UR School of Nursing Honors Alumni, Donors at Dean's Diamond Circle Dinner

Each year, the University of Rochester School of Nursing hosts the Dean’s Diamond Circle dinner, a donor recognition event, and honors those who have made a lasting impact in the community. This year’s event was held at Monroe Golf Club on April 8. Award recipients are featured below:

Distinguished Alumnus Award: Jacquelyn C. Campbell ’86N (PhD)

Jacquelyn C. Campbell is the Anna D. Wolf Chair and professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, where she has served as a professor since 1993. Campbell teaches family violence courses for both master’s and doctorate programs and is a national leader in research, advocacy, and policy in the field of domestic/intimate partner violence. Her research has proven to be foundational for a growing body of interdisciplinary investigations by nursing, medicine, and public health researchers.

Campbell earned a bachelor of science in nursing from Duke University, master of science in nursing from Wright State University, and PhD from the University of Rochester School of Nursing. She is an active member of many organizations including the Futures Without Violence board, Johns Hopkins Women’s Health research group, and the House of Ruth battered women’s shelter. Additionally, Campbell was congressionally appointed as a member of the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence and has testified before Congress.

Campbell has authored or co-authored more than 300 publications and seven books on violence, health outcomes, and nursing leadership. Among numerous awards, in 2018, she received the Living Legends Awards from the American Academy of Nursing and was the first nurse awarded the Honoris Causa from the University of Vigo in Spain in tribute to her global work in the field of violence.

Distinguished Alumnus Award: Sally Ellis Fletcher ’10N (PhD)

Sally Ellis Fletcher is associate dean for students at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Nursing and Health Studies (SoNHS) where she oversees the diversity committee and serves as a member of the Health Science Diversity and Inclusion Council and UMKC Chancellor’s Diversity Council. Additionally, Fletcher represents SoNHS as a voting member on the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Diversity Equity Inclusion Leadership Network.

At the core of Fletcher’s career are the essential elements of entrepreneurship, which she weaves into her cultural diversity, inclusivity, and education initiatives. Her passion for education has led her to teach undergraduate and graduate students in a variety of learning environments including private, public, and urban organizations. Fletcher is the author of Cultural Sensibility in Healthcare: A personal and professional guidebook, which illuminates the daily reality that historically underrepresented minority and ethnic health care workers encounter.

Fletcher earned a bachelor of science in nursing from Avila University, a master of science in nursing women’s healthcare and a post-master’s advanced practice nursing degree from UMKC. She earned her PhD in health practice research from the UR School of Nursing. In 2013, Fletcher was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. Among many awards, she received the Mary Dombeck Diversity Enhancement Award and the Paul Burgett Nursing Student Life Award.

Humanitarian Award: Kathy A. Hiltunen ’78N, ’91S (MBA)

Kathy A. Hiltunen is an assistant professor of nursing at the UR School of Nursing and manager of nursing services at the Monroe County Department of Public Health (MCDPH) where she oversees tuberculosis, immunization, and STD clinics, and provides clinical guidance to the Monroe County Detention Center Clinic.

Throughout 2020, Hiltunen provided oversight of isolation and quarantine orders, coordinated COVID-19 testing until it was more widely available, and created a team to conduct hospital discharge coordination to secure housing for those who could not isolate at home. When vaccines were approved, Hiltunen provided clinical coordination to all MCDPH-led COVID-19 vaccine clinics and testing sites including working with local schools to deploy testing and help keep students in the classroom. Collectively, the teams were provided with more than 150,000 vaccines and continue to seek out under-vaccinated populations today.

Hiltunen earned a bachelor of science in nursing from the UR School of Nursing and a master of business administration degree from the Simon Business School. In 2021, she was awarded a Rochester Business Journal Health Care Hero Award.

Humanitarian Award: Kim Urbach ’98N (MS)

Kim Urbach is a pediatric nurse practitioner and assistant professor of clinical nursing at the School of Nursing. She was director of UR Nursing’s School-Based Health Center clinics for 15 years until her retirement in 2021.

Urbach has secured almost $3 million in sponsored funding from New York State as PI or co-PI. She was able to secure federal funds for the School-Based Health Center program and partner with the Rochester City School District to build a new health clinic at the Frederick Douglass Campus. She has presented her research findings on school-based health center programs on local panels, radio stations, and through presentations, and has been published in journals.

Urbach earned a bachelor of science in nursing from SUNY Brockport, bachelor of science in clinical nutrition from Syracuse University, and master of science in nursing from the UR School of Nursing. She is an elected fellow of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, and has been awarded the Nurse of the Year Award from March of Dimes and Visionary for School Health from the New York School Health Alliance.

Legacy Award: Elizabeth Marie Nolan ’78N (MS)

Elizabeth Marie Nolan has almost 50 years of experience serving in clinical, educational, administrative, and leadership roles. Nolan first worked as a staff nurse, and later as a clinical nurse specialist (CNS), at the University of Michigan Health System, now Michigan Medicine. Building on work she had done as a CNS in cardiac nursing, she initiated the patient education program at the Frankel Cardiovascular Center in 2007. She served as director of patient education at the Mardigian Wellness Resource Center until her retirement in 2014. Nolan was one of the first two nurses in Michigan to certify as a medical-surgical clinical specialist in 1981.

Nolan earned a registered nurse diploma from St. Michael’s Hospital School of Nursing and a bachelor of science in nursing from the University of Michigan School of Nursing. She earned a master of science in nursing from the UR School of Nursing and completed doctoral coursework from Michigan with an emphasis on health systems with cognates in ethics and cognition.

After serving on the Board of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the largest specialty nursing organization in the world, Nolan served as chairperson of the AACN Certification Corporation from 2001-2002. Nolan received the AACN Lifetime Member Award in recognition of her contributions to nursing. Nolan volunteers at the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and serves on the board of the Margaret Waterman Alumnae Group, an organization that raises scholarship funds for University of Michigan students.

Dean’s Medal: Mary-Therese B. Dombeck ’78N (MS), ’84 (MA), ’89 (PhD)

Mary-Therese B. Dombeck has more than 40 years of experience serving in clinical, educational, administrative, and leadership roles. Dombeck joined the School of Nursing faculty in 1979 as senior associate professor in nursing and served in various capacities throughout her career. Most notably, for the last 17 years, she has served as professor teaching a variety of courses on cultural diversity, religious and spiritual issues in health care, and group and family psychotherapy.

In 2014, Dombeck formed a spirituality subcommittee within the Council for Diversity and Inclusion focused on recognizing how spiritual, religious, and moral beliefs relate to perception of health, illness, healing, suffering, and dying. Additionally, Dombeck has served as associate counselor and nursing consultant at the Samaritan Pastoral Counseling Center, and mental health counselor at the Pastoral Counseling and Family Therapy Group, and more recently, at Crossbridge Wellness Associates. She has presented both nationally and internationally on the study of dreams, gender identity in nursing, and religious and spiritual needs in health care.

Dombeck earned a bachelor of arts in philosophy from American University, a master of arts in religious studies and theology from Colgate Rochester Divinity School, and a master of science in psychiatric and adult mental health nursing from the UR School of Nursing. She received her doctorate of ministry in pastoral ministry to families from Colgate Rochester Divinity School and her PhD in anthropology from the University of Rochester. Her academic work has been featured in more than 30 publications.

Dombeck is a member of several professional organizations including the New York State Nurses Association, American Anthropological Association, Society for Psychological Anthropology, and Association for the Study of Dreams. Throughout her career, she has received numerous awards including the Culture Diversity Advancement Award from SON and Mentor Award from Sigma Theta Tau Region 5.