5 Tips for Preparing to Begin Grad School

From US News Education:

Congratulations. You’ve been accepted to graduate school and will start in a few months.

It’s normal to feel nervous, stressed, or anxious, but don’t let emotions get in the way of setting yourself up to succeed once your new program starts.

 

Here are five tips to help you get ready for grad school:

1. Make sure your documents are in order: There’s nothing worse than arriving on campus only to learn important documents are either incomplete or missing. Make sure all of your student and financial aid forms are complete and on file at your school, before the semester starts. In addition, make an appointment with your academic adviser, sign and return all scholarship or loan agreement forms, and where possible, set up your student account with the bursar’s office and make an early tuition payment. Failure to do these, and on time, could cause some major difficulties when you arrive on campus.

[Read about loan changes for graduate students.]

2. Learn about your classmates: Now is a good time to find out about your new classmates, and establishing relationships with other students before you arrive on campus will help you feel more at home when you get there. You can access information about the admitted class on the school’s website. Ask the admissions office to put you in touch with other admits. Try to organize or help facilitate a get-together with other students in your area.

3. Research the curriculum and professors: As an incoming student, you’ll likely have access to information on course syllabi and text books. Familiarize yourself with these. Purchase some of the text books in advance, and read the introduction and table of contents. Most schools provide student-generated evaluations of professors and courses online, which typically go back two years, so be sure to check them out. This information will help you make more informed decisions about which electives to take; If you have trouble finding it, contact the admissions office.

4. Explore ways to get involved: Begin thinking about ways to get involved outside the classroom. Check out information on student government or sports and other campus activities. During my time as a grad school dean, I saw incoming students create their own unique student groups—like cigar, wine tasting, and opera lovers’ clubs—so consider starting one if there are no student groups in which you are interested. It offers a great way to develop personal friendships and advance your professional network.

5. Start thinking about life after graduation: Yes, you are just beginning. However, it’s never too early to consider life after grad school; time will literally fly by. And before you know it, you will be graduating. That’s why it’s so important to take time now to check out your school’s career development office and learn about the services provided. Thoroughly review the website, and if you can, set up an appointment to visit the office.

Dr. Don Martin, Ph.D., is a higher education admissions expert, author, and former admissions dean at Columbia University,Northwestern University, Wheaton College, and University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
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NKU students tap into the power of GIS

Undergraduate and graduate students at Northern Kentucky University are harnessing the power of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to help address community challenges while advancing their own careers.

This spring, graduate students in the Master of Public Administration program investigated real data and analyzed issues ranging from the impact of the nation’s economic recession on northern Kentucky to the strategic location of emergency response resources.

Diana Rigg created a series of maps which illustrate changes in key economic indicators, illustrating how the economic downturn has impacted Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties. She will integrate her work in the MPA class into Vision 2015‘s Urban Renaissance Report, which she is presenting to the Northern Kentucky Housing Summit later this month.

“GIS is a powerful analytical tool, but it is also an extremely effective communication tool,” Rigg said. “While its use is most often associated with land-use planning, projects such as mine illustrate how very useful GIS application is to community development organizations.”

Steve Kelly was Rigg’s classmate in PAD 650. The captain of West Chester Emergency Medical Services, Kelly created a database of all EMS calls for 2011 and mapped the physical address of each call in the district. His goal: to determine whether the stations are properly situated to adequately provide the necessary coverage.

“The GIS class provided me with some great resources to use in my position and provided me with a better understanding of the power of data combined with intricate mapping capabilities,” he said. “This power provides a better visual representation of data than the standard chart or graph and allows the reader to gain more of an understanding of what you are trying to show them.”

GIS is a computer-based system for managing and processing geographically referenced data. It allows one to visualize, interpret, understand and question data in ways that reveal otherwise hidden relationships, patterns and trends. These relationships can then be presented in the form of maps and other tools. GIS is a rapidly growing area with a broad range of applications in government agencies, nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies.

Professor Deb Kittner taught the MPA course and supplemented the training with presentations by local GIS professionals. “It is of great value to bring active professionals into the classroom,” she said. “They gave much more than a demonstration of how they apply GIS skills in the community. They saw what the students are learning, how they think and what their interests are. They also provided feedback to the program, shared about their accomplishments and opened up new leads for the creation of internships and partnerships.”

One of those visiting professionals was Trisha Brush, deputy director of GIS administration for the Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission. She told the class that the technology is used in government and the private sector to model the world around us. “GIS helps bring to light solutions which may not arrive by normal practices,” she said. “GIS is able to analyze many different data types – most important spatial information – and it is this capability that sets it apart from other solution-oriented software.”

In fall 2010, NKU began offering GIS certificates to undergraduate and graduate students. These programs build a solid foundation in GIS theory and practical applications. They are offered through a partnership between the NKU Master of Public Administration program, the history and geography department, and computer science department. Each certificate requires a student to complete five classes.

“These programs are designed for individuals whose career paths will require them to regularly use GIS technology in their work,” said Dr. Hongmei Wang, GIS certificate program director. “Usually this expertise is supplementary to an employee’s primary skill set, which may be in management, information technology, government or other service-sector fields. The certificate will also empower individuals to move into such career paths from other areas.”

Dr. Wang said students can choose from electives that allow them to customize the program to enhance their technical or managerial skills.

For more information about the certificate program visit http://informatics.nku.edu/departments/computer-science/programs/cgis.html.

“Kentucky Rising”

“Kentucky Rising,” written by James A. Ramage and Andrea S. Watkins, both professors at Northern Kentucky University, is an outstanding, beautifully written book that centers on Kentucky’s contributions to the nation during the antebellum era. Throughout this book, the authors argue that, between statehood and the Civil War, Kentucky contributed interesting and provocative national leaders who played a major role in the shaping of our democracy, the cultural development of the nation and the increasingly important debate over slavery.

Antebellum Kentucky produced one of the nation’s premier politicians, Henry Clay, whose enlightened optimism regarding America’s future made him the hero of Abraham Lincoln. Clay, who began life in Virginia, where he acquired an excellent education, migrated in 1797 to Lexington. There he married into a prosperous family and soon entered politics. Clay holds the remarkable record of having been elected U.S. House speaker five times, and he is universally judged to have been one of the most talented men who ran for president, never to win.

Kentucky was also a leader in medicine and medical education. Ephraim McDowell was Kentucky’s most famous surgeon in the early 19th century. After studying medicine in Virginia, McDowell attended the University of Edinburgh, famous for its anatomy and surgery classes. Returning home, McDowell in 1809 performed the first successful ovariotomy, removing a 22-pound tumor from a woman originally thought to be pregnant. At Transylvania University in Lexington, the first university west of the Appalachian Mountains, science and medicine continued to advance. President Horace Holley achieved nationwide attention when he brought in Constantine Rafinesque to anchor science programs and hired medical department faculty – Dr. Charles Caldwell and Lunsford P. Yandell. Louisville Medical Institute opened in 1837, and by 1840, Kentucky possessed two medical schools and 10 colleges.

Lexington, labeled “Athens of the West,” quickly became the state’s cultural center. Matthew Harris Jouett, a Transylvania graduate who studied under Gilbert Stuart, opened a studio in Lexington, where he began painting portraits of leading citizens and, in 1825, painted a portrait of touring American Revolutionary general, the Marquis de Lafayette. In architecture, Kentucky native Gideon Shryock, who designed the Greek Revival Kentucky Statehouse built in 1830, acquired a national reputation. And perhaps no 19th century Kentuckian was more famous than John James Audubon, whose wildlife drawings and paintings are so well-known today.

The authors’ excellent account of slavery in the commonwealth explores the state’s major failure in leadership. At the first Kentucky constitutional convention in 1792, leading divines such as David Rice pleaded with delegates to eliminate the “national crime” of slavery within commonwealth borders. (p. 358)  Rice’s call went unheeded, as did later efforts of a handful of well-known critics of slavery.

Kentuckians’ great mistake in leadership was defending slavery “to the bitter end,” becoming the last state to end slavery. (p. 276) At war’s end, white Kentuckians made a horribly wrong turn, following the Deep South into a century-long, unwinnable fight against modernity, largely because of racism. Had state leaders begun educating freedmen along with whites, Kentucky would have resumed a national leadership role, but they did not.

Written from primary and secondary sources, “Kentucky Rising” is an excellent synthesis of antebellum Kentucky history.

— Reviewed by Marion B. Lucas, History Department, Western Kentucky University

NKU History Department
Masters of Public History

NKU Center wins 2012 Award of Excellence in Public Health

In recognition of its efforts in helping northern Kentucky’s underserved population, the Northern Kentucky University Nurse Advocacy Center for the Underserved (NACU) has been awarded the 2012 Award of Excellence in Public Health by the Northern Kentucky Independent District Health Department.

NACU was nominated by the clinical services staff of the Northern Kentucky Independent District Health Department and chosen by a Health Department committee. The committee specifically commended the NACU collaborations with the Health Department in its efforts to provide flu and Hepatitis B vaccination to the homeless and efforts to reduce unnecessary visits to local emergency rooms.

NACU was developed by what is now the NKU College of Health Professions in 2006 with a focus on providing outreach nursing services, following a university-led community project that provided nursing services to women in three area shelters starting in 2003.

Community partnerships are fundamental for the NACU program. Faculty and students collaborate with community physicians, nurse practitioners, social workers and therapists to assist clients to improve their health. They have formed partnerships to provide services with the Madison Avenue Christian Church; Turfway Park; Ida Spence United Methodist Mission at City Heights; Transitions, Inc.; Welcome House of Northern Kentucky; Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky; the Women’s Crisis Center; and the Covington Housing Authority.

NACU provides an unlimited source of opportunities for NKU students through community outreach, service, course requirements and research. Each semester, between 15 and 20 students fulfill some course requirements working with the 13 faculty that participate in the NACU program.

A public award presentation honoring NACU will take place on Monday, May 14, at 3:30 p.m. in the NKU Student Union. For more information on NACU, visit http://healthprofessions.nku.edu/nacu/index.php.

Still need to take the GRE/LSAT/GMAT?

We know it can be a daunting task, especially if you just graduated with your Bachelor’s degree. The thought of studying some more makes your blood run cold!

However, there is help out there–many of them are free or low-cost solutions provided by the test companies themselves.

First check out whether or not your program requires one of the standardized tests here:

Admission requirements

GRE revised General Test Preparation

About the new test

Free study materials

LSAT Test Preparation

About the LSAT

Free study materials

GMAT Test Preparation

About the Next-Generation GMAT (from June 2102)

Free study materials

Information regarding the TOEFL for non-native English speakers

About the TOEFL

Sample questions

The NKU Community Connections often offers courses to help students prepare for these tests, check out their schedule here.

Writing for Change

Have you ever wondered what kind of projects graduate students undertake as part of their classes? Perhaps you’re interested in PR or in the Communication graduate program, or maybe you’re just curious as to the kinds of things our students get up to!

As the semester pulls to a close, details of all the amazing projects that our students completed as part of classes or for thesis/capstone defense projects are coming to light. For example, students in the COM 694: Public Relations Writing class kept blogs where they wrote about issues on a local and national scale and then posted them to Scribd, the world’s largest social reading and publishing company. For example, Jessica Green wrote about Human Trafficking and the Need for Legislative Change–focusing on the issue in Kentucky and the legislation that was just recently passed. Click the link below to read Jessica’s article and to watch her video.

Help Wanted: Calling All Humanists
Human Trafficking, the Need for Legislative Change, and Your Role
BY JESSICA GREEN

VA Struggles To Provide Vets With Mental Health Care

“The issue isn’t whether the VA hires more behavioral health specialists or whether the military hires more behavioral health specialists. They’re hiring them from a set pool. The fact of the matter is we don’t have enough.” - Retired Gen. Peter Chiarelli.

A veteran of the Iraq War with post-traumatic stress disorder talks to physical therapist Nicole Bormann before a session in the VA Medical Center in St. Louis. - Chris Hondros/Getty Images

A few days ago we posted an article about the shortage of Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners (here: “It Took Almost a Year to Quit My Job!“) and the effect it was having on education and the nursing profession in general.

Over the past few days numerous news reports have surfaced regarding the same shortage of Psych NPs, but specifically dealing with the huge deficit in caregivers for US Veterans returning home. NKU is committed to serving the Nation’s Veterans and was named one of the most Vet-friendly campuses in the US. Not only that, but just this month NKU joined with First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden to commit to further educate our nation’s 3 million nurses so they are prepared to meet the unique health needs of service members, veterans and their families (full news report available here). With that in mind, The Department of Advanced Nursing Studies announced the addition of the Family Psychiatric & Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) concentration to its advanced practice curriculum. More information is available here.

From NPR today:

Over the past five years, the Department of Veterans Affairs says, the number of former service members seeking mental health services has climbed by a third. In response, the agency has boosted funding and tightened standards.

Now, any vet asking for help is supposed to be evaluated within 24 hours and start treatment within two weeks. The VA has claimed that happens in the vast majority of cases, but a new investigation by the agency’s inspector general says the VA statistics are skewed to make wait times appear shorter.

“It illustrates, in incredible clarity, how dysfunctional the VA system is right now for thousands of veterans around the country,” he says.

The inspector general’s report says, rather than starting the clock from the moment a vet asks for mental health care, the VA has been counting from whenever the first appointment became available. That could add weeks or months to the wait time.

So while the VA has been saying 95 percent of vets were seen as quickly as they were supposed to be, nearly 100,000 patients had to wait much longer. At the VA Medical Center in Salisbury, N.C., for example, the average wait was three months. Patrick Bellon, an activist with Veterans for Common Sense, says the government has been too slow to increase mental health services.

“You don’t see the real cost in human terms until 20 to 30 years after the conflict has ended,” Bellon says. “Only recently have we seen an attempt to increase resources to deal with that cost.”

Veterans for Common Sense is suing the VA over delays in treatment, and over the time it takes some vets to get benefit payments. The VA announced plans to hire nearly 2,000 additional mental health staff last week, just days before this report came out.

Bellon says he believes that should help.

“I firmly believe the issue is supply, so I’m hoping that if [we] increase the supply, fewer veterans will be turned away,” he says. However, Retired Gen. Peter Chiarelli, former vice chief of staff of the Army, says the supply of good clinicians is not growing fast enough.

“The issue isn’t whether the VA hires more behavioral health specialists or whether the military hires more behavioral health specialists,” Chiarelli says. “They’re hiring them from a set pool. The fact of the matter is we don’t have enough.”

Attorney Dan Brier is suing the VA on behalf of Stanley Laskowski, an Iraq vet diagnosed with PTSD in 2007. Brier says that even though his client was diagnosed and was in the VA system, he never got the help he needed.

“Since he never received any psychotherapy as the VA protocols require, I’m afraid that in Mr. Laskowski’s case, it was an issue of appropriate resources not being available,” Brier says.

Laskowski ended up abusing drugs, getting arrested and losing his job; he’s seeking millions in compensation from the VA.

The Department of Veterans Affairs declined to comment for this story, but the VA released a statement saying it endorses the inspector general’s findings. The agency agrees it needs to change the way it counts wait times, and that it also needs to improve staffing.

The report notes that the inspector general pointed out similar problems seven years ago. At a Senate hearing Wednesday, the VA will have another chance to explain how it’s going to do better.

For more information about NKUs program visit the Department of Advanced Nursing.

Information also available about the Nurse Practitioner Advancement program here.

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It Took Almost a Year to Quit my Job!

By Dr. Patricia N. Mahon, Ph.D., NP-C, PMHNP-BC

Faculty, Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner program, Northern Kentucky University

I decided it was time to slow down a little. I had been working at two clinics, IOP and County Mental Health Clinic a long time. And I was teaching Psychiatric NP courses.  There were some other things I want to do that this schedule didn’t give me time to do. So I handed in my notice at one of the clinics.   It took them almost a year to find a qualified, trained replacement.

I’m a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, sometimes called a Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. This isn’t a new field. In fact, John’s Hopkins began offering psychiatric nursing as part of their curriculum in 1913. The first Psychiatric Nursing textbook was written in 1920 by Harriet Bailey, R.N and published by The Macmillan Company.

What is new is the growing need for Primary Care Nurse Practitioners with training in mental health issues and psychopharmacology.  Perhaps the rise in patients requiring mental health services is a result of the increasing stress in society because of economic issues or because society’s attitude toward mental health issues have changed. We  know that our aging society will create a need for health care professionals to deal with not only the medical needs of this population group, but also the impact of Alzheimer and other types of dementia that are a part of aging. And there is a growing call to help our military who return from a combat situation.

Whatever the reason, positions for Primary Care Nurse Practitioners who also have a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners certification are going unfilled because of the lack of trained nurses.

Much of the demand is in the rural area. The local General Practitioner cares for patients who are suffering from depression, psychosis, or some other mental illness. But there are few if any specialists in these rural communities. Patients may have to drive several hours to the closest psychiatrist who can diagnose and prescribe medication.

Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners are needed in the metropolitan areas as well. Even though there are psychiatrists in these communities it can take up to three months to get an appointment. What does the patient do in the meantime? This is where the Nurse Practitioner with a Psychiatric specialty can help.

In a practice, the Primary Care Nurse Practitioner deals with the medical issues and as much of the psychological issues as they can, then they refer them to someone with the training.  But many do not have anyone to refer them to. This is when having the additional knowledge in psychiatric issues if extremely valuable. Additionally, there are a substantial number of NPs who work in psychiatric setting and need the appropriate credentials and certification.

A well trained Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner can spot mental health as well as physical issues in a patient and have the confidence to recommend treatment options.  Additionally, they can create mental health wellness programs to help their communities. Some states even allow a Psychiatric NP to hang a shingle for their own mental health clinic.

As we continue to see the demand for mental health workers grow, it is important for our Nurse Practitioners to add this area of specialty to their resume.

Dr. Patricia N. Mahon holds a Ph.D in Clinical Psychology, is a certified a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner and a certified Adult Nurse Practitioner. She developed and is an instructor for Northern Kentucky University’s online degree for the Family Psychiatric& Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) concentration.

The program is for certified Adult, Woman’s Health, Pediatric and Family nurse practitioners, and Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialists who wish to sit for the certification exam as a Psychiatric and Mental Health Family Nurse Practitioner. The curriculum aligns with the new Consensus Model for APRN Regulation: Licensure, Accreditation, Certification, & Education (APRN Consensus Model) and following completion students are eligible to sit for Family Psychiatric & Mental Health Nurse Practitioner certification exam offered through the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). 

Family Psychiatric & Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program

The Department of Advanced Nursing Studies at Northern Kentucky University is pleased to announce the addition of the Family Psychiatric & Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) concentration to its advanced practice curriculum.

Intended for certified adult and family nurse practitioners, the program prepares students to provide mental health promotion and mental health diagnosis and treatment across the lifespan. This program is also targeted for Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialists who wish to sit for the certification exam as a Psychiatric and Mental Health Family Nurse Practitioner.

The curriculum aligns with the new Consensus Model for APRN Regulation: Licensure, Accreditation, Certification, & Education (APRN Consensus Model). Upon completion students are eligible to sit for Family Psychiatric & Mental Health Nurse Practitioner certification exam offered through the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).

The program is offered entirely on-line making it attractive to rural and working students. The program consists of 23 credit hours and includes courses in psychopharmacology, counseling, and psychotherapy, and is designed to be completed in 4 semesters or 15 months. Students are required to complete 500 clinical hours to obtain the post-masters certificate.

For further information on the Family Psychiatric & Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) program email nkuonline@nku.edu.

Geoffrey S. Mearns named NKU’s fifth president

The Northern Kentucky University Board of Regents voted unanimously today to name Mr. Geoffrey S. Mearns NKU’s fifth president, effective August 1. Mearns will succeed Dr. James C. Votruba, who will retire July 31 after 15 years as NKU president.

“After a long and comprehensive national search, we feel we have found the best person in the nation to lead NKU,” said Terry Mann, chair of the NKU Board of Regents. “The quality of our candidate pool and our finalists was indicative of this university’s role on the national stage. Over the past 15 years, NKU has become the model of a major metropolitan university committed to academic excellence and regional stewardship. Still, our brightest days lie ahead of us, and Geoffrey Mearns is just the person to lead us there.”

Mearns has served as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Cleveland State University since February 2010, and was dean and professor of law at Cleveland State’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law for four and a half years prior to that.

“I am excited by the opportunities that lie before us,” Mearns said. “Northern Kentucky University is valued internally and externally as an outstanding academic institution that is an integral part of its community. There is a great deal of pride from the faculty, staff, students, alumni and the region about how far the university has come and where it is going.”

As provost, Mearns oversees eight academic deans and five vice provosts. He supervises various academic support functions such as the library; student advising and student services; and faculty recruitment and retention, promotion and tenure. Cleveland State is a public university with more than 16,000 students.

An avid runner who competed at Yale University and qualified for the 1984 Olympic trials in the marathon, Mearns is no stranger to Greater Cincinnati. He said visiting NKU last week brought back fond memories of running the hills on both sides of the Ohio River when he attended Walnut Hills High School. He and wife Jennifer ran the bridges during their visit last week, and Mearns said he looks forward to spanning them regularly when he arrives.

“NKU’s location in a major metropolitan region is one of its greatest assets,” he said. “This region has so much to offer prospective students and faculty from around the commonwealth and across the country. Great things are happening in the region, and our whole family looks forward to our move to northern Kentucky.”

President Votruba said Mearns will be a natural fit. “Geoff Mearns’ values, professional experience and breadth of understanding of the role NKU plays in the lives of our students and our region make him ideally suited for this leadership role,” Votruba said. “Under his leadership, I have no doubt that NKU will continue its momentum.”

During his tenure as dean of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Mearns was actively engaged in fundraising for the college, helping to enhance its scholarship pool and overseeing an $8.8 million renovation of the law building. Under his leadership, alumni and private giving increased substantially and the quality and diversity of the law school’s class improved. He also oversaw continual improvement in the school’s bar passage rates. At the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Mearns taught complex federal criminal investigations and prosecutions, criminal law and white collar crime. He previously taught at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law and New York Law School.
Prior to joining Cleveland State, Geoff was a practicing lawyer for more than 15 years, including serving as a federal prosecutor in the United States Department of Justice.

His record of community service includes serving on several judicial screening committees and serving as a trustee for several Cleveland agencies. He was also a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Science Community. Mearns has written numerous criminal justice articles.
Mearns earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Yale University in 1981 and a juris doctor from the University of Virginia in 1987. After graduating from law school, he clerked for the Hon. Boyce F. Martin, Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Louisville.

He and Jennifer currently live in Shaker Heights, Ohio, with their five children.