Carrie Rewakowski

The recipient of the 2017 Judith G. Whitaker Scholarship is Carrie Rewakowski, who has practiced as a registered nurse for 19 years in a wide variety of roles. Carrie has held positions in acute care, oncology, clinical research, geriatric home care, quality assurance, and is currently the Clinical Placement Coordinator at Upstate Medical University College of Nursing. Although roles have varied, Carrie’s nursing career is consistently woven with a strong sense of pride, emulating high standards in both the science and the art of nursing. Carrie completed her undergraduate degree at Niagara University, graduating Magna Cum Laude with Departmental Honors, and was awarded the Hildegard E. Peplau award for excellence in interpersonal skills. Presently, Carrie is deeply enjoying her experience as a MS/PhD student in the Decker School of Nursing at Binghamton University as she expands her knowledge base in the discipline of nursing.

Carrie’s professional goals include a deeper understanding of nursing phenomena and subsequently sharing her awareness to advance the profession of nursing. In coursework, she has explored nursing concepts such as dignity, respect, and moral resilience. Carrie presented her concept analysis on dignity in a poster session at the 2016 Sigma Theta Tau Leadership Connection Conference and completed an integrative review on the phenomenon of feeling respected, guided the creator of the humanbecoming paradigm, Dr. Rosemary Rizzo Parse. Carrie recently served as an intern with the American Nurses Association (ANA). She was a co-moderator for an advisory committee on the topic of moral resilience. In this role, Carrie was fully immersed in the topic of moral resilience with nursing leaders and experts across the United States. Exploration into these phenomena ignites passion to understand the concepts in fullness, in all their rich historical, philosophical, and practical backgrounds, and to use this understanding to strengthen and build nursing knowledge. Through continued research and scholarship, coupled with nursing education, long-term goals are to advance the profession of nursing by bringing these concepts creatively and inspirationally to life, in both concrete and abstract ways.

Carrie is also a student intern at the NYS Department of Health Central New York Regional Office. In this experience, Carrie is assisting with a public health project to support the promotion of a Culture of Health, a framework and program supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This framework has inspired Carrie to engage in both practical and theoretical ways. She is collaborating with local nurse leaders to promote a culture of health within her own community and is focusing her dissertation research to explore ways that nurses can influence health through involvement with community and civic engagement.

Carrie is thrilled to be awarded this scholarship, which will support her endeavors as a PhD student as she seeks to advance knowledge in nursing science. She is also working practically to advance the profession of nursing through exploring practical concepts that influence the promotion of health in communities. Carrie looks forward to achieving her goal of becoming a PhD prepared nurse to advance professional goals as a teacher of the lover of wisdom.