Jean Swinney

Jean Swinney is changing the face of nursing

Jean has spent the last 20 years at the Univeristy of Massachusetts Amherst pushing for greater diversity in her field and giving veterans an avenue into the nursing workforce.

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Jean Swinney

College of Nursing, Professor
UMass Video Profile Series Transcript :Jean Swinney

I was in New York, in graduate school. Had the opportunity to take a job in Africa. In Africa, I lived in a small rural area. I was recruited to UMass by Melanie Dreher, and at the time I was living in Louisiana, and they were really good about being patient and hanging on to recruit me, for over a year. I think the School of Nursing is committed to social justice. The Achieving Diversity grant was specifically designed to increase the number of minority students in nursing school. My job is to touch these kids. We start working with them in high school. I would say if you love being helpful to people, if you love being of service, if you want to do something for others, look into nursing. It's very diverse. You can do psych. You can do public health. You can go to the OR. You can go to the ER. You can do peds. Our graduates do well in the community. People want to hire them. And a lot of our graduate students are leaders in many of the institutions in the commonwealth. I'm Jean Swinney. I'm a professor in the College of Nursing. I stand for social justice, and I stand for UMass.

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