Members to Vote on Bylaws Change at November Meeting, by Donna Heald & Marjorie McCullagh (feel free to contact the authors for more information)

Xi Kappa members will consider a proposal to change the Chapter bylaws at the November membership meeting. Recent changes in by the international honor society organization have created a need for the changes. The changes focus on chapter committee structure and chapter fees. Currently, the committee structure calls for a total of 12 standing committees: Bylaws, Eligibility, Finance, Nominating, Program, Membership, Research, Scholarship, Publicity, Heritage, Newsletter, and Creative Works. Under the proposed committee structure, the number of committees will be reduced to 2: Governance Committee and Leadership Succession Committee. The chapter can create (and dissolve) Advisory Councils and Task Forces, as desired. The proposal seeks to provide for more effective use of chapter members as volunteers, enlisting them for brief, task-oriented work groups rather than the more traditional 2-year term of committee membership. The proposed Bylaws change also provides for a modest increase in chapter fees from $20 annually to $25 annually.
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November 10th Anniversary and New Member Induction Meeting, by Sara Stetz

The Xi Kappa Chapter-at-Large celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, and a gala celebration is planned! “On the Wings of Endeavor ~ Before and Beyond” is the theme for Xi Kappa’s 10th anniversary celebration. Inspiration was found in the Fargo Air Museum, which will be the setting for the event. The open space of the museum with the historic aircraft displayed reminds us how our past can lift us into our future. Retreat with Xi Kappa for a night of reflection and renewal. We will reflect on the past 10 years of leadership, scholarship and service; but more importantly we will renew our commitment for 15 more years of excellence.

The featured guest at this event will be the international society's current president, Dr. Dan Pesut. “Create the Future Through Renewal,” is the title of president Dan Pesut’s call to action for members of STTI. Xi Kappa is honored to host Dr. Pesut, president of the Honor Society of Nursing, as our keynote speaker. To Pesut, the challenge for the future of STTI represents renewal, which he has chosen as the theme for his holistically oriented two-year term as president. Xi Kappa will look to the future by inducting new members into the chapter on and will honor the past with our annual Excellence Awards at the celebration. We are all joined together in this “Endeavor” called nursing. Sigma Theta Tau nurtures excellence in nursing practice, education and research. Please join us as we celebrate the past and the future of this great organization on Monday November 8th from 5:30-8:30 PM - Schedule of Events:

• 5:30-6:15 Social Hour – Relaxation & Retreat for the mind, body and soul

• 6:15-7 Dinner – Rejuvenation of the body

• 7:00-7:45 Speaker Dr. Dan Pesut - Renewal for the organization

• 7:45-8:30 Induction & Awards – Reflection on success
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Schools Update

Concordia College, by Polly Kloster: Concordia currently has sixty students enrolled in the undergraduate generic-baccalaureate nursing program. October 1 is the fall deadline for application to the major with coursework beginning in the spring. We will welcome 32 new students into the undergraduate program during the spring semester. The nursing faculty is excited about two new firsts for the college. After attaining college-wide approval from the Higher Learning Commission, the nursing department admitted Concordia’s first graduate students into the TCU Graduate Nursing Program! In addition, we will be kicking off our accelerated “Nursing as a Second Major” program this summer! There is an incredible amount of interest in this cutting edge track and Concordia College is excited to be able to offer this program to students. This new enrollment option provides an opportunity for students who have previously graduated with a major in a discipline outside of nursing to pursue a career in nursing. These students will begin the major as a cohort in the summer of 2005. They will progress through the major over an eighteen-month period of time. The first cohort will complete the nursing major in December of 2006. This new program cuts a year off of the time it used to take to complete a second major in nursing! One of the core visions of the nursing department at Concordia College is to expand student perspectives through exposure to cross-cultural learning experiences. The nursing department has provided this opportunity to students for the past several years through spring break exploration seminars to England, Switzerland, Norway, and the Caribbean. This spring, students have the opportunity to travel with nursing faculty to Curitiba, Brazil. The focus of this cross-cultural mission trip is to study nursing and health care within the culture while visiting an ELCA retreat center, hospitals, and clinics. Congratulations are extended to the following students who will be inducted into STTI.
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Jamestown College, by Teree Rittenbach Jamestown College has begun the new academic year with full junior and senior classes and a large sophomore class which will be applying for the major in December. The Department of Nursing has been focusing on the upcoming visit by the National League of Nursing and the North Dakota Board of Nursing on October 4 and 5th. The nursing program had previously received full accreditation for 8 years. We are pleased to welcome new faculty members: Joan Schultz MS, FNP who joined our faculty January 2004 and teaches in the medical surgical area and Sara Fuchs RN, BS who is currently pursuing a graduate degree and provides clinical supervision in labor and delivery. We are pleased to welcome 5 inductees to Xi Kappa Chapter at Large, Sigma Theta Tau International at the celebration event on November 8 at the Fargo Air Museum. Please join us in celebrating the evolution of our chapter and extending a professional hand of congratulations and support to the new inductees: Emily Miller, Casselton, ND
Ashley Schulte Center, ND, Lindsay Bontjes Fargo, ND, Stacy Winandy, Sykeston, ND, Deb Lundgren Kulm, ND.

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MSUM, by Jane Bergland: Minnesota State University Moorhead is forging full steam ahead with our online nursing courses in the RN to BSN track. Our online students are from as far away as Alaska and Missouri. This fall, 42 new students joined the nursing program with a total of 130 students in the program. We changed course management systems from WebCT to Desire2Learn. With the help of the Instructional Technology team, students are catching on and doing well. The most exciting news for our department is the latest project which is to develop a generic baccalaureate program.  If all goes as planned, we will be admitting students in the fall of 2005.  Students would be admitted as freshman into the nursing major. The Nursing Graduate Program of the Tri-College University Nursing Consortium graduated its first class from Minnesota State University Moorhead and North Dakota State University this year. At MSUM, five Family Nurse Practitioner students (FNP) graduated in May and four more graduated in August. At NDSU, four FNP students and one Nurse Educator student graduated in May, and five FNP students graduated in August. There are currently 36 MSUM students enrolled in the TCU nursing masters program. Congratulations to all of the MSUM undergrad invitees: Michelle Koch, Carrie Gertken, Jill Shelstad, Joyce Schmaltz, Cindy Teichrow, Penny Leen, Nicole Mears, Kristen Johnson, Karla Koenig, Teresa Ukkelberg and Patricia Bricker. And to the MSUM graduate invitees: MSUM Graduate invitees: Katherine Byron, Lisa Hofland, Barb Lee, Jennifer Loveland, Dawn Mallory, Margie Nelson, Vickie O'Brien and Barb West. It is a wonderful honor and we welcome you.

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NDSU by Carla Gross: North Dakota State University has been in the process of expanding the baccalaureate program over the past three years. Last fall, 57 sophomore students were accepted into the professional program. A new undergraduate curriculum will be implemented fall 2005. Students will apply to the professional program during the summer between the freshman and sophomore year. Students accepted into the program will begin taking nursing courses in the fall semester of their sophomore year. Nursing electives have been built into the curriculum. The number of nursing credits in the new curriculum will be expanded from 48 to 58 credits but the total number of credits required for graduation has only increased by one credit. A new curriculum pathway has been developed within the baccalaureate program for the LPN or RN with an associate degree in nursing. There are also new opportunities at the graduate level through the TCU Nursing Consortium. Students admitted for the Family Nurse Practitioner degree will have the option of pursuing either a DNP, Doctor of Nursing Practice or Master of Science in Nursing. Watch for more information to come. We look forward to welcoming the new NDSU Inductees to the Xi Kappa At Large Chapter of STTI on November 8 at the beautiful Fargo Air Museum. It will be a chance to celebrate scholarship and leadership in the profession of nursing and to listen to the president of this international society, Daniel Pesut. Congratulations are extended to the following students who will be inducted into STTI : Dustin Carda, Sara Case, Rachel Friesen, Lori Heideman, Molly Howitson, Kathryn Lane, Nathan Mark, Nichole Nachatilo, Courtney Neill, Kimberly Pedersen, Lisa Rham, Kristen Richter, Kevin Roark, Caroline Simnioniw, RaeAnne Skattum, and Nicole Wagner.

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Fall 2004 Scholarship Awards