At the University: Before the Students Return

On Sunday I met with the Dean of the Nursing Faculty.  Wearing my new colorful floral print scarf (thank you Curry Nursing faculty) I was prepared for anything.  She included other nursing leadership people in the meeting, but the names and areas of responsibility were a blur.  It was the first day that faculty returned so there were many interruptions as professors greeted each other after a summer apart.  The interactions were warm and enthusiastic and everyone made me feel very welcome.  The convention here for formally referring to faculty is either Professor Susan or Doctor Susan.

I was given an office with the largest, oldest computer monitor that I have ever seen.  I indicated that I prefer to work on my own laptop, so the next day when I arrived the old equipment was being moved out.  On Sunday we discussed what I would be teaching.  I was happy to hear that they wanted me to teach one of my proposed syllabi on safety in the clinical environment.   This would be to doctoral students, under a class titled ‘special topics’.  So I set to work organizing my articles, finalizing the syllabus, and preparing my notes for the first class.  I still had not been able to obtain an academic calendar for fall and was not sure how many class sessions there would be, but no need to fuss over details.  On Tuesday the Dean and Vice Dean for Graduate Studies told me that they did not have enough doctoral students enrolled to run the class, so after some discussion, I was assigned to team-teach qualitative research with Dr Inaam.  As we worked together to finalize the syllabus the next day, I realized how lucky I am.  She and I hit it off right away.  She is collaborative and fun.  Already I feel like I have known her for quite some time.  Our first class is on Sunday September 14 from 3 to 6 PM.

Jordan University is the largest (more than 37,000 students) and oldest (founded 1962) university in the country.  In the health field it includes faculties of dentistry, medicine, rehabilitation sciences (physical therapy, occupational therapy, etc.), pharmacy and nursing.  The nursing program was started in 1972.  At that time only women were admitted.  Many of the nursing faculty have received their master’s and doctoral education abroad.  The Dean of the Nursing Faculty, Fathieh Abu-Moghli, did her graduate work at the University of Alexandria, Egypt.  Many others have degrees from the US (Case Western, New York University, University of Pittsburgh, University of California San Francisco, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, etc.) and the UK.  All instruction is done in English.  In 2005, a nursing doctoral program was established, the first in the country. 

There are 15 baccalaureate nursing programs in the entire country.  On my second day on campus, I attended a special ceremony for the highest ranking graduates of each program.  Although I could not understand a word of it, the pride of the deans and the families was evident through the universal language of smiles and photos.  Princess Muna presented the awards.  The entire ceremony took 20 minutes.  Perhaps we can learn something here!

The next day I attended the Nursing faculty meeting, which was conducted in Arabic.  However, a professor who studied in the US sat next to me and filled me in on the topics.  How familiar they were.  Introductions of new faculty, announcements of changes in leadership, promotions, and accomplishments were met with the expected congratulations.  Other announcements included collaboration with a Swedish University and some organizational structure changes.  A discussion about the criteria for promotion included a reminder that community service needed to be documented and that the faculty should be sure to keep evidence of their many projects.

The Assistant Dean for Quality reported on the results of the students’ evaluation of the program.  The Power Point slides were all in Arabic (even the numbers were Arabic), but there seemed to be a consensus that even the lowest score areas were okay.  The Vice Dean for Graduate Studies provided similar information for the master’s and doctoral students, including employment information. 

Then more of the usual – talk about money.  There isn’t enough and we should use resources carefully; turn off lights, don’t waste paper, and by the way, there probably won’t be any new computers, but if you are applying for a research grant you can include a computer in the necessary equipment.

After the faculty meeting, I was pleased to meet one of the authors of an article that I had read – Patients’ Preference for Nurses’ Gender in Jordan.  With my longstanding interest in men in nursing and the unique situation in Jordan where in the last decade about 65% of the enrolled nursing students in the country were male, I have already found a colleague with a mutual interest in exploring the gender issues related to nursing.  Perhaps we will have the opportunity to collaborate on some research while I am here.

Some random observations:

The country would come to a standstill if someone took away their cell phones.  It is by far the most common means of communication.  Everyone that I meet wants to exchange cell phone numbers with me.  Thank goodness Ed quickly got us local phone numbers.  Without a cell phone, I would be a non-person.  Ed was able to update his with a sim card change, but mine was too old (yes Heather, you told me it was an antique) so I had to buy a new one.

People are very helpful.  Many have offered me their phone numbers and said to call if we were having any problems with anything.  Among educated people English is usually quite good.  In stores if we are having problems, clerks will typically find another clerk to help us.