Associate Nursing Dean gets national honour for excellence

Posted: February 21, 2013 2:45 p.m.

Associate Dean of Nursing Robin Evans says "I am truly honored to be recognized by my peers. It is acknowledgment that I have contributed to this field of nursing, for which I have such a passion." Photo: U of R Photography

Robin Evans was surprised to find out she had won a national award for demonstrating excellence in leadership in the care of women, newborns and families.

“I was not aware that I had even been nominated - a colleague nominated me without my knowledge. It’s a very humbling and special thing to be recognized by your peers,” says the associate professor and associate dean of the Faculty of Nursing.

Evans joined the Faculty of Nursing a little over a year ago. She graduated as a registered nurse from the Wascana Institute of Applied Arts and Sciences in 1976, and in 1982 she began teaching nursing at SIAST. She was seconded to the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses’ Association in 1997, and then joined the College of Nursing at the University of Saskatchewan in 2001 before coming to the U of R in January 2012. 

Evans has seen plenty of changes in her profession during her career.

“I think the volume of knowledge has changed the most. This is in part a reflection of the explosion of health care knowledge and the evidence provided through research by nurses and others. Nursing has become much more of a knowledge profession, where the emphasis is on critical thinking, evidence, and knowledge translation to support clinical decision making.”
 
She thinks winning this national award is also significant for the University of Regina, considering the Faculty of Nursing is fairly new.

“This brings recognition to the U of R to have such an exciting and forward thinking new faculty. It speaks to the wisdom of the university, administration, and its governance to have created this new faculty.”