Welcome from the Dean

Lazelle E. Benefield, PhD, RN, FAAN

Dean and Parry Endowed Professor

This year the University of Oklahoma College of Nursing celebrates its Centennial year, honoring a history that began in 1911 with the first class of OU Nursing students.  As Dean, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to celebrate our College’s history and to honor the generations of women and men who followed that first class as OU Nursing students.

Our theme for 2011 is “The Power of 100.”  Our focus is the future of the College and our celebration will include events and speakers that will honor our tradition of excellence.  We hope you will join us at one of our regional events and participate in our Centennial Celebration and Reunion Days, October 20-21, 2011.  For the past few months, we’ve been collecting stories from OU nurses who graduated  during the course of the past several decades.  What great stories our graduates have!  These will be posted to our website during the year, and I hope you will go online to read and enjoy them. 
Throughout our celebration, we will be launching our “Power of 100” fundraising campaign to build support for progams and scholarships to assist the dedicated women and men who will graduate during our second century.  We are asking our alumni to consider making a gift of $100 to demonstrate the “Power of 100.”  We are also establishing a “Dean’s Leadership Circle” of 100 graduates who give at the $1,000 level. 

I am very hopeful that you will join us in these Centennial activities and that I have an opportunity to meet you personally during the course of the next several months.  I am deeply proud of our College and its graduates, and I am excited about all we can achieve with your involvement and support.  Excellence is not an option but an expectation at the OU College of Nursing.  We are poised to launch the next 100 years of nursing education and count our alumni and friends as partners with us in keeping the College among the finest in the nation and among the most affordable for our students. 

Sincerely,

Lazelle E. Benefield, PhD, RN, FAAN
Dean and Parry Endowed Professor