Retired SON faculty named professors emeriti
The School of Nursing has two new professors emeriti who will be officially recognized by Memorial University this week at fall convocation.
Drs. Sandra LeFort and Shirley Solberg, recently named professors, retired earlier this year after many years of service to the School of Nursing.
Earning the title professor emeritus is a special honour that recognizes a sustained and superlative record as a scholar, a teacher, or an academic administrator or any combination of these.
Candidates for the rank of professor emeritus are nominated by their academic units and, as with candidates for honorary degrees, are then reviewed by the Senate's Committee on Honorary Degrees and Ceremonial. The candidates are approved by Senate and the Board of Regents.
A faculty member and researcher at Memorial University's School of Nursing since 1995, Dr. Sandra LeFort was a faculty member and researcher at Memorial University's School of Nursing holds a bachelor of arts degree from Trent University, a master of nursing degree from Memorial University and a PhD from McGill University.
She is a pioneering voice in the field of chronic pain research and has presented at international conferences and published extensively. Dr. LeFort created the gold standard in patient education programs on chronic pain, and her Chronic Pain Self-Management Program has been adopted by institutions such as Stanford University.
Dr. LeFort's most recent book is Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Pain
Dr. Shirley Solberg was a member of the School of Nursing from 1976-2014. She has a PhD from the University of Alberta and has held numerous administrative appointments from acting director to associate director (undergraduate programs) to associate dean (graduate programs and research).
Under her leadership, the PhD program in Memorial's School of Nursing was established. She has supervised or co-supervised more than 80 master of nursing theses or projects and was an active researcher in a number of Canadian Institutes of Health Research-funded national projects.
She has presented at a number of regional, national and international conferences and is widely published. Currently she is on the editorial boards of the Qualitative Health Research Journal and Global Qualitative Nursing Research Journal.
Drs LeFort and Solberg are among seven Memorial University professors who have been accorded the distinction professor emeritus, an honour reserved for highly distinguished faculty members.
Dr. Solberg has recently moved to Victoria, BC, so will not attend the Friday evening session of convocation, which recognizes this year's professors emeriti.
They will be publicly recognized at a future session of convocation.