NKU Nursing Alumna to Participate in Graduate School Forum in Washington

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – On April 24, the Council of Graduate Schools will host a forum on “Graduate Education and the Public Good.” The event, to be held at the Library of Congress, will feature panel presentations with United States congressmen and senators, employers, Ph.D. and master’s degree holders. The objective of the forum is to emphasize the importance of graduate education and how it prepares people to be leaders and experts in a variety of fields and situations.

Five hundred graduate schools were contacted to nominate outstanding graduates as potential speakers. Out of the 130 nominations, nine were invited to participate in the forum. Northern Kentucky University nursing graduate Judi Frerick was one of those nine.

“I am so deeply honored to be given the opportunity to address members of Congress and share how my affiliation with NKU has changed my life,” Frerick said. “And because of the grant opportunities my faculty position provides, NKU allows me to positively impact the lives of children and advance the application of nursing research in Northern Kentucky. I can't imagine that I could possibly have a more rewarding career than the one I have here at NKU.”

Those that were nominated were graduate students whose graduate education allowed them to do something that had benefited the public good.

Frerick received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from NKU’s School of Nursing and Health Professions. In 2005, she graduated from NKU with an M.S. in Nursing, receiving the Outstanding MSN Student Award as well as the Clinical Excellence Award for her work in the development of the new Nurse Educator Track which is now offered at NKU. Upon graduation, Frerick accepted a position at NKU an assistant professor in the School of Nursing and Health Professions, where she teaches community and public health nursing.

“As a tenure-track faculty member, I have been fortunate to receive three NKU Community Partnership Grants and one privately funded grant,” she said. “These grant-funded projects have resulted in the creation of the Northern Kentucky Nursing Research Collaborative (NKNRC), comprised of student and community nurses coming together for the purpose of nursing research and the advancement of evidence-based practice.”

The NKNRC was recently recognized with the International Research Advancement Award from Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society, the second largest nursing organization in the world, for its groundbreaking work in the area of advancing nursing research.

Grant funds also allowed Frerick to direct a community-driven effort to reduce the incidence of lead poisoning among children in Newport and Covington. Campbell and Kenton counties rank third and fourth in the state for lead hazard risks that can poison children. This grant targets up to 8,000 children at imminent risk for lead poisoning and includes contributions from approximately 50 community partners in the health care, non-profit and corporate sectors.

In addition to the forum, the Counsel of Graduate Schools will produce a report titled “Graduate Education and the Public Good,” to be released following the forum, which will feature 34 masters and Ph.D. graduate comments. Frerick’s observations will also be included in the report.

### NKU ###

Northern Kentucky University
302 Lucas Administrative Center
Highland Heights, KY 41099
http://gradschool.nku.edu

About Northern Kentucky University Office of Graduate Programs:
The Office of Graduate Programs at NKU offers Graduate Master's Programs and Graduate Certificate Programs. NKU, located in Highland Heights, KY has a student enrollment of more than 14,000.

This release was published on openPR.