Ogbolu, PhD ’11, MS ’05, BSN ’04, NNP, FNAP, FAAN, professor, began her tenure as the Bill and Joanne Conway Dean of the University of Maryland School of Nursing on July 17. An experienced researcher at international and national levels, educator, and public servant, she has dedicated her career to addressing health disparities in marginalized and global communities and will focus on UMSON’s contributions to build the next generation of nurses. She is the first alumna and first person of color to serve as dean.

Bill and Joanne Conway’s fifth gift to UMSON, in the amount of $7 million, will create 218 additional Conway Scholarships over the next four years. It brings the total the Conways have contributed to more than $36 million, providing scholarships for more than 1,000 UMSON students. In addition, a nearly $150,000 Conway Innovation Challenge grant will fund a new nursing faculty residency pilot.

In both UMSON’s Baltimore and Universities at Shady Grove locations, entry bachelor’s and master’s students have been participating since last fall in simulated scenarios using virtual reality headsets, interacting with artificial intelligence-driven patients who adapt their responses as students make clinical decisions. After students are individually immersed in the scenario, they debrief as a small group.

Sarah Holmes, PhD, MSW, assistant professor, is the principal investigator on a four-year Alzheimer’s Association Research Grant project that will inform best care practices aimed at optimizing what is known as “meaningful activity,” activities tailored to the interests and preferences of people with ADRD — particularly those who are residents in long-term care settings — that decrease behavioral symptoms of distress and improve their quality of life.

The new MSN Entry-into-Nursing program offers a more flexible curriculum, in response to alumni and student feedback, that is aligned with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s Essentials. Designed for those with bachelor’s degrees in fields other than nursing, the two-year, in-person, full-time program offers pathways to further education or specialization and focuses on competency-based education to prepare graduates to change patient care, improve patient outcomes, and lead health care teams.