Dear MNRS Colleagues,

It is an honor to serve as your President for the next two years. I joined MNRS as a graduate student, admittedly at the insistence of my mentor, Barbara Therrien. At that time, I didn’t see the value because I was doing basic science work and there wasn’t much of that at MNRS. However, Barbara said MNRS would ground me to my nursing roots, and she was right. Over the years I have benefitted from socialization to the world of nursing science, career development, and leadership and service opportunities. I have developed a network of amazing colleagues and it is fun! MNRS is also very student friendly, and provides wonderful opportunities to present papers and posters in a welcoming environment. I am grateful for this opportunity to “pay back” as I work to serve this great organization and its members who have given me so much.

MNRS is the premiere regional nursing research society because of you – our 1400 amazing members! I look forward to working with you, with our incredibly dedicated Board Members, and with our talented Parthenon Management Group staff. We will continue to work on the strategic planning begun by former president, Sue Rawl, and her board, and will seek input from members about the future of MNRS. One of our main goals will be to assure financial stability for the organization in these times of economic insecurity. I know we can count on our members to share their perspectives on what is working well and what we could do better in the next few years.

We had a great conference in Minneapolis with 967 members attending the 41st Annual Research Conference, “Harnessing Big Data and Nursing Science to Improve Health”. This was a timely theme and we enjoyed hearing from distinguished nurse scientists such as Drs. Suzanne Bakken and Connie Delaney. We had the Junior Faculty Career Development seminar and an NINR Special Session presenting updates and opportunities from NINR. The Emerging Scholars Network (ESN) was highly visible and is a strong group of future scientists and nursing leaders. Many thanks to Dr. Kay Reeder and the volunteers on the Program Planning Committee for presenting an excellent slate of presentations and opportunities.

The Foundation continues to grow and to become self-sufficient. The conference raffle raised almost $6,000 to support grants. It is remarkable that the members of MNRS have built the Foundation almost entirely from member donations. Thank you to all who have given so generously, and thank you, Dr. Lauren Aaronson, for your outstanding leadership of the MNRS Foundation. Your service has been appreciated and you will be missed.

I am indebted to Dr. Susan Rawl for her mentorship and outstanding service as our president during the last two years. Under her leadership, we have a clearer picture of our goals and how we will achieve them. I agree with Sue, who once said that strong and effective volunteer/staff partnerships are the life-blood of MNRS. We depend on the contributions of busy volunteers to make this society successful. We are fortunate to have dedicated staff members at Association Headquarters who so effectively do all of the work behind-the-scenes to organize, run the annual conference, quarterly meetings of the MNRS and Foundation boards, and oversee the work of numerous committees, task forces and research interest groups. Thank you again for the opportunity to serve and lead this great nursing research society. Have a restful and safe summer.

Janean E. Holden, PhD RN FAAN
President, Midwest Nursing Research Society (MNRS)