To furnish the means of acquiring knowledge is … the greatest benefit that can be conferred upon mankind. It prolongs life itself and enlarges the sphere of existence.
-John Quincy Adams, 1846
The center of all these university activities is the university faculty. The faculty is a creating and continuing source of all that has real value in the institution’s work.
-Edward Kitter Graham, President of the University, 1916
This School is ours for a brief moment in time and it is our opportunity to set the cornerstone for the future. We answered the bell and made the beacon on the hill even brighter.
-James Moeser, Chancellor, 2002
The Value of an Endowed Professorship
Faculty members are among our most valued assets. When a donor chooses to endow a professorship, this represents one of the highest honors bestowed on a university, reflecting its reputation and prestige. An endowed professorship enables us to attract and retain the very best nurse scientists and teachers because they know the funding is secure to support their crucial work. Endowed professorships hold a 10-year appointment that can be renewable. This endowment provides for a faculty member’s salary, benefits and research support, honors past achievements, and offers the encouragement to strive for continued health care discovery and breakthrough that will benefit the lives of people in North Carolina and throughout our nation. In the next few years, more than 20% of our renowned faculty will retire. Endowed professorships are crucial for filling this gap.
The School of Nursing, through the generosity of donors, supports three endowed professorships. More are needed.
The Dr. Frances Hill Fox Distinguished Professorship in Nursing Research was established in 1991 through a generous gift from Frances Hill Fox. In addition to her career as a physician, Dr. Fox served the School of Nursing for 38 years, first as a member of Elizabeth Scott Carrington’s Advisory Board to establish the School in 1950, and then as a charter director of the Foundation. The professorship recognizes and supports a doctorally-prepared nurse leader who is committed to continuing an active program of research, collaborating with colleagues, providing leadership to faculty and students in research development and scholarship, and participating in the School’s educational programs.
Molly Dougherty, PhD, RN, ARNP, FAAN
Dr. Molly (Mickey) Dougherty was named the first Frances Hill Fox Distinguished Professor in 1996. Her teaching and research interests cover women’s health, aging, minority health issues and community-based nursing interventions. She has continuously received federal grants for leading research on such topics as pelvic muscle function and management of urinary incontinence and prevention of diabetes. In the Rural Women’s Health Project, led by Dougherty, preventative healthcare strategies are developed and tested with older rural women. Professor Dougherty was a Visiting Fellow with the Royal College of Nursing in Oxford, England and the University of Ulster in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Her research projects are making important contributions to the quality of nursing and healthcare in years to come. She serves as the Editor of Nursing Research, the premiere national nursing research journal. Before coming to Chapel Hill, Dougherty taught at the University of Florida College of Nursing for 23 years. A native of Jacksonville, Florida, she holds bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees from the University of Florida.
The Sarah Frances Russell Distinguished Professorship in Nursing Systems was established in 1996 through a gift from Carl Vernon Russell in honor of his wife who passed away in 1987. Sarah Frances Russell was a 1959 alumna of the School of Nursing’s master’s degree program. Her career included service in the US Army Nursing Corps, where she achieved the rank of full colonel. After receiving her PhD in administration from Carolina, she served as a consultant with the National Board for Standards and Licensing for Nurses, where she helped develop national standards for nursing supervisors and nursing administration. This chair helps the School of Nursing continue its national leadership role in studying patient safety and quality of care issues in the health care system.
Barbara Mark, PhD, RN, FAAN
Dr. Mark is a national leader among researchers who are monitoring hospitals on key indicators of patient safety. She is currently funded by the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality to study the effect of changes in nurse staffing levels and hospital financial performance on quality of patient care. She is also funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research to examine how nursing organization in general hospitals affect patient and administrative outcomes. She came to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing in 2001 from Virginia Commonwealth University where she served for 20 years, most recently in a joint appointment of professor in the School of Nursing and the Department of Health Administration. While at VCU, Dr. Mark held administrative posts of assistant dean, director of the graduate program, and doctoral program director. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. Dr. Mark earned the BSN at Skidmore College, the MSN at University of Washington, and the PhD from Case Western Reserve University.
The HelenWatkins and Thomas Leonard Umphlet Distinguished Professorship in Aging was established in 1999 through a generous gift from Mrs. Umphlet in honor of her late husband. Dr. Umphlet, known affectionately as “Dr. Tom” by those who worked closely with him during his 40-year career in internal medicine, held nurses in high esteem for their work to care for others. In seeking the best way to keep the memory of her husband alive, Mrs. Umphlet established an endowed professorship at the School of Nursing to honor and support the nurses who had been her husband’s valued colleagues. A fellow of the American College of Physicians, Dr. Umphlet served as the chief of medical services and chairman of the executive council at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina. Shortly before his death, he was recognized as the Rex Classic Distinguished Physician of Merit for his 10 years of leadership.
Mary Palmer, PhD, RN, FAAN
Selected in 2001 for the Umphlet Distinguished Professorship, Dr. Palmer is a recognized leader in the field of gerontology, with nearly 20 years of research and policy expertise in the management of urinary incontinence in older populations. She previously served as associate professor and director of the Office of Research in the College of Nursing at Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey. Her study on the changes in continence status of nursing home residents over their first year of admission to the nursing home was the first of its kind and has served as a national model. Dr. Palmer works to enhance the appreciation of older adults in society. She has taught intergenerational creative writing classes to foster relationships and mutual learning opportunities between nursing home residents and high school students. She earned the BSN and MSN from the University of Maryland School of Nursing, and the PhD from The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, and the MFA in creative writing from Goddard College, Plainfield, Vermont. She is a member of the American Geriatrics Society, International Continence Society, Eastern Nursing Research society, and a fellow in the Gerontological Society of America and the American Academy of Nursing.
