SEARCY — At the Arkansas Nurses Association annual convention Oct. 22-23 in Little Rock, Cathleen Schultz, dean of the Harding University Carr College of Nursing and president of the National League for Nursing, served as keynote speaker for the event.
She was also awarded with the Arkansas Nurses Association Distinguished Service Award for her “numerous contributions to the profession and the nurses of this great state and nation,” Joanne DeJanovich, CEO of ARNA, said in a statement.
Schultz has spent the past 30 years as the first dean of the Carr College of Nursing, setting standards in all levels of nursing, including licensed professionals and nurses who have graduated with both associate degrees and bachelor’s degrees.
Her service in education and professional work has extended past the local sector into state and national fields.
“There is no higher award than being recognized by your colleagues where you live and work,” Schultz said in accepting the award. “It is the people who see you every day, know your strengths and flaws, know who you are and how you live, that can speak deeply of accomplishment.”
Schultz began teaching at Harding and became a member of the National League for Nursing in 1976, making history in 2005 when she became the first Arkansan to be elected to the organization’s board of governors, serving as treasurer.
She began her two-year term as president of the National League for Nursing last year and is the only nurse to have served as president of both the state board and state association.