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Congratulations to our 2023 Pi Pi Excellence Award Recipients:  Excellence in Education - Marianne Schmitt and Excellence in Leadership - Connie Scott.

Ashley Lay (left) was awarded the Outstanding Student Performance Award in Clinical Nursing Practice and Emily Rehegan (right) was awarded the Outstanding Student Performance Award in Leadership. Awards were presented at the Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing and Health Sciences Commencement Ceremony May 12, 2023.  Engraved award plaques were given.

The Pi Pi Chapter presented a nurse leader award during Induction on October 20, 2022.  Eydie Tipton, DNP, RN, CCRN-K, CNML, EBP-C, Nurse Researcher, Blessing Hospital received the Excellence in Research Award.  Eydie Tipton received her award for her passion to foster nursing research at Blessing Hospital and the nursing community.  Eydie was inducted into the Pi Pi Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau in 2012 and has served as the Chair of the Research Committee since January of 2020.  In her role as Nurse Researcher at Blessing Hospital, Eydie works with Nursing Administration and staff to insure that best practices are being implemented as well as encouraging use of Evidence Based Practice.  She works alongside nurses and new nurse residents to identify, research, and implement change affecting patient care, time management, and best utilization of resources.  Eydie published, along with three nursing colleagues, an article entitled “Improving Care Quality through Nurse-to-Nurse Consults and Early Warning System Technology” in Nursing Management, January 2022.  As Pi Pi Research Committee Chair, Eydie encourages and supports research efforts of members and reviews and recommends research and encourages others to perform and disseminate research.  

In honor of STTI Founders’ Day, Pi Pi members were asked to donate nonperishable items to support the Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing’s “Blessing Box.”  The “Blessing Box”, located at 36^th & Maine, is a community food donation and distribution site where people experiencing food insecurity or hunger can access resources. The goal was to have 100 plus items collected to be used in the box in celebration of Sigma’s 100th birthday.  The collection was done September 15 – September 30, 2022.  We were able to collect over 300 items.  Thanks to all for your donations.  We are very proud our chapter was able to exceed our goal.

LeeAnn Lake was awarded the Outstanding Student Performance Award in Clinical Nursing Practice and Paige Phelps was awarded the Outstanding Student Performance Award in Leadership.  Awards were presented at the hybrid virtual/in-person Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing and Health Sciences Commencement Ceremony May 13, 2022.  Engraved award plaques were given.                                  

The Pi Pi Chapter presented a nurse leader award during the Pi Pi board meeting on May 23, 2022. Jan Akright, PhD, RN, CNE, BRCN Academic Dean received the Excellence in Leadership Award for her great leadership as Academic Dean and the role model she sets for faculty. The nomination highlighted the following: strong caring support for faculty, encourages faculty to try new innovations, helps to look for alternative approaches with students clinically or the classroom, stays current with what is trending in nursing education, participates in research activities and continues to teach courses in addition to her Academic Dean role. 

In addition, Jan has been an active member of Pi Pi since it’s chartering in 2000, she was the first chapter intern and she just finished her 2 year term as Pi Pi Secretary serving on the Board of Directors. 

Research Grants Awarded to Pi Pi Members

Jan Akright, PhD, RN, CNE, Academic Dean, Professor, Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing and Health Sciences (BRCN) was provided  a $125.00 research  grant for costs associated with the research, “The Effect of Pet Therapy on Health Sciences Students”. Dr. Akright along with BRCN Instructor and Pi Pi member, Erika Knuffman, primary research investigator, and BRCN Assistant Professor and Pi Pi member, Marianne Schmitt completed the research in November/December 2021 and plan to disseminate results this fall at the annual Pi Pi Research Day.

Eydie Tipton, MSN, RN, CCRN-K, CNML, Nurse Researcher, Nursing Administration, Blessing Hospital was provided a $85.00 research grant for costs associated with her statistical analysis for her project titled “Evaluation of a Transitional Care Coordination Program on 30-day Hospital Readmissions for COPD”.

Julia Cieslewicz, BSN, RN, Utilization Management Supervisor, Patient Access, Blessing Hospital was provided  a $108.00 research  grant for costs associated with her completion of her Master’s project, “Leadership Qualities of Senior Nursing Students”.

Gerri Buss, DNPc, RN, Manager of Quality and Performance Improvement, Crossriver Quality Health Partners was provided $75.00 research grant for costs associated with data analysis for her DNP research project, “Implementing Depression Screening in Neurology Care.”