3 faculty formally recognized at investiture ceremony
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At an April 30 investiture ceremony – a time-honored academic tradition – friends, family and colleagues watched as Karen Flynn, PhD; Shannon Halloway, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN; and Janna Stephens, PhD, RN, were formally seated in their endowed positions at the UIC College of Nursing.
Flynn was invested as the Terrance & Karyn Holm Professor, Halloway was invested as the Heung Soo & Mi Ja Kim Faculty Scholar, and Stephens was invested as Nursing Collegiate Professor.
Also present at the ceremony were donors Karyn Holm, PhD, FAAN, FAHA, former associate dean for practice at UIC Nursing, and Mi Ja Kim, PhD, RN, FRCN, FAAN, UIC Nursing dean emerita.
Speaking to Holm and Kim, Robert Barish, UIC’s vice chancellor for health affairs, thanked them, saying, “your gifts profess your belief in both the legacy of excellence here at UIC Nursing and the promise of further accomplishments.”
Terrance & Karyn Holm Endowed Professor
Karen Flynn is the inaugural Holm professor, which was created for a preeminent scholar of nursing history. She also serves as director of the Midwest Nursing History Research Center, housed at UIC Nursing.
Karyn Holm made the gift that established the professorship in 2021, two years after the death of her husband, Terry. They had supported the Midwest Nursing History Research during his lifetime.
Flynn, formerly an associate professor in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is author of an award-winning book about the experiences of 35 post-war era nurses who left home to make their careers in Canada.
Flynn also co-led a traveling exhibit and website highlighting the contributions of Black nurses in Chicago and is working on a grant to build an archive of the experiences of East St. Louis residents during the pandemic.
In video-recorded remarks that were played at the ceremony, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Swanlund Chair Antoinette Burton praised Flynn’s roles as a celebrated scholar, a passionate classroom teacher, a hard-working campus contributor, a dedicated mentor, and an advocate for equity, especially for Black women.
“Above all, in all these roles, [Flynn is] a fierce, frank and unflinching truth-teller, regardless of what that might mean for the status quo,” Burton said.
Heung Soo & Mi Ja Kim Endowed Faculty Scholar
Shannon Halloway is the college’s first Heung Soo & Mi Ja Kim Scholar, which was established by Dean Emerita Mi Ja Kim and her husband, Heung Soo, in 2021. The aim was to support a faculty member whose research is changing health care and health outcomes.
Halloway began her career as a cardiac critical care nurse, which sparked her passion for preventing disease and promoting heart health in older adults. Formerly on faculty at Rush University, Halloway tests lifestyle behavioral interventions to help prevent memory loss in older adults, including those with cardiovascular disease.
JoEllen Wilbur, PhD ’84, MS ’75, FAAN, who was Halloway’s doctoral advisor at Rush, introduced Halloway at the ceremony.
“Only six years since the completion of post-doctoral studies, Dr. Halloway has become a well-established, respected member of interdisciplinary teams of researchers focused on brain health,” Wilbur said. “Often, she is the only nurse scientist team member.”
Wilbur, who spent 29 years on faculty at UIC Nursing, noted that she was mentored by Kim when she was a mid-career faculty member, adding that Halloway, “truly embodies the high standards of nursing research held by Dr. Kim.”
Nursing Collegiate Professor
Janna Stephens is the fourth Nursing Collegiate Professor in the seven-year history of the award, which was established from unrestricted philanthropic gifts. The professorship recognizes faculty members who demonstrate excellence in research, scholarship and teaching.
Stephens, who is head of the Department of Population Health Nursing Science, studies cardiovascular disease prevention in underserved populations. She is principal investigator on an NIH-funded grant to reduce cardiovascular risk factors in Black young adults.
Stephens was previously on faculty at The Ohio State University, where she was selected for the FAME (Faculty Advancement, Mentoring & Engagement) program and an Innovation Fellowship, which is hosted by The Center for Healthcare Innovation Leadership and selects practitioners from a national pool to work on a year-long innovation project.
“We feel fortunate to now have Dr. Stephens’ innovation and leadership here at UIC,” said UIC Nursing Dean Eileen Collins in her remarks.
