By Karen Malloy, MSN, RN

Greetings TAVNE members;

I am so excited to serve as the new president of TAVNE.  This is one of the most exciting times for nursing and nursing education. We are being asked to admit more students to our programs and graduate more at the same time.  Some of us are already at our maximum for enrollment due to limited classroom space and even more critically limited clinical sites. Do I even need to mention the lack of qualified nursing faculty? At the same time we are being challenged to incorporate innovative teaching strategies and increase the level of technology used in our programs.

As I reflect on the changes in nursing education over the past three years - from the merger of the two boards of nursing to the most recent legislative session and the Sunset Review – I began to realize how important this organization is to vocational nursing education and how important it is for each of us to be actively involved in this organization to ensure that vocational nursing education remains at the highest standard across the state. It was then that I realized that my goals for TAVNE are: to continue to offer quality educational workshops for the membership; to promote the organization and expand the membership; to increase opportunities for networking and supporting each other; and to maintain a public presence at state and national organizations to support the education of vocational nurses in Texas.

I would like to take a brief moment here to express my gratitude to Jackie Morgan for her leadership and dedication to this organization during her term as president over the past four years. I look forward to working with each and every one of you.  We have a great organization that does take an active role in the education of vocational nurses.

Karen