Inspired by her background as a nurse educator and her desire to become a nursing scholar, Katheryn Courville, RN, MSN, BSN, BBA, is pursuing her doctorate in nursing from Texas Woman’s University with a 4.0 GPA and plans to graduate in 2017. Courville is receiving one of four prestigious scholarships given by Texas Woman’s University at the 15th Annual Virginia Chandler Dykes Leadership Award Luncheon, presented by Bank of Texas, Texas Woman’s University, and the Texas Woman’s University Foundation, March 8, at noon, at The Belo Mansion and Pavilion. Courville’s scholarship is sponsored by Luther King Capital Management.
“It is my hope to advance nursing education so that undergraduate and graduate nursing students get the highest quality education,” added Courville. “I love to teach, and I want to have an impact on curriculum and raise the bar of nursing education so that our graduates are not only clinically proficient, but also professionally prepared to work in healthcare teams.”
Courville is a full-time clinical instructor at University of Texas at Tyler in Longview and also teaches courses in the undergraduate and graduate programs at Montana State University. She also serves as a part-time nurse at Good Shepherd Medical Center in Longview. She received a bachelor’s in business administration in finance from The George Washington University in Washington, DC in 1988; a bachelor of science in nursing from the University of Texas at Tyler 2004; a master’s of science in nursing from Texas Woman’s University in 2009.
Her dissertation at TWU focuses on how mobile technology affects inter-professional team-based care in acute care settings. She is studying both the anticipated and unanticipated outcomes of implementing this technology while looking at the responses of healthcare workers to the resources offered by the mobile application.
“At the hospital where I work as an emergency room nurse, we utilize a mobile application to coordinate the care of stroke and heart attack patients,” added Courville. “Studies have shown that this app reduces the time of the patient’s symptom onset to intervention. However, the studies do not mention other consequences of using the app – both good and bad. I hope to learn more about the underlying mechanisms that make the app work as well as how the app influenced inter-professional team-based care.”
“I am so honored to receive the Virginia Chandler Dykes Scholarship,” added Courville. “I am currently working three jobs to pay for each semester for my doctoral degree and when I start my study, I will have other expenses including travel and lodging. When I learned I would not have to pay tuition this semester, I was so relieved and grateful.”
In addition to Courville, graduate students from the remaining three TWU colleges will also be honored at the luncheon as recipients of scholarship funds: Danielle “Kamica” King, College of Arts and Sciences; Julie Southward, College of Professional Education (COPE); and Laurie Stelter, College of Health Sciences, sponsored by sponsored by Edgemere –Dallas/SQLC Charitable Foundation.
TWU’s 15th Annual Virginia Chandler Dykes Leadership Award Luncheon, March 8 at the Belo Mansion and Pavilion, will honor Dr. Stephen Mansfield, president and CEO of Dallas-based Methodist Health System, as the 2017 recipient of the Virginia Chandler Dykes Leadership Award. Tickets are $175 for silver patron; $250 for gold patron. For more information, call 940-898-3872, visit www.twu.edu/vcd, or email TRupani@twu.edu.