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Partly Cloudly n 72°/ 48° chance of precipitation: 20%
By Alison Parker The Breeze
Miriam Daoud gets an iced mocha in Sheetz at 2:45 a.m. She then heads to Rockingham Memorial Hospital to start her 12-hour shift for her senior nursing capstone project. “When you come in at 3 a.m., you get [a] report of your patient from the nurse that’s leaving,” Daoud said. “Depending on the doctors, they usually come on the floor about 8 a.m. They give you the update of their plan of care for the patients, so you have from 3 to 7 a.m. to do initial assessments.” Daoud received Virginia’s Nursing Student of the Year award at the Virginia Nursing Student’s Association convention in Charlottesville in February. The organization represents more than 75 statewide nursing programs. Graduating in May, Daoud hopes to pursue flight nursing, which involves transporting injured soldiers from a field hospital to an ICU, after graduating in May. She visits room after room hourly to assess patients, checking their vitals such as heart rate and blood pressure and examining the patients’ IVs and the fluids healing them. Around 7 or 8 a.m., the doctors, nurses and pharmacists develop a plan of action to treat patients for the day. “A lot of patients I see are post openheart surgery patients, acute respiratory failure and a lot of detox or alcohol poisoning,” Daoud said. “The hardest part is keeping up with your charting and staying organized.” A more difficult part of her job is planning for the worst-case scenario. “You’re always constantly monitoring to make sure nothing’s going in the wrong direction,” Daoud said. “If you prepare for the worst, you’ll be ready for when it happens.” Sometimes, she must face the worst. “I was helping another nurse with her patient, and the patient coded,” Daoud said. “I did compressions on him, and he didn’t make it. Another one I’ve had was
First aid Senior named Virginia’s nursing student of the year
terminal, and his family decided to take him off [life support]. I was in the room and watched the patient slowly die.” Daoud added that she wanted to experience something like this before entering the real world, especially to learn how to deal with the families’ reactions. “What affects me the most is the family going through that or seeing that glimpse of hope,” Daoud said. “That’s what gets me sad or happy.” Throughout the long shift, her supervising nurse lets her keep track of her own charts, give patients medicine and adjust drip rates of the fluids her patients need. “The first time you give an IV and you’re pulling the medicine, you’re so excited,” Daoud said. “It’s nerve-wracking, but once you get it, it gets easier.” When she gets off at 3 p.m., she squeezes out her last bit of energy to take a Zumba class and then assumes the role of president of JMU’s Nursing Student Association and member of ROTC. “We do community service projects, and thanks to our nursing student certification, I got to attend the Association conference last year in Salt Lake City,” Daoud said. “I’ve been able to get to make so many connections, and I got to meet the president of the Nursing Association. It’s just cool to see that I’m a college student and still meeting influential people.” Studying for nearly 40 hours a week for tests and working 12-hour shifts, was well worth the effort for Daoud. Studying for nearly 30 to 40 hours a week for tests and working 12-hour shifts, was well worth the effort for Daoud. “I think the best part was your peers seeing as though you have done well and choosing to acknowledge you,” Daoud said. “Your peers are your biggest critics and those you want to please the most, being
president of the board.” Some of the workload comes from all the experiences she gets in practicum, when she gets to apply what she learns in class to the real world. Nursing majors can practice in nursing homes, day care centers or hospitals. “I’ve talked to other people in other schools where they have to choose among a lot of clinical fields, whereas we get to practice in a lot of areas,” Daoud said. “A lot of schools don’t do a community health course, where we’re out in the community, doing what we can. There’s also a heavy emphasis on gerontology.” Gerontology is the study of the process of aging and the particular problems of elderly people. Sandra Annan, assistant nursing professor and faculty adviser of JMU’s NSA, has had Daoud in class. “I think she’s an amazing student,” Annan said. “I couldn’t imagine having the responsibility of ROTC, the nursing program and all the leadership activities she does. She balances it well.” Stephanie Autry, a senior nursing major and vice president of NSA, was the student who nominated Daoud for the award. The two, who have lived together since sophomore year, have spent a significant amount of time planning events for their organization, like senior prom. “Our biggest event is Senior Prom,” Autry said. “It’s for senior citizens and it’s basically a dance we put on for them every year, and we have food and refreshments for them.” In the end, Daoud thinks her recognition validated the time she’s invested in her studies. “It kind of reassured that I had done my job for the year as president,” Daoud said. “They had told me
A nice addition, but not good enough? Faculty, staff to receive bonus, but still frustrated over salary freeze By IJ Chan The Breeze
After years of waiting, the faculty and staff are happy to accept a 3-percent bonus in their May paycheck. But that doesn’t mean it’s quelled concerns over a four-year salary freeze. On Monday, faculty and staff received an email from President Linwood Rose notifying them that the bonus would be added to their May 16 pay stub. Rose said in an email that he’s “hopeful that this additional bonus payment, all of which will be reflected in the single pay period, will provide some financial assistance.” University spokesman Don Egle has cited inadequate state funding as the reason behind the salary freeze that faculty and staff have experienced for four years. “Over the last few years, the university has said publicly that this matter of salary increases has been a very important topic — one that we need to continue to take a look at,” Egle said. “And ultimately to get to a place where we can be in a better position to provide our faculty and staff salary increases.” But some think there’s more to the problem. “We take exception to the implication that the Commonwealth of Virginia alone is responsible for faculty salary increases,” several faculty members wrote in a Feb. 8 Breeze column. “The University, too, has a responsibility here.” The same column argues that JMU has skewed priorities. “The administration has found plenty of money for new stadiums, manicured lawns and robust salary increases for some of our upper administrators,” they said. “It has failed to offer the faculty any kind of salary increase whatsoever.” Egle stressed that the bonus is a one-time extension from the university alone and not the state. The state, according to Egle, has discussed possible salary increases and bonuses for faculty and staff. But the increases and bonuses may depend on a state revenue surplus,
Vol. 88, No. 51 Thursday, April 19, 2012
ryan freeland / the breeze
Daoud worked a shift yesterday from 3 a.m. to 3 p.m. as a student nurse at Rockingham Memorial Hospital.
they were going to nominate me, but I wasn’t sure with all the other nominations of my chances of winning. I was really happy when I found out I got it.” Contact Alison Parker at breezenews@gmail.com.
Seeking: Provost Committee opens up search process to student input; only 2 attend public forum By alison parker and jen eyring The Breeze
laura Wilkins / the breeze
Faculty and staff will get a 3-percent bonus in May on top of their yearly salary.
and therefore may be postponed. Rebecca Field, assistant professor of mathematics, said the real issue still stems from the lack of salary increases within the university. “Some of the people here who have been here for a long time do make a lot more than the newer people,” Field said. “A 3-percent across-the-board bonus — I don’t really think that fixes the problem. Bringing our salaries up to where they should be would fix the problem.” Field added that though salaries do not reflect it, the steady increase of JMU students over the past four years has added to the workload. “The amount of work we’re doing has gone up and our pay has not, and
4/19 Inside 3 news A drilling test Can you remember
basic world geography? Most students can’t.
cost of living has gone up,” Field said. “The state cut the amount of money they give JMU — there wasn’t a lot they could have done during that time, and you know, I think [JMU] handled it relatively well … It could have been a lot worse, but now that things are loosening up again, it’d be nice if salaries went up.” Sara Williams, assistant director of public services at Carrier Library, said she appreciates the bonus. “In my mind, this is JMU saying ‘We understand — we know it’s way past time for you to have some extra money, and we want to give this to you as a goodwill gesture,’ ” Williams said. see bonus, page 4
5 A Marine’s Facebook
opinion Over the (front) line
comment proves to be cause for discharge.
JMU has opened a search for a new top administrator — a position that apparently only two people care about. Eight faculty members and two students have formed a committee to review applications for the next provost. During a public forum on Thursday, the search committee welcomed feedback from JMU. Only two people showed up. A provost is an administrator who primarily deals with academic affairs such as the libraries, Faculty Senate, student services, the Registrar, admissions and information technology and departmental programs and curriculums. During the forum, members of the committee asked, “What distinct qualities and characteristics of the university and its academic programs are important to share with the candidates?” and “What do you believe are the desired attributes of the next provost?” Bob Kolvoord, an ISAT professor, attended the forum to see the progress of the committee. “I think it’s important to have the interview process while people are here in the fall,” Kolvoord said. Rhonda Zingraff, associate dean of ISAT, also came to the forum, hoping to see a provost with a robust personality and dedication to encouraging students and faculty to be more passionate about academics. “Higher education seems to still be a casualty of a long-standing split between academic affairs and student affairs,” Zingraff said. Mark Warner, senior vice president of student affairs, heads the committee. Along with the rest of the members, he designed a survey asking JMU for online feedback throughout April. “I’m not surprised that the greater response is from the electronic medium, since it is much more convenient,” Warner said. “However, we still wanted to provide different opportunities to members of the community so that all voices could be heard.”
7 Physics students and
life How small is small?
professors develop nanotechnology research.
A Provost oversees: n n n n n n n n
Academic affairs Libraries Faculty Senate The Registrar Admissions Information Technology Curriculum Departmental Programs
While soliciting input from the campus, the committee will review provost applications until June 1. In the summer, the committee will narrow down the candidates for phone and on-campus interviews, according to an email Warner sent the university. Once finalists are chosen, they will be invited for on-campus interviews in September, which will involve a public forum with individual candidates. The committee hopes to select a provost by October. Jerry Benson, interim provost, believes the provost position is important for students to understand. Most recently, the provost office has rekindled its relationship with students through SGA. “One of the things we wanted to do is get a lot of perspectives from students in terms of the different programs of the university,” Benson said. Benson explained that his office worked with SGA on its recent academics report that surveyed students about JMU academics. SGA held focus groups with students to evaluate their opinion of the educational culture at JMU. “It’s all about what they’re experiencing in class, what they’re taking to get through the courses for graduation and that we want to know what their experience is to help improve the quality of their education,” Benson said. Students “put forth some great suggestions, and that’s a great example of measuring how we want to move forward.” see provost, page 4
9 Despite talks with
sports Brooks to return
Georgetown, Brooks to stick close to home.