IU School of Nursing Distinguished Professor Appointed to the Sally Reahard Chair

Joan K. Austin, DNS, RN, FAAN

INDIANAPOLIS – The IU School of Nursing (IUSON) is pleased to announce that Joan K. Austin, DNS, RN, FAAN has been appointed to the Sally Reahard Chair, named after a local philanthropist. The official announcement will be made at a reception on Wednesday, May 17, 2006, 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the School.

A Distinguished Professor of Nursing at IUSON, Austin holds adjunct appointments in the Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry, in the Indiana University School of Medicine and in the Department of Psychology in the Purdue University School of Science. She is the Director of the Center for Enhancing Quality of Life in Chronic Illness (CEQL) and a graduate training program in health behavior research that is funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR). Austin received her BSN at Texas Woman’s University and her MSN and DNS at IUSON, where she has been a faculty member since 1981.

Internationally regarded as an expert on mental health problems in children with epilepsy, Dr. Austin’s research on child adaptation to epilepsy has been funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 1986. In 2000, she was inducted into the Institute of Medicine. In 2005, she was the first nurse to serve as President of the American Epilepsy Society.

“Joan’s contributions over the past 2 decades have extended the health care communities’ understanding of the complex behavioral interactions between children with epilepsy, their families, and society that have an impact on their adaptation to their chronic illness. Her research findings related to behavioral manifestations of epilepsy and family adaptation have been ground-breaking. Thus, the School is extremely pleased to have Joan appointed to the Sally Reahard Chair that was made possible through a very generous gift from the estate of Sally Reahard, who had a special affinity for nursing,” said Marion E. Broome, university dean and distinguished professor, IU School of Nursing.

Reahard died in July 2003 and bequeathed a gift of $1.9M through her trust that endows the directorship of IUSON’s Center for Enhancing the Quality of Life in Chronic Illness (CEQL). An additional $870,000 from Reahard’s trust was given to endow scholarships for nursing undergraduate students on the IUPUI campus. Born in Dayton, Ohio, Reahard was the daughter of Ralph and Bessie Reahard; her father graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1905 with Eli Lilly. Miss Reahard graduated from Tudor Hall School for Girls, Indianapolis, and attended Sweetbriar College. During her lifetime, she made major gifts of books to Indiana University and Butler University. In 1995, she gave her collection of first editions of Gene Stratton Porter works to the Indiana Historical Society.

To learn more about the IU School of Nursing, visit http://nursing.iupui.edu/.