President's Greetings

Welcome to the start of the 46th year for the Alpha Eta chapter of Sigma Theta Tau! Your 2009-2010 Board has so much planned that will benefit your membership. First, of course, before we look forward, we must take a moment and look back. We have just received the Chapter Key award, and this honor is a reflection of many years of growth for our chapter. Sigma Theta Tau provided this award in recognition of all that our chapter accomplished in the previous two years, but we were only able to reach such heights after many people came together and showed what could be done. So, as we begin this new 'chapter', we will be building on that hard work.

This year we are planning several efforts and events that will further the goals of the Alpha Eta chapter. The five directions of our strategic plan guide us~ Knowledge, Leadership, Service, Communities, and Sustainability.

To foster growth of Knowledge, we will once again be supporting research among our members. This year, we have moved our efforts to the Fall! Applications are due soon for the funds that the Chapter will award to support the research which is undertaken by our members. In addition, we are pleased to support the Phenotypes and Genotypes: Biomarkers of the Symptom Experience research program from 1-5pm on November 19th in Toland Hall.

To foster Leadership, our Governance Committee will be accepting applications soon for our Leadership Development grant, which supports activities that our chapter members wish to, pursue to grow and develop as leaders in the Nursing profession (and Alpha Eta!).

Our commitment toward Service continues with the support that we provide to the Tau Lambda-at-Large chapter members, but this year your Board has made the commitment to also serve our local community. We have started small, but I know that we will grow! For now, at each Board meeting and program, we ask that our members contribute food or personal supplies that we can donate to local community efforts that help those in need. And, under the direction of Anne Hughes, our Board (and hopefully our membership as well) will ‘be there’ as Laguna Honda Hospital transitions to its new space next April.

From our Strategic plan, we are also guided to foster Community among our chapter members. This year we have doubled our efforts to keep our members aware of all that we do. Our communication now has taken several a new ‘turns’. You will now find our excellent Newsletters exclusively in the electronic world. We will email you directly, as well as through our International Sigma Theta Tau office in the ‘Create the Future’ newsletter. And, our website now has a task force of dedicated members who will provide oversight to ensure that we have the most current information so that you can use it as a resource for your efforts to become involved!

Finally, we are committed to the Sustainability of our wonderful Chapter. In continuance of the hard work that was started in the last fiscal year, the Alpha Eta chapter Endowment Fund efforts are being guided by our own Pat Sparacino. Pat, who is also still part of your Board, as Past-president, is working with our treasurer Maria Gudmundsdóttir to make sure that we are financially secure now and in the future so that we will always be able to support our membership.

I am delighted to be part of such a great group of dedicated volunteers to our chapter. Please take a moment of look at the page that showcases your Board. These professionals give their time and hard work to make this chapter one of which you can be proud! We always keep you, our members, in mind in whatever decisions we make or directions that we take. Please give us your feedback! Our email address is alpha.eta@nursing.ucsf.edu and we will respond, promise! But, even better, please join us at our Board meetings (no, you do NOT have to be elected or appointed to attend!). Wouldn’t that be fun, if even one-tenth of our nearly 800 members came to our Board meetings or chapter programs!!! We would have to get bigger rooms! See you on November 19th?

Best of everything,

Lou Mulligan