Ida Danzey, SMC’s assistant dean of health sciences who has had a long and distinguished career in nursing and nursing education, was named the recipient of the first Saint John’s Health Center Chair of Excellence in Nursing.
Danzey will receive $5,000 a year for each of the next three years to be used for projects of her choice that will enhance nursing instruction. She plans to use the funds to initiate a specially designed project to boost the confidence level of nursing students’ decision making, increase the students’ ability to apply knowledge, and decrease the attrition rate of students in the nursing program.
“I cannot think of a more worthy recipient of this chair of excellence,” said SMC Interim President Dr. Thomas J. Donner in announcing the winner at SMC’s recent graduation ceremonies. Donner was joined by Mary Ellen Blakley, director of patient care services at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, and SMC Foundation Executive Director JoAnn Ortiz.
Danzey “is hard working and, under her leadership, the nursing program has forged important partnerships with L.A.-area hospitals for unique nursing training programs held in the hospitals themselves,” Donner said. “This has been done to help alleviate the acute nursing shortage in California.”
This is the sixth chair of excellence established at SMC. The others are in physical science, biology, earth science, music and art. The awards, believed to be rare for a community college, are administered by the SMC Foundation and are funded from the interest earned on the endowments.
The chair of excellence in nursing was established through the contributions of Saint John’s and the SMC Foundation President’s Circle.
Danzey has taught pediatrics and medical-surgical nursing at SMC since 1991, and previously taught at several other colleges, including Los Angeles Southwest and the Los Angeles County Medical Center School of Nursing. She has also served as a nurse in Los Angeles public schools, in the Veterans Administration Hospital in West Los Angeles, and in the Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, Ala.Danzey earned her bachelor of science degree in nursing from Dillard University in New Orleans and her master of science in nursing from California State University at Los Angeles. She is currently working on a doctorate in nursing through Case Western University in Ohio.
