Look no further than to Dr. Joyce Splann Krothe to discover the solid foundation upon which our school is built.
Making a difference: The Dr. Joyce Splann Krothe Nursing Scholarship
From the pages of The Nursing News, you can see that the IU School of Nursing Bloomington (IUSON BL) is well-positioned for a highly successful future, but every success story has its beginnings. To discover where it all began, look no further than the solid foundation built for our school by Professor Emerita and former IUSON BL assistant dean, Dr. Joyce Splann Krothe.
Joyce led the nursing program in Bloomington – first, as program director; later, as assistant dean – from 1991 until her retirement in 2016. Here is a partial listing of Joyce’s accomplishments, all of which helped shape the IU School of Nursing Bloomington into the school that we know today.
Under Joyce’s leadership, the IU Bloomington nursing program:
- Grew from offering courses to small cohorts of 30 students who transferred to Indianapolis to complete their schooling after their junior year to a program that, beginning in 2005, admitted 60 students each year who could complete their entire education on the Bloomington campus. “A long journey,” says Joyce, “that was very gratifying for me, our faculty, and our students.”
- Added IUSON’s RN to BSN Online Degree Completion Option – offered through IUSON’s statewide consortium – to the menu of programs we offer.
- Partnered with IU’s Medical Sciences Department to create IUSON BL’s first high-fidelity Inter-Professional Simulation (SIM) Center.
- More than quadrupled the number of doctorally-prepared faculty, from two in 2005 to nine in 2015.
- Helped establish, fund, and then direct the Brown County Health Support Clinic, IUSON’s well-known “log cabin clinic” located in Bean Blossom, IN. In many ways, the Brown County Clinic served as the forerunner to the free rural health clinics that IUSON BL now offers throughout South Central Indiana.
- Served as consultant, across two one-year sabbaticals, to Massey University in New Zealand to establish the first nurse-managed, school-based clinic in the country.
- Helped lead the large-scale community assessment that led to the creation of IUSON’s Aldrich Project (named after the late Dr. Anita Aldrich). This program enabled IUSON BL to introduce the Say It Straight and Second Step assertiveness training programs into the area’s elementary and middle schools.
- First hired Wendy Miller, our new associate dean, to teach on the Bloomington campus!
Joyce received a 'first-generation' scholarship to attend Columbia University's nursing program, an honor she hopes to pass on to an IUSON BL student through her new scholarship, the Dr. Joyce Splann Krothe Nursing Scholarship.
A first-generation student
Joyce was born near the Finger Lakes region in upstate New York, where she still has family. She began her academic career by earning an associate degree from New York’s Elmira College. Neither of Joyce’s parents had completed college. In fact, her father – one of 17 children – had to drop out of school early to help take care of his younger siblings. “My parents were both adamant that I go to college, says Joyce. “If you are going to nursing school, they said, you need a BSN because that’s where nursing is going.”
Following her parents’ advice, Joyce enrolled in Columbia University’s nursing program, having been awarded a “first-generation” scholarship by the university. It was here that Joyce first developed her lifelong passion for community health nursing when, as part of her program, she visited patients in the tenements of New York City.
A job offer from IU’s Geology Department to her late husband, Dr. Noel Krothe, brought Joyce to Bloomington. Joyce’s career in Bloomington began with her working at the School of Nursing and as a private duty nurse. In 1992, after earning her MSN, Joyce joined the IUSON BL faculty as a visiting lecturer, then worked her way up through the ranks, becoming IUSON BL’s assistant dean in 2006.
An impressive array of awards
Joyce’s 34 years of service to IUSON, IU, and the Bloomington community have been recognized by an impressive array of awards, including: the American Public Health Association’s Public Health Nurse Creative Achievement Award; the Indiana Department of Health’s Rural Health Award for Distinguished Community Service; the Tony and Mary Hulman Achievement Award for Preventative Medicine and Public Health; the Indiana University Thomas Erhlich Award for Service Learning; the Indiana Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award; and the Association of Community Health Nursing Educators Outstanding Contributions to Community/Public Health Nursing Practice Award. At its 100-year celebration, IUSON named Joyce one of its Legacy Leaders based on her contributions to our school, our profession, and the public.
Paying it forward to the next generation
In 2022, Joyce continues contributing to our school and our profession by establishing the Dr. Joyce Splann Krothe Nursing Scholarship. “Nursing is a profession that offers amazing opportunities,” says Joyce, and the goal of Joyce’s new scholarship is to open those opportunities to a nursing student who has been accepted to the nursing program on the Bloomington campus and who, like her, is the first member of his or her family to attend college. “I feel very fortunate to be in a position to fund this scholarship,” she says, “because that is how I went to a really great school.”
This year’s inaugural Dr. Joyce Krothe Scholarship has been awarded to first-year nursing student Merly Barrios. Like Joyce, Merly looks forward to a career giving back to the community.
"Being a winner of this scholarship is truly an honor, and I am profoundly blessed to have been chosen. Thank you, Dr. Krothe, for paving the path towards reaching my dream career of helping others!”
-- Merly Barrios, IUSON BL Class of 2024
In her short time at IU, Merly has been helping other first-generation students navigate their way around IU and IUSON BL through mentoring programs offered by the university’s Faculty & Staff Excellence Mentoring Program (FASE) and IUSON BL’s Student Nurses’ Association.
She has also been part of an IU research team that focused on interviewing women and men from marginalized communities, with the goal of creating a Virtual Reality program that would allow others to empathize with their experiences. “Being a part of this research team,” Merly says, “furthered my desire to listen to others and their unique experiences, which is key to nursing.”
“Throughout my childhood,” she continues, “both of my parents were constantly ill. Being immigrants, with little to no English comprehension, doctor and hospital visits were dreaded. The fear of not being able to communicate effectively what was wrong or understand the treatments and options available was truly scary. That is what made me realize I wanted to go into nursing: to be able to bridge the barriers that have divided many individuals in the health care system.
“Being a winner of this scholarship is truly an honor, and I am profoundly blessed to have been chosen. This scholarship will give me the opportunity to focus on my studies and dedicate my time to giving back to the community. Thank you, Dr. Krothe, for paving the path towards reaching my dream career of helping others!”
She has also been part of an IU research team that focused on interviewing women and men from marginalized communities, with the goal of creating a Virtual Reality program that would allow others to empathize with their experiences. “Being a part of this research team,” Merly says, “furthered my desire to listen to others and their unique experiences, which is key to nursing.”
“Throughout my childhood,” she continues, “both of my parents were constantly ill. Being immigrants, with little to no English comprehension, doctor and hospital visits were dreaded. The fear of not being able to communicate effectively what was wrong or understand the treatments and options available was truly scary. That is what made me realize I wanted to go into nursing: to be able to bridge the barriers that have divided many individuals in the health care system.
“Being a winner of this scholarship is truly an honor, and I am profoundly blessed to have been chosen. This scholarship will give me the opportunity to focus on my studies and dedicate my time to giving back to the community. Thank you, Dr. Krothe, for paving the path towards reaching my dream career of helping others!”
Caring donors like Dr. Joyce Krothe are the foundation upon which our school is built. To learn more about the many ways in which you can help our students, contact Associate Director of Development Rita Verbocht at 812-855-2085, or rverboch@indiana.edu. To give to the IU School of Nursing Bloomington, please click on the Give Now button.