Alyce Schultz, Class of 1981 & 1983

Alyce Schultz received the UNM College of Nursing’s 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award. She received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from UNM in 1980 and her master’s degree in nursing in 1983, also from UNM. Inspired by a nursing research conference, Alyce pursued a path into research as a clinical nurse researcher. In 1990, she completed her PhD in nursing at Oregon Health and Science University.

Alyce began her career as a nurse researcher at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine. She served there as director of the Center for Nursing Research and Quality Outcomes for nearly 12 years. After recently retiring as the associate director of the Center for the Advancement of Evidence-Based Practice and clinical professor at Arizona State University, Alyce formed a consulting company for evidence-based practice and clinical research at the bedside, Alyce A. Schultz & Associates, LLC.

Alyce also has worked as a nurse mentor and educator. She has promoted evidence-based practice and has guided fellow clinicians to conduct research to use in daily practice. She has written more than 30 peer-reviewed articles and has received several grants in support of her work. Alyce and her colleagues from the Maine Medical Center have received national and international honors. The Association of Operating Room Nurses and the Academy Association of Operating Room Nurses and the Academy of Med-Surg Nursing honored her with research writing awards. In addition she has received research awards from the Emergency Nurses Association, Eastern Nursing Research Society, National Association of School Nursing, National Association of Neonatal Nurses and the American Nephrology Nurses Association.

In 2003, the American Academy of Nursing inducted Alyce as a Fellow for her work in developing the Clinical Scholar Model and Program. The program, designed to create and sustain an evidence-based practice and research program at the point-of-care, has had great success and is now used throughout the United States. The Clinical Scholar Program is a modular program that is currently under development for distribution by the nursing honor society Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI).

Because nursing offers such limitless opportunities, Alyce suggests students consider all their options, beyond that of a nurse practitioner career. She believes there will never be enough nurses to conduct all the clinical research needed, and also encourages students to consider graduate school.

Carol Eve Luciani Moye, Class of 1973

Carol Moye received the 2006 Distinguished Alumni Award from the UNM College of Nursing. Her career has been distinguished by clinical expertise and leadership. In the words of Carol’s nominator, St. Joseph Community Health Foundation, “Above all she is a mentor and role model for nurses interested in advancing the profession and improving the quality of care.” She began her nursing career as a staff nurse at St Joseph Hospital in 1973, becoming the head nurse/nurse manager of a 64 bed orthopedic nursing unit and Supervisor of the Traction Department in just three years. Ten years later, Carol became the administrative director of orthopedic service for St. Joseph Health Care System. She holds the distinction as the first certified orthopedic nurse (1986) in New Mexico. In 1993, Carol went into private practice with an orthopedic surgeon until his retirement in 1997. Currently, she is a full partner and senior consultant for Star Group, LLC, focusing on health care management.

Carol has lectured in orthopedic nursing at universities, hospitals, education seminars and programs throughout the United States and Canada. She has been the keynote speaker for the International Orthopedic Nursing Forum Conference, Royal College of Nursing in London, and additionally, was one of six nurses invited to present an overview of her specialty in Beijing, China.

In 1980, she was part of a steering committee establishing the National Association of Orthopedic Nurses. She has published articles, held offices in a variety of national and state professional organizations, and received extensive recognition for her achievements as a nurse and business entrepreneur. She is a tireless volunteer for a truly endless list of organizations and activities.

Carol demonstrates that nursing as a professional career “provides the opportunity to be a good follower, a good leader, pursue clinical expertise, provide expert care, serve as a catalyst for change and influence the direction of a specific nursing specialty.”

Elsie Charlese Spencer, Class of 1962

Charlese Spencer received the UNM College of Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award in 2007. At the age of 13 she knew that she wanted to be a missionary in Africa. She acquired her missionary training at a college in Texas and then turned her attention to a lifelong career in nursing. She completed her RN at the Regina School of Nursing (University of Albuquerque) in 1952. Before she went to Africa in 1954, she trained as a midwife in London. She also studied linguistics because her clinic in Ghana was often conducted in seven languages, and she anticipated a need to document some of the unwritten languages.

On a furlough from Africa, Charlese obtained her bachelor of science in nursing at UNM, finishing in 1962. She taught nursing rotations to Native American students for the BIA and later went on to a MSN program at the University of Mississippi, graduating in 1973.

Charlese and a co-worker went to Ghana to staff a previously closed missionary medical clinic serving the medical needs of several bush tribes. The nearest doctor was 40 miles away, and the clinic was 100 miles from the nearest food store. The outpatient general medical clinics were scheduled Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the leprosy clinic on Tuesday and the pregnant women’s clinics on Thursday with many birth deliveries occurring at night. Since they were well accepted by the local populations, Charlese and her coworker treated 50-100 outpatients per day. The prenatal care case series outcome data she collected was evident that the prenatal care and medical treatments were saving lives. Charlese and her nurse co-workers provided nursing services in Africa during the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s.

Charlese supervised the construction of several buildings in Africa, earning the nickname “Madame Fix-it” from the native clinic workers. She participated in two field clinical trials in her first three-year term in Africa. One trial involved treatment for leprosy and the other was giving penicillin for yaws, a non-venereal infection. Both resulted in cures.

Retired from her missionary work, she was again a nurse educator at the University of Albuquerque, the Luna Vocational/Technical School and Highlands University. A severe medical condition forced her retirement from teaching in 1983. Since that time, she has written and published her memoirs ¬ a thousand pages in three books!

Sally N. Pete, Class of 1981

Sally Pete received the UNM College of Nursing’s 2006 Distinguished Alumni Award. She has worked for the Indian Health Service for more than twenty years. She provided direct patient care as a public health nurse at Crownpoint, N.M., Fort Defiance and Winslow, Ariz. Becoming a Nurse Consultant to the Navajo Area public health nursing Program, in the late 1980s, she provided technical assistance to all of the Public Health Nursing programs within the Navajo Nation.

When Sally was appointed director of public nursing, she centered her priority concern on patient quality care from infancy to the elderly. She worked closely with all of the health professionals including nurses, physicians, Navajo Nation Community Health representatives, state and county health departments. Sally gave particular attention to high risk children and school health programs which encompass a number of significant health screenings and critical immunizations.

Since 2002, Sally has been the chief executive officer of the Winslow Indian Health Care Center, Inc. (WIHCC). This position requires an oversight of three health care facilities at Winslow, Dilkon and Leupp, Ariz. providing health services to a population of more than 15,000 within eight Navajo Nation Chapters service area, the southwest region of the Navajo Nation. When the WIHCC became the first Navajo Indian Health Service facility to transition to Indian Self Determination under P.L. 93-638 contract status, its challenges were formidable. Equipped with calm, competent leadership, Sally has managed to maintain an impressive level of stability with the staff, executive management team, board of directors, community stakeholders and the Navajo Nation leaders. The WIHCC is an organization with 287 employees and a budget of over $30 million, certainly a more complex, autonomous corporation that it was originally with a $16 million budget and 189 employees.

Sally Pete's distinguished career in Navajo Area Indian Health Service along with her exceptional commitment, her immense contributions and professionalism as a public health nurse and a health administrator are deserving of our recognition.

Pearl A. Alonzo, Class of 2002

Pearl Alonzo received the 2007 Distinguished Alumni Award from the UNM College of Nursing. She holds the distinction for being the first Ramah Navajo community member to receive her bachelor of science degree in nursing. The Ramah Navajo community, with a population of approximately 4,000 Navajo people, is in a remote and rural area of western New Mexico, 65 miles southeast of Gallup.

In 2002, with her BSN and RN in hand, Pearl was appointed Community Health Nurse for the Pine Hill Health Center. Two years later, she became a commissioned corps officer with the Public Health Service/Indian Health Service, continuing to serve her own people in that capacity at the Health Center. The Health Center is a tribally owned and operated clinic as well as an ambulatory family practice facility, which contracts with the Indian Health Service for some of its operating income. It’s also the only source of health care, including a 24/7 ambulance service, in a 50 mile radius.

Pearl supervises the Field Health Department, consisting of five community health representatives. They make home visits to the elderly, disabled and impoverished people of the community. More than half of the population has no electricity or running water, so much of the field work involves door-to-door inquiries and word-of-mouth referrals to those in need of care. During 2006, Pearl and her staff drove more than 111,000 miles and made more than 6,000 home visits. She accommodates patients needing specialized assessments, immunizations, medical check-ups, pre- and post-natal visits and numerous other types of nursing services.

In a new leadership role with the Women’s Health Team, Pearl has worked diligently to improve the awareness of breast and cervical cancer, serving as the guiding light for a very successful “Mammography Day for Women.” Traveling to other locations within New Mexico and Colorado, she has extended the awareness of women’s health issues, resulting in the production of a video in Navajo called “Healthy Navajo Women Walk in Beauty.” Several years ago in collaboration with the UNM School of Public Health, Pearl was part of a team presenting a paper to the National Cancer Convention in Atlanta on capacity building in native communities. Pearl is a young woman who set a goal for herself, worked hard to reach it, all the while raising a family and enduring hardships. She continues to maintain an amazingly steady course.

Patricia E. Boyle, Class of 1991

Patricia Boyle received the UNM College of Nursing 2009 Distinguished Alumni Award. She has dedicated 30 years of her professional life to nursing and health care. Executive leadership, policy and nursing staff development and education are her areas of concentration. Patricia effectively motivates and empowers others to bring nursing issues to the forefront. She exhibits great passion for the profession, accompanied by her contagious enthusiasm and persistent efforts.

Currently the executive director of the New Mexico Center for Nursing Excellence, Patricia has guided this non-profit organization to a status of recognition with a significant infrastructure and impressive outcomes. Patricia created the Clinical Teaching Institute to support practicing nurses with education and mentorship. She also has directed a statewide recognition award program honoring nurses around the state at all levels from students to retirees. It is an exceptional annual event with 200-250 nominations and 800 guests.

Patricia is a deeply committed, energetic, caring nursing leader who facilitates groups to advance nursing issues in New Mexico and collaborates with other nursing professional organizations and stakeholders. One of the coalitions that she has been instrumental in building led to a final report culminating in a strategic vision and plan for nursing across the entire state. Directed by the state legislature, Patricia convened a task force for House Joint Memorial 40, a bill designed to develop a sustainable long-term plan for the recruitment and retention of nursing faculty. She formed the Nursing Council of New Mexico, a group focused on turning recommendations into action for nursing education, practice, recruitment and retention.

Loyal to the University of New Mexico, Patricia promotes the Career Seminar in Nursing on the UNM main campus as a guest faculty member. This seminar introduces nursing students and undecided major students to nursing. She is also a volunteer for the College of Nursing Leadership Strategies class, speaking with the students about professional culture and the importance of nursing organizations including the opportunities and benefits of the New Mexico Center for Nursing Excellence. She takes great pride in sharing her devotion to nursing with the students.

Ramona T. Mercer, Class of 1962

Ramona Mercer received the 2004 UNM College of Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award. Her exceptional achievements in nursing through publication, education, research, clinical practice and leadership have been well demonstrated throughout her career. She is professor emerita of Family Health Care Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). It all began in 1950 when she received a diploma from St. Margaret’s School of Nursing in Montgomery, Ala. For the next 10 years she worked as a staff nurse, head nurse and instructor. She earned a bachelor of science in nursing degree with distinction from the UNM College of Nursing in 1962, and a master’s degree in maternal child nursing from Emory University in 1964. She served on the faculty at Emory University for five years, leaving to pursue her doctorate in maternity nursing at the University of Pittsburgh.

Ramona is best known for her pioneering work in the transition to the maternal role and the development of a maternal role identity. Her research interest in early mothering began while on the faculty at Emory where she studied maternal adaptation to breastfeeding. She began with a study of mothers who had an infant with a birth defect (1971-1973). She focused next on teenage mothers during their first year of motherhood, and collaborated in a cross-cultural comparison of mothers’ responses to cesarean and vaginal births. An original paper on maternal role attainment served as the beginning of her middle-range theory development, and provided the framework for her research comparing three age groups of mothers (15-19, 20-29, 30-42) over their first year of motherhood (1979-1982). In collaborative investigations, she examined transitions in the lives of mothers and non-mothers aged 60 to 95, and the impact of maternal hospitalization during pregnancy on mothers’ and fathers’ transitions to parenthood and their family functioning during their first eight months following birth.

The practicing nurse, the nurse researcher and other health care professionals find Ramona research findings of particular interest. Her research has provided information that clinicians can use to make a difference for new parents and their infants with positive outcomes. Additionally, the research has contributed to a greater basic understanding of mothering.

Ramona’s professional activities have included service on national and state committees. She has served on several editorial and review boards for journals, as a content expert and as an invited speaker on many panels and roundtables. Her publications include 88 journal articles, six books and several book chapters and her research results have also been reported in several lay magazines. She was named a living legend by the American Academy of Nursing in 2003.

Linda Dominguez, Class of 1999

Linda Dominguez received the 2005 Distinguished Alumni Award from the UNM College of Nursing. Her exemplary achievements in nursing through education, publication, practice and leadership have been well demonstrated throughout her career. She currently practices as the assistant medical director and colposcopist for Planned Parenthood of New Mexico and is in private practice with Southwest Women’s Health in Albuquerque. In addition, Linda is a consultant to industry and advocacy groups that have an interest in reproductive health issues.

Linda is an accomplished nurse who began her career as a young LPN in 1968. She then attended the University of Albuquerque where she obtained an AND in 1981. Two years later she graduated from the Women’s Health Care Advanced Nurse Practitioner Program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She graduated from UNM College of Nursing in 1999 with a bachelor of science degree in nursing.

She is very active in advocating for professional interests and practice of advance practice nursing both regionally and nationally. She was a founding member and organizer of the National Coalition of Nurse Practitioners, which has become the American College of Nurse Practitioners. She currently serves as chair of the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health (NANPWH). Linda was the first nurse practitioner to ever be appointed to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a key policy and research entity for reproductive health, and is now an executive board member. She is past chair of the Reproductive Health Technologies Project in Washington, D.C. and has served on the Board of Directors of the Institute of Women and Ethnic Studies based in New Orleans, La.

Linda has received a New Mexico Governor’s Award for her community work, and in 1992 she was recognized as the national “Outstanding Nurse Practitioner of the Year” by NANPWH. At the 2005 New Mexico March of Dimes Nurse of the Year Gala, Linda was presented with the Advanced Nurse Practitioner of the Year Award of Excellence.

Linda truly exhibits her beliefs that nursing is a profession that reflects the face and needs of the communities we serve. She has always been able to give voice to those who are often silenced and to maintain enthusiasm and passion for nursing in all environments. She believes that the contribution of nursing and the role of the nurse practitioner are crucial and central to improving the delivery of health care to the nation.