(Left to right) Angie Millan, M.S.N., RNP, CNS, president of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN), presents the Janie Menchaca Wilson Leadership Award to Norma Martinez Rogers, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, with Miriam “Mimi” Gonzalez, RN, chair of the NAHN Awards and Scholarship Committee.
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Over the last three months, UT Health Science Center San Antonio nursing faculty member Norma Martinez Rogers, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, has received national recognition three times.

She was invited to help kick off the national celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month in Washington, D.C. She received a grant from the Health and Human Services Administration for more than $600,000 to encourage over 100 high school and undergraduate students to enter the nursing profession and to expand a mentoring program to ensure their success. She also received a national leadership award from the National Association of Hispanic Nurses.

“We are very proud of the work that Dr. Martinez Rogers has been doing for some time as a national leader and faculty member of our School of Nursing,” said Eileen T. Breslin, Ph.D., RN, FAAN. “She continues to highlight the need for diversity in the nursing profession so that nurses can provide culturally competent care not only for patients in South Texas, but throughout the nation. Her compassion for students who are often the first in their families to attempt college and nursing school shines through with the many mentoring programs she has instituted to help them achieve success.”

Hispanic Heritage Month
At the invitation of Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis, Dr. Martinez Rogers attended a celebration in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 13 to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15). The event, “Celebrando Trabajo y Cultura” (Celebrating Work and Culture), was attended by senior Obama Administration officials and honored the contributions of Latinos to the nation and workforce. Dr. Martinez Rogers made it possible for undergraduate nursing student Leslie Gutierrez, who is involved in Dr. Rogers’ nurse mentoring program Juntos Podemos (Together We Can), to attend the event, as well.

HRSA grant
In August, Dr. Martinez Rogers was notified that she had received a three-year grant from the Human Resources and Services Association for more than $600,000. The grant, which will support a new program called Juntas Avanzamos (Together We Advance), became effective Sept. 1 and will help the School of Nursing recruit and provide mentoring for more than 100 nursing students over three years.

The program will be offered through a longstanding partnership with the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), where undergraduate students will take their prerequisite courses and receive information and mentoring to ensure that they are on track for admission to the Health Science Center’s School of Nursing. UTSA will also host a 15-week course for high school students and their parents. “The class will help students and their parents understand that a college degree in nursing is available, affordable and attainable for those who want it,” Dr. Martinez Rogers said. Each class will focus on a topic related to the college experience and will feature an expert lecturer and presentation about a career opportunity for nurses who earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing.

In addition, the grant will help support the addition of one new minority faculty member to the School of Nursing each of the three years. “Our students will benefit from seeing that nursing is an inclusive profession and that they, too, might be able to earn a master’s or doctorate degree in nursing someday,” Dr. Martinez Rogers explained. Because of a national nursing shortage prevalent also in South Texas, more nurses with baccalaureate and advanced degrees are needed to fill positions in patient care, in administration and in nursing education.

National award
In July, Dr. Rogers received a leadership award from the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN). The Janie Menchaca Wilson Leadership Award was presented at the NAHN annual conference in Las Vegas, Nev.

The award honors a member of the association who has become a distinguished nursing leader. Dr. Martinez Rogers received the award for her outstanding contributions as a leader at the community, state and national levels.

Leadership posts
Her leadership roles have included:

• Recipient of Most Powerful and Influential Woman of Texas award at the 2011 Texas Diversity and Leadership Conference in April;
  
• Commissioner on the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission that reviews Medicaid and CHIP access policies and reports directly to the Senate Finance Committee;
  
• Member of Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute panels in which she made presentations to Congress with Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard and Congressman Ciro Rodriguez;
  
• Member on the Food and Drug Administration Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee;
  
• Member of the national advisory council of the U.S. National Health Service Corps;
  
• Member of the board of directors for the National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurses Association;
  
• President of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses;
  
• Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, the highest honor in the nursing profession; and
  
• Chair and founder of the Hispanic Nurses Fund.