Letter from the Program Director

A message from our program director, Tony Groom

Symbolic Solution of Linear Differential Equations

An algorithm for solving linear constant-coefficient ordinary differential equations is presented. The computational complexity of the algorithm is discussed and its implementation in the FORMAC system is described. A comparison is made between the algorithm and some classical algorithms for solving differential equations

St. Catherine University Nursing Student-to-Student Mentorship Program

At St. Catherine University (SCU), the setting of this project, the Department of Nursing (DoN) supports student diversity with a “Statement of Diversity” and inclusionary principles incorporated in the Department of Nursing Philosophy Statement. The “Statement of Diversity” speaks to the importance for SCU to prepare all students for equitable care in an inclusive environment and to systematically assess the curriculum for assurance of adherence of these principles (SCU, n.d.). The SCU DoN’s mission and philosophy calls for a fundamental commitment to diversity as expressed by the “D” for “diversity” in its L-E-A-D-E-R mnemonic (SCU, 2010). These statements guide and inform the mentoring program described in this paper. Therefore, the purpose of this scholarly project was to develop and implement a pilot for a formal mentorship program at St. Catherine University (SCU) between graduate level nurse educator students and undergraduate students who self-identified as at-risk. The objectives of this program included: (1) increase the successful program completion of at-risk undergraduate nursing students; (2) provide significant experiences for level 3 and level 4 nurse educator students working with at-risk students; and (3) foster SCU’s social justice mission and philosophy by supporting diversity in undergraduate nursing programs. The following section details a literature review of mentoring programs that were used to guide the creation of this scholarly project