Yonsei College of Nursing Faculty and Students...

This is a fabulous place to teach nursing. Last week we had a formal picture taken for our Christmas card. Full time faculty are mainly in the front two rows (approximately 20) and the remaining people are research contract faculty, teaching assistants and college of nursing staff (photo 1). Current Dean, Dr. Wonhee Lee, is in the center front (white suit) with the three previous deans sitting on either side of her. All full time faculty at the college must have a PhD in nursing, a clinical area of research, and a strong commitent to teaching , research and professional activities. The college houses a WHO Collaborating Center in Primary Health Care as well as being a Joanna Briggs Research Insititute site. Faculty work long hours and frequently add Saturday work to their busy schedule. If they teach an RN-BSN class, their days extend until 10 PM. Right now they are especially busy preparing the accreditation report and many have just finished submitting grant requests for federal funding dollars for speical projects. All of them are actively involved in research studies. Many of them tell me that being a nursing faculty member in Korea is one of the busiest jobs there is. I bellieve it !!

The nursing students are all highly motivated and intelligent. They are truly the "cream of the crop." My RN-BSN classes are in a large state of the art lecture hall (photo 2). RN students - about 100 - attend classes two evenings each week from 6-10 PM. One evening I taught team building and organized activities for the students outside of the lecture hall in the main foyer. It was great fun (photos 3 and 4). The RN students are all very young (photo 5). I also teach a group of traditional students on Fridays (photo 6). They are all fluent in English and many want to pursue graduate degrees in the US. I have gotten to know them quite well. Several are even writing their papers in English. What excellent scholars !!