The Vanderbilt University School of Nursing (VUSN) Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Student Diversity Affinity Group aims to bring together DNP students of all backgrounds to celebrate and advocate for diversity in the nursing profession. This organization welcomes DNP students who support diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism. We also serve as a platform for DNP students who identify with an underrepresented group in nursing. We embrace and celebrate all ethnicities, races, nationalities, gender identities, cultures, sexual orientations, and abilities that create a diverse community of nurse leaders and scholars within the VUSN DNP program.
We are intentional in our vision to optimize the visibility, recruitment, and support of underrepresented and diverse nurse leaders by promoting their unique attributes and contributions to the nursing profession. Our organization provides a safe and supportive space for gaining insight and understanding of intersectionality in health care through social engagement, networking, and professional learning opportunities to improve the quality of health care delivered to multiple and diverse patient populations. The VUSN DNP Student Diversity Affinity Group aims to help nurse leaders broaden their perspectives on emancipatory knowing to foster strategies that increase inclusion, equity, and embrace diversity in all of their professional domains.
Group Leadership
Student Leadership
- Daphny Peneza, President
Faculty advisor(s)
- Carol ZIegler
Mission
The mission of the VUSN Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Student Diversity Affinity Group is to foster a safe and welcoming community that is inclusive and respectful of differences for all VUSN DNP students by promoting support, setting expectations, offering space for open communication, and creating resources to celebrate and elevate our professional and academic environments.
History
The VUSN DNP Student Diversity Group inaugural meeting was on August 29, 2018 when the group met to acknowledge the group membership and group advisors, Dr. Susie Leming-Lee and Dr. Mary Lambert. There after every semester, during the DNP Intensive, the DNP Student Diversity Group has met introduce new members and to carry out various group activities and address any group business. In the fall of 2020, the first student officers were elected and officially applied to become a Vanderbilt University registered affinity group. Those officers were President: Frances Gaudier, Vice President: Sofia Ray, Secretary: Zsanett Williams, and Treasurer: Kathleen McKean. The VUSN DNP Student Diversity Affinity Group was established to celebrate all types of diversity within the VUSN DNP community.
Membership
All DNP students are welcome to join this group. Members of this organization will be any DNP students who voluntarily join this organization because they support diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism within the DNP program, Vanderbilt University, and the nursing profession.
Standing Meeting Time
Standard meeting times will be scheduled by the advisors and officers prior to the beginning of each semester. All meetings will be available via video or phone conference. There will be a meeting during each semester intensive and another during the semester activity or event. At least 2 meetings will be scheduled per semester.