Volume 4, Issue 11

Letter from the President

Dear Members,

This is an exciting time in the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International! Membership continues to grow, and new initiatives are underway to ensure that the honor society will be the organization of choice for scholarship, knowledge and leadership for nurses globally in the year 2020.

In the 2005-2007 biennium, we saw a new strategic planning document emerge called Vision 2020, which outlines this organization’s priorities for action for the next 13 years. Vision 2020, which was officially launched at the 39^th Biennial Convention in Baltimore, identifies four priority goals:

• The honor society is a valued, relevant and meaningful organization for members and nurses worldwide.
• The honor society is an intentionally global organization.
• The honor society is a thought-leader in creating and sharing knowledge and in leadership development.
• The honor society is a knowledge-focused, technology-enabled organization.

Some of the actions that will be required to achieve these goals can be found in the Vision 2020 Executive Summary.

Additionally, Leading Globally was launched as the Presidential Call to Action for the 2007-2009 biennium. Leading Globally builds upon the Vision 2020 goals and includes four themes.

• The honor society must be more bold and intentional in its efforts to be a truly global organization.
• The honor society needs to continue building our knowledge resources.
• The honor society must further assist chapter members and leaders to develop their leadership skills by expanding the leadership development programs offered by the International Leadership Institute.
• The honor society needs to place a greater emphasis on providing service, particularly as it pertains to the society vision of using scholarship, knowledge and technology to improve the health of the world's people.

The entire text of the presidential call can be viewed on the Web site. In addition, power point slides for Leading Globally are available for use at chapter meetings.

I believe we can accomplish the goals of Vision 2020 and my presidential call. The intellectual and leadership capital of this organization’s membership is truly exceptional, and the honor society has a long history of visionary, innovative and progressive thinking. In the September 2006 issue of Harvard Business Review, IBM published a study involving interviews with 765 chief executive officers from 20 industries and 11 geographic regions. The study focused on the challenges of innovation and visioning. Two themes permeated the respondent’s comments:

• the need to take risks
• the need to be proactive about change.

The honor society is both challenged and prepared to do both in the coming decade.

As the honor society’s 27^th president, I look forward to both the challenges and the opportunities that will be a part of the next two years. Reaching the goals identified in Vision 2020 and Leading Globally will require the collective, collaborative effort of all members. I look forward to meeting many of you in the coming biennium and encourage you to e-mail me with any questions or thoughts.


Best wishes and happy holidays,

Carol J. Huston
Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International
2007-2009 President

Feature Articles

EBP Summit in the Andes
by R. Terry Olbrysh

It was a meeting of the minds—40 health care and nursing education leaders—high in the Andes, convened for the purpose of advancing evidence-based practice in Latin America. The first meeting of its kind to be held in South America; it won’t be last. Read the story.

Albuquerque-Seoul Connection: Nurse Researchers Collaborate Globally
by Eileen Thomas and Hee Sun Kang

One nurse came from Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States, the other from Seoul, in the Republic of Korea. They met at the 17th International Nursing Research Congress in Montreal, Québec, Canada, and found they had a mutual interest in attitudes and behaviors of women with regard to breast-cancer screening. Three months later, they were collaborating on research and making plans to publish a manuscript. Read the story.

If you would like to offer your thoughts and experiences for inclusion in this newsletter, please contact marketing@stti.iupui.edu.