John Shaw, BS
Director, Communications, Office of Strategic Communications
“It's been quite a privilege and an honor to be able to have chronicled the growth of the school since I got here in 2008. A lot of you might remember but a lot of you don't -- when I got here, I was sharing an office with the alumni director at the time, and everybody was in three and a half floors of Shouse. We've come from that, with 826 students I believe, and over this time, we've doubled everything - we've doubled the size, the number of students, the faculty, and staff.
“It’s been it's been a real joy to be able to chronicle and help tell the story of the IHP because this is a terrific place. I always tell people it's a certain vibe about it that I've never experienced anywhere else. There's just something about this place. The camaraderie of people pulling all in the same direction… I'll miss the friendships and the camaraderie and, and all of those things that come along with that…. Thank you very much. It's been a wonderful time.”
Marjorie Nicholas, PhD, CCC-SLP, FASHA
Chair, Professor, Communication Sciences and Disorders
“I joined the Institute of working as a clinician and researcher at the VA Hospital in Boston for more than 15 years. And within two weeks of moving to my office on Merrimack Street [where the IHP was located before moving into the Charlestown Navy Yard in 2001], 9-11 happened. We all moved here to the Navy Yard three months later; that was just setting the stage for getting used to frequent change as the common order of each day, which for me has now stretched to 23 years as a full-time faculty….
“[Interim chair Bridget Perry and program director Lesley Maxwell] made it easy for me to retire knowing the department will be in such good hands. I'm grateful to each of the eight Speech, Language, and Literacy Center supervisors who year after year use their creativity to educate and mentor our beginning students to prepare them for their future lives as clinicians. Each of you shows such dedication to your jobs and to our students and their clients every single day.…
“I am grateful to our hugely successful CSD faculty researchers who have given our students such wonderful research experiences and brought the department some well-deserved fame. I'm especially grateful to you for teaching our students how to think about and conduct research, so they will be better clinicians and better researchers. I am grateful to the many hundreds of students I've had the privilege to teach.
“The IHP is such a special place. I wouldn't have stayed here so long if it hadn’t been. I will miss all of my faculty colleagues - everybody in the CSD department. I will miss everybody. I think I'm going to love retirement. Some people worry about it, but I think I’m going to love it.”
Patrice Nicholas, DNSc, DHL (Hon.), MPH, RN, NP-C, FAAN
Distinguished Teaching Professor and Director, Center for Climate Change, Climate Justice, and Health, School of Nursing
“It has been a joyful 47-year career. I feel so fortunate. When I was 17 and heading off to college, my dad said, ‘I think you’d be a great nurse or a great teacher’ and I became both. How lucky am I? So, it’s been joyful. One of my favorite memories is serving as one of the preceptors for Dr. Debbie Burke, who’s the Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nurse at MGH when she was a brand-new nurse. We were practicing in a building that no longer exists, but the friendship is forever.
“I will miss the people – all the staff, all the faculty, all the administrators and especially the students. It’s been joyful.”
Rita Olans, DNP, CPNP-PC, SNP, FAAN, FNAP
Associate Professor Emerita, School of Nursing
“We took care of each other. We were all part of a family and being part of the family is very important. And I think all of you, all of you as part of my family and I will keep in touch. Consider me part of your posse and I will show up. I am so proud to have worked here and to have been part of this institution. We are very lucky to be able to take such good care of each other here.
“I will miss the IHP people the most. These are my family, my friends. I’m here for all of these years because of the people that work here and the students. I teach so that I can keep learning, and my students have been the most incredible teachers for me over the years. I love my job.”
Kenneth White, PhD, AGACNP, ACHPN, FACHE, FAAN
Dean, School of Nursing and Professor, Nursing and Health Administration
“The other day I started packing things in my office which was quite an emotional experience for me. And it was because it represented 51 years of memories of things that I’ve carried from office to office to office…. I like quotes and I as I took them down one by one right near my computer screen, there were a few quotes I’d like to share that have been with me for a very long time. The first one is ‘The love you liberate in your work is the only love you keep,’ by Elbert Hubbard. The second one, ’We shall not cease from exploration. Scientists do explore and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time,’ by TS Eliot. My all-time favorite is by Joseph Campbell: ‘When you follow your bliss, doors will open for you that you didn't know were there, and that wouldn't be there for anyone else.’
“I went through lot of doors that weren't my own. Our careers are not linear. They're not easily planned. In fact, we can't plan now because opportunities come our way and we go through different doors…I get to keep the love I’ve liberated. I've had a successful exploration. And I've arrived back where I started and I've enjoyed an incredible career, where I've followed my bliss and the many doors that have opened have brought me to this day and the next chapter.”
Do you have a story the Office of Strategic Communications should know about? If so, let us know.
