Our 2021–2022 Honors Program students continued a 20-year IU School of Nursing Bloomington tradition of producing widely-disseminated, impactful, student-produced research.

As Dr. Wendy Trueblood Miller stated in her message that opens this edition of The Nursing News, research is such an important part of a nurse’s essential job skills, with nurses now playing leading roles in the pioneering of many lifesaving procedures.

We are so proud of our Honors Program students who, each year, conduct their own research projects, with the results often presented at national and international conferences and published in industry-leading journals.

We’d like to take a look back now at the history of our Honors Program and salute our 2021–2022 Honors Program seniors and their research projects.

From a historical perspective, the Undergraduate Honors Experience at IU School of Nursing Bloomington (IUSON BL) began with Dr. Deanna Reising, who began by mentoring a single student in the year 2000 and five students in the years following.

In 2004, the Honors Experience was formalized as IUSON BL’s Undergraduate Honors Program. This elective program allows our senior nursing students to gain valuable experience in research, evidence-based practice, and dissemination by proposing, designing, and completing their own research projects under faculty mentorship.

In academic year 2021–2022, 11 students were enrolled in the program, bringing the number of students who have participated in IUSON BL’s Honors Program to a grand total of 71 students. Here is a brief look at 2021–2022’s Honors Program students, their research projects, their faculty mentors, and publications and presentations to date.

Congratulations to all our honors students, who we know are off to great opportunities! We also look forward to continuing our Honors Program’s tradition of impactful, widely-disseminated research as we welcome our 2022–2023 Honors Program students.