Overview
The objective of the Doctor of Nursing Practice Cultural Connections Network (DNPCCN), a student affinity group, is to bring together DNP students of all backgrounds to celebrate and advocate for increased representation of all groups in the nursing profession. We embrace and celebrate all ethnicities, races, nationalities, gender identities, cultures, sexual orientations and abilities that create a community of nurse leaders and scholars within the VUSN DNP program. We strive to promote an environment that promotes a sense of belonging where everyone feels valued and deeply connected.
DNPCCN members are intentional in their vision to optimize the visibility, recruitment and support of nurse leaders by promoting their unique attributes and contributions to the nursing profession. DNPCCN 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 all patient populations, including those where health disparities continue. The DNP Cultural Connections Network aims to help nurse leaders broaden their perspectives on emancipatory knowing to foster strategies that support the plurality of community, perspectives and values in all of their professional domains.
Group Leadership
Student Leadership
Daphny Peneza, President
Faculty advisor(s)
- Carol Ziegler, DNP, FNP-C, APHN-BC Email
Mission
The mission of the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing Doctor of Nursing Practice Cultural Connections Network is to foster a safe and welcoming community that is appreciative and respectful of differences among 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 inaugural meeting of the group was on August 29, 2018, when the group met to acknowledge the group membership and group advisers, Dr. Susie Leming-Lee and Dr. Mary Lambert. There after every semester, during the DNP Intensive, the group has met to introduce new members and to implement various group activities and address any group business. In the fall of 2020, the first student officers were elected and the group 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 group was established to celebrate all types of differences and perspectives 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 the plurality of community, perspectives and values within the DNP program, Vanderbilt University and the nursing profession.