Carolina School of Nursing Professor
First African-American to Address Seniors
at Alma Mater

CHAPEL HILL -- Dr. Pamela Johnson Rowsey, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing, will become the first African-American in the history of her alma mater to present the senior convocation address at Mississippi University for Women this Tuesday, September 11.

Rowsey, who is also serving as a visiting research scientist with the Environmental Protection Agency in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, was chosen from a select number of alumni because of her leadership and achievements in the nursing field and because of her work as a role model for African-American youth. This will be the first trip back to MUW for the Picayune, Mississippi, native since she earned her BSN degree there in 1978.

According to Rowsey, her convocation address will focus on integrity and perseverance, two qualities that she credits in helping her overcome the hardships of a poor, rural segregated childhood to become a nationally recognized researcher in physiology. She is now leading a five-year NIH-funded study into the effects of core-temperature increases brought on by exercise, injury and illness.

"Mentors may not always be the same gender as you or the same skin color as you, but you can't ignore someone because of their gender or skin," Rowsey said. "We all have a job to do, a role to take and a contribution to make to others and ultimately to society at large."

Dr. Gail Stephens, vice-president of Student Affairs and a member of the speaker selection committee, said featuring an African-American speaker at senior convocation was "way past due." In honor of this momentous occasion, MUW administrators have arranged for Rowsey to lead seminars on leadership for the nursing, math and science majors and a breakfast is to be held in her honor on Tuesday morning.

Founded in 1884, MUW is the oldest public college for women in the nation. Men were admitted nearly a century later in 1982. The school is well known for the caliber of its nursing programs, with its students claiming the highest nursing licensure passing rate in Mississippi.

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School of Nursing Contact: Sunny Smith Nelson 919-966-1412