care organizations. I hope my practical experience will help me keep the course lively and relevant. My organizational and clinical experience includes working in an urban general hospital in Kansas City, setting up a Home Health Care Agency for 14 Pueblos through the Indian Health Service in Santa Fe, New Mexico, working as a family nurse practitioner for the ambulatory clinic Centro Campesino de Salud in northern New Mexico, working for the State of New Mexico Health & Environment Division to decrease teen pregnancy through-out northern New Mexico, setting up and running a school based clinic for an urban high school in Kansas City, and providing prenatal care and family planning services at a Kansas City, Mo Health department and an ambulatory women's health clinic. Since 1992 I have worked at Cabot Westside Clinic in Kansas City providing health care to Spanish speaking women and their families.

My research work began during my graduate studies while working as an assistant director for the "Know Your Body" project through the American Nurses' Foundation. The program studied 2000 junior high students to identify risk factors for health disease, stroke, and cancer. A piece of this study became my Master's Thesis. In 1995, I once again had the opportunity to travel back to northern New Mexico where I conducted my dissertation research with an ethnographic study of pregnant Hispanic females and their families on the meaning of pregnancy and children.

I began teaching at the KU SON in 1998. I have taught in the clinical components for the family nurse practitioner tract along with theory II. Before coming to the University of Kansas, I taught community health and women's health at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

I love nursing and anthropology but know how hard (and how rewarding) it is to be a life long learner. If it were not for my family, my husband Alan and my two daughters Jacqueline and Chandler, I could not have traveled this route. It has only been through their enthusiasm and patience that I am now able to interact with all of you. I once again welcome you and look forward to hearing about your experiences, interests, and goals.