The College of Health Sciences invites the campus community to join in celebrating a well deserved retirement of four faculty who have provided a combined 90 years of service to the University.. The cake and beverage reception will be held from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. on Monday, April 25, in the Student Union Simplot B/D ballrooms.
Retirees include:
- Shoni Davis, associate professor, School of Nursing, 11 years of service;
- Marty Downey, associate professor, School of Nursing, 23 years of service;
- Ron Pfeiffer, professor, associate dean, and executive director of the Center for Orthopaedic and Biomechanics Research, 37 years of service;
- Vivian Schrader, professor and associate director of the RN-BS Completion Track, AGNP, and DNP programs,School of Nursing, 19 years of service.
Davis’s professional areas of specialty are mental health nursing, perinatal drug addiction, women’s behavioral health issues, and program implementation and evaluation. From 1985 through 2002, Davis developed, implemented and evaluated state funded residential and outpatient treatment programs for pregnant and parenting dual diagnosis (drug addicted and mental illness) women and their children in both California and Washington. During this period of time, her experiences included management of federally funded research demonstration grants; development, design and management of non-profit women and children centered treatment programs; consultation; and university teaching. Since becoming a faculty member at Boise State School of Nursing, Davis has conducted and published research in the area of enhancements to improve teaching, influencers of ethical decision making in nursing and most recently, the effectiveness of simulations as a teaching modality.
Downey’s teaching specialties are critical care nursing, medical-surgical nursing, health assessment, holistic nursing & health practices, stress management, and humor in health. Downey worked in critical care and was nationally certified in critical care nursing for over 20 years and now holds Alumnus CCRN status. She is equally proud of her certification as Advanced Holistic Nurse for over 15 years and her current status as Healing Touch Practitioner Apprentice at Level 4 of certificate training. Downey recently received her Certified Nurse Educator. Downey’s dissertation research focused on the education and use of complementary therapies such as massage, imagery, therapeutic or healing touch, acupuncture, aromatherapy (and others) by Idaho nurses in personal and professional practice. She promotes research in Healing Touch and other related therapies as a fellowship mentor for three research teams at St Luke’s Health System.
In addition to his administrative roles as associate dean for the College of Health Sciences and executive director of the Center for Orthopaedic and Biomechanics Research, Pfeiffer is a BOC Certified Athletic Trainer and a Licensed Athletic Trainer in the state of Idaho. Throughout his academic career, his research focus has been identifying gender related neuromechanical factors that may be contributing to non-contact injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament in female athletes. Pfeiffer continues to serve as a volunteer athletic trainer throughout the Treasure Valley. As associate dean, Pfeiffer has provided leadership for several college initiatives, including BroncoFit and interprofessional education.
Schrader helped create the highly successful RN-BS Completion Track, an online bachelor’s degree completion program for registered nurses with their associate’s degree. She now oversees this completion track and the AGNP Masters of Nursing and Certificate programs, and the Doctor in Nursing Practice program. Schrader’s career has encompassed all aspects of improving health care outcomes for patients and includes a focus in nursing education and leadership. She has been the co-investigator on several research projects over the years, most recently studying nursing practice ethics and moral distress which has expanded to the international arena. Schrader has been a Fulbright Senior Specialist since 2008. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, American Nurses Association and Idaho Nurses Association as well as a Certified Nurse Educator.