Degree's first recipient looks forward to reunion
by Adrienne Outlaw
When Kuei-Ru Chou walks across the stage to receive her doctorate during
Commencement exercises May 9, she will be making history. She also will
be moving closer to the day when her family can be together again.
Chou will become Vanderbilt's first recipient of the Ph.D. in nursing science,
a program approved in February 1993 to advance research efforts in nursing.
Her husband, Hsin Chu, will also receive his doctorate in pharmacology.
"I am very excited that the first graduate from our program is an
international student, particularly since it underlines the interest of
the international health care community in nursing science and nursing research,"
said School of Nursing Dean Colleen Conway-Welch. "We have been honored
to work with Kuei-Ru and her sponsor, the National Defense Medical Center,
in designing her program and look forward to hearing about her future successes
in Taiwan."
In order for the couple to pursue their educations in America, they had
to leave behind their family, including their now almost 5-year-old son,
Yu-Hsuan Chu, and adjust to a new culture.
"The first three months were stressful because of communication
and especially because of cultural differences," said Chou. "I
remember taking a class in nursing theory related to philosophy. Our philosophy
differs from Western philosophy, and that was a challenge for me."
Joining her husband a year after he left for Vanderbilt, Chou began the
nursing science program in fall 1993. While she was excited about receiving
a more global education, Chou said she has felt guilty about missing her
son's early years. She is grateful for her family's support.
"In Taiwan we have family piety and a strong bond among family members,"
she said. "Family bond is very important."
Early this summer the couple will return to Taiwan and to their son, whom
they have spent as much time with as possible while pursing their degrees.
The couple raised Yu-Hsuan in Nashville for almost two years before deciding
he would be best taken care of by his grandparents.
The Ph.D. in nursing science was begun with individuals like Chou in mind,
highly qualified nurses who want to conduct research that will provide a
scientific foundation for nursing practice.
"The school made a commitment in the 1980s to build a program of scholarship
that would expand the knowledge base for nursing practice through the conduct
and dissemination of research to meet regional, national and international
needs," said Gail L. Ingersoll, associate dean for research and director
of the doctoral program at the School of Nursing.
Areas of concentration in the program include the study of individual,
family, and community responses to health and illness across the lifespan
and the outcomes of care delivery practices. Chou has concentrated in health
care for chronic illness.
When the couple return to the NDMC in Taipei, Chou will be in charge of
the psychiatric nursing department in addition to teaching a master's program
related to nursing research. She plans to further her research by working
on testing a more complex model based on her dissertation, "Testing
a theoretical model of caregiver burden in a Chinese population."
Saying the faculty in the Ph.D in nursing science program prepared her
well, Chou thanked her major adviser, Lynda LaMontagne, as well as her Ph.D
committee members. "They were very nice and never refused to help.
They provided time and energy and knowledge that I didn't see in other programs
through the eyes of my colleagues," said Chou.
"Working with Kuei-Ru has been a very positive experience for me,"
said LaMontagne. "I am proud of Kuei-Ru's accomplishments and I fully
expect that her dissertation research as well as her future scholarly work
will add to the knowledge base of the discipline."
"We're excited because we're done with being students," said
Chou, who completed her Ph.D earlier than normal. "We're excited to
be together with our family and son. I'm looking forward to my future job.
It's going to be challenging and I'm looking forward to that."
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This document created May 22, 1997
HTML Translation by Billy Kingsley