History of Upsilon-Xi at Large Chapter
History is often the result of happenstance – the co-incidence of several events which together result in a new initiative!
Professor Dame June Clark had been inducted as a member of STTI in 1997, but it was her invitation to the 35th Biennial Convention of STTI held in San Diego in November 1999 to present the opening keynote lecture that re-ignited her enthusiasm about STTI.
By a happy coincidence, the faculty member who visited Swansea that year from the University of New Hampshire as part of an ongoing exchange programme with Swansea University was Dr Dorothy Rentchler, who just happened to be the President of the Eta Iota Chapter. Dr Rentchler invited June to give the guest lecture at Eta Iota’s forthcoming induction ceremony. The visit provided the opportunity to learn how a Chapter might be developed in Wales, and in 2001 four academics from the School of Health Science at Swansea University (Anne Hopkins, Professor Barbara Green, Dr Fiona Murphy, and Professor Joy Merrell) were inducted into the Eta Iota Chapter at the University of New Hampshire, USA.
A further key happenstance was the arrival of the late Margaret Perry, a nurse lecturer from Switzerland who came to Swansea to take up a PhD studentship at the School and who was already a member and a strong supporter of STTI; her commitment and enthusiasm were instrumental in establishing an Honour Society at Swansea. A steering committee, consisting of Anne Hopkins (President) June Clark (Vice-President) Margaret Perry (Secretary) and Joy Merrell (Treasurer) was formed in July 2002. We hosted our inaugural scholarly event in the Summer of 2002 at which Dr Beverley Malone, former ANA President and (then) General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing and member of STTI gave a charismatic presentation on the `Goals and Benefits of Membership of Sigma Theta Tau International’, and in September 2002 the late Dr George Evers from the University of Leuven, Belgium and former Director of STTI spoke eloquently about the `Development of Nursing Scholarship in Europe’.
The development from Honor Society to Chapter was slow but steady. We established contact with the Rho Chi chapter at Utrecht in 2002 when Margaret Perry attended their chartering ceremony. We held our first Induction ceremony in September 2003, attended by Dr Rentchler and other members from Eta Iota Chapter. Eta Iota Chapter also supported us financially which was so important in enabling us to host our scholarly activities when we were an honour society.
In July 2004 at the STTI International Nursing Research Congress in Dublin Professor Joy Merrell and Dr Rentschler presented a paper from a collaborative research project supported by a research grant from Eta Iota to explore South Asian women’s views of the menopause in the US and in Wales. The following year, with financial support from the (then) School of Health Science, Margaret Buckley attended the 37th Biennial Convention in Indianapolis.
In 2005 we joined forces with the School of Nursing and Midwifery Studies Cardiff University and began the work of developing a Chapter-at-Large.
By 2007 we were ready to apply for Chapter status, and at the 2007 Convention held in Baltimore we were approved as the Upsilon-Xi at Large Chapter, Chapter no 468 – the first in the UK.
L-R Professor Joy Merrell, Professor Dame June Clark, Dr Ann Tucker
Our Chartering Ceremony, conducted by Dr Carol Huston (then President of STTI), and attended also by Dr Pat Thompson (STTI CEO) was held in Swansea on the 4th April 2008.
Front row L-R: Professor Melanie Jasper (Dean, School of Health Science, Swansea University), Mrs Val Lloyd (Welsh Assembly Member), Dr Carol Huston President STTI), Professor Joy Merrell, Dr Pat Thompson (CEO, STTU), Peter Goossens (Rho Chi Chapter, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands), Nicola Ryley (Cardiff University)
Back Row L-R: Professor Jean White (Welsh Government), Professor Richard Davies (Vice Chancellor, Swansea University), Gwyneth Warner, Professor Dame June Clark, Margaret Buckley, Dr Rosemary Kennedy (Chief Nursing Officer for Wales), Emeritus Professor Ann Tucker (former Dean, School of Nursing and Midwifery Studies, Cardiff University) at the Chartering Ceremony at the Guildhall Swansea 4th April 2008.
Upsilon XI at Large members inducted on 4th April 2008
Developing STTI in Europe
It was at the Baltimore Convention in 2007 that the (then) three European chapters decided to work together to develop STTI in Europe. Their first meeting was held the following year in Utrecht following their induction ceremony; it included members from: Utrecht The Netherlands; Gothenburg, Sweden: Swansea, Wales; Debrecen, Hungary and Coimbra, Portugal. The group met each year, with Professor Joy Merrell acting as the co-ordinator, until the new STTI global structure, in which Europe formally became a region in its own right with an elected Regional Co-ordinator, enabled the establishment of a formal European Regional Committee.
First informal meeting of European members at Baltimore Biennial Convention in 2007 to develop STTI in Europe
